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The real Lima

Today we took a walking tour into the centre of Lima. We are staying in Miraflores about 10km from the centre which is a rich district by the beach which is both safer and more full of tourists. So visiting the centre of the city was a very different experience. Our tour started with the public bus service, it was eye opening:  Very busy, we were instructed to push to get on the bus and carefully told which stop to get off at.


The tour took in the main square of Lima. It is a UNESCO world heritage square, but fully privately owned so the operators have to keep the fascades true to the original architecture and they can only have black and white signage. The architecture is completely European in influence.

We walked from this to the central square, a square which is also European but is constructed over the original Incan buildings, a cathederal over the original temple to the sun god, the presidents palace over the original leaders residence etc.


The most insightful part of the tour was a walk around the markets which Lima residents use to buy food. It sells every kind of produce! all looked fresh and enticing. There were even cats to photograph.
Fresh and enticing...



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