ONE DAY IN GUATEMALA CITY
Originally I was planning just to visit Antigua and Tikal on my Guatemal trip. After spending more time researching the history of Guatemala, I realized that I cannot miss visiting this historical city and change my itinerary to include it. Here is my suggestions on how to spend one day in Guatemala City.
Pan American Hotel
Even though I spent just one day in Guatemala City Really enjoyed this city and hope to be back sometime soon to explore more.
After delicious traditional breakfast and coffee at the hotel’s restaurant, I spent some time exploring authentic furniture and decorations in the hotel and headed to Central Plaza to see the Cathedral and Presidential Palace.
Plaza Mayor de la Constitucion
This is the central plaza of the city located in the historic district. The plaza is surrounded by National Palace, Cathedral and other government buildings. It was nearly empty with couple of vendors walking around carrying small trays of sweets and seeds for the doves. I walked around the plaza , took several pictures and headed to the Presidential Palace to see the guards and just to take a look inside through the gate.
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National Palace of Culture
With lot of small architectural details, the building is very impressive from outside. I was not planning to get inside but as I looked through the gate and saw the wide staircases made of natural stone and huge murals I decided to see if its possible to get a tour of the Palace. To mu huge surprise, the next tour was scheduled to leave in the next 10 minutes. We got the tickets, took couple more pictures of the guards and lined up to get on the tour. The tour was in Spanish, and I was the only person in the group who didn’t speak any Spanish (shame !!!), but the guide spoke basic English and was able to translate for me. The building consist of two large courtyards , the arches decorated with large mural paintings showing Guatemalan history.
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Visiting National Palace of Culture.
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Guatemala City Cathedral.
Guatemala City Cathedral, also called Metropolitan Cathedral is the main cathedral in the city. It is a large baroque style church with a beautiful bright blue dome visible from the distance. The inside on the cathedral is relatively simple with huge impressive altar which is almost too big for the size of the church. Twelve columns in front of the cathedral covered by name of the people disappeared and murdered during the 36 year internal war.
National Library of Guatemala
After spending some more time in the Central park I headed to National Library to see the murals. The library entrance is free. Library walls decorated with Mayan theme murals, created in the middle of XX century.
Visit Central Market.
Public markets are my well-known obsession. So, I was determined to spend some time on Central Market in Guatemala City. Guatemala City Central Market was one of the best markets I have visited. The market is fairly large. The first floor offers variety of fresh produce including vegetable, local fruits, meat and fish. Souvenirs, leather good, variety of textile and clothes stands located on the second floor. I shopped to my heart there, spend some more time taking pictures of the stalls and headed to the restaurant to have lunch.
Lunch at El Adobe
El Adobe restaurant has a very interesting unique décor. Marimba band was playing during my entire time there. I ordered Pollo en Crema- chicken breast in cream sauce served with rice, corn and loroco- vine with edible flowers very popular in Central America and Mexico and their signature sangria. The food was delicious and the service was great.
Walk 6th Avenue
After super long, relaxing lunch and Sangria I headed to Civic Center via walking street- 6th Avenue. The street is packed with little souvenirs stores. So, I’ve done some more shipping and people watching, saw some modern street art(huge metal chairs). I stopped by couple more churches, passed by Guatemala ministry of Interior and shortly get to the Civic Center
Bank of Guatemala Murals.
The building decorated with three huge board of murals created in the middle of the last century by Guatemalan sculptor Roberto González Goyri. Several other buildings in the area decorated with murals created by Dagoberto Vasquez. I spent some time admiring gigantic mural boards and taking pictures. By time I was ready to get a cab and head to Textile museum, I saw the Numismatic Museum located in the Bank of Guatemala Building.
Numismatic Museum.
Even though the museum was not in my original plan, I really enjoyed the visit. The museum has the original coin mints on display, huge collection of coins and national currency history information displays. The museum is free, photography is not allowed.
If you, just like me, have only one day in Guatemala City, you should probably stop right here, head back to the hotel and head to the airport.
But I was determined to see the textile museum.
Museo IXCHEL(Textile museum)
Textile museum visit was another highlight of my day in Guatemala city. So many colorful costumes, so many different materials and textile decorations. Textile traditions in Guatemala have a long rich history starting from Mayan time. Every area has its own local clothes decorations and special colors. I spend about an hour in the museum and wish I could spend at least one more hour there.
I suggest spending at least 2-3 hours in the museum to learn about history of the textile and enjoy the national costumes on display.
The rest of the day…
I left the museum, got a taxi and headed to the hotel to pick up the luggage(another planning mistake ) and then straight to the airport. With all the heavy 5 pm traffic, I made it to the airport just 24 minutes before my plain departure. I ran to the international departure area thinking about my chances of getting on the plane, sprinted through security, filled out departure customs declaration, done some more running through the terminal and got to the gate promptly 5 minutes before the plane departure. Surprisingly the plane door was not closed yet and they let me in.
Only in Guatemala City International Airport you can pass through security check, fill customs declaration, and get to the gate in just 19 minutes. Amazing!
