Adventures with Julia

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Had a leisurely morning at the Hotel B. Wandered around looking at the art, which I found curious, if uninspiring. The lower left image is our room. It was tall, but small. The lower right image is the breakfast room, as seen from the second floor level.

Sophia picked us up at 10am and off we went, with Carlos driving, to stop at the Post Office in Miraflores to buy stamps and then to see the old city center. It took more than an hour to get in the vicinity due to intense congestion on the many narrow 2 lane roads. However, the journey was worth the trouble as the buildings were wonderful 16th century wooden construction. Even the Cathedral of Lima was entirely made of cedar. Sophia told us the reason the towers are so short, for a cathedral, is because of frequent earthquakes. The ceiling was very pretty and many of the side alters were made of beautiful hand carved wood–some cedar and some mahogany.

As we walked around the square and several old pedestrian streets. Sophia pointed out the oldest structure in Lima, a rather plain building built in the 1500’s. The wood structure was covered with stucco.

Sophia took us to see a Dominican Mission near the cathedral. The mission library houses over 20,000 books. Somehow the books seem to survive the climate.

The mission was covered in beautiful tiles from the 1600’s. Here is a small sample.

From the mission we entered a private home belonging to the Aliaga family for 18 generations. The original owner was a personal friend of Pizarro, who gave him the land in the 1500’s. The property occupies a full block near the Cathedral. Currently about half of the house is open to the public by private invitation.

By the time we had finished the 4 hour tour we were hungry and went to a Japanese restaurant called Osaka in Miraflores. It was a most unusual combination of sushi dishes our waiter arranged for us. A couple of nigiri were even charred with a hand held torch. Unfortunately, I was too busy enjoying the presentations that I remembered only to take this one photo.

Back at the Hotel B, we relaxed until it was time to check out of the room at 8pm, get a bite to eat in the hotel dining room and head to the airport. This trip is done. More another time.