Arequipa: The white city of volcanos.

Arequipa, the second most important city in Peru, located 2325 meters above sea level. Known as 'The White City' for its buildings made in ashlar and its miscegenation and Spanish presence, it's also known as the city of ''The Eternal Blue Sky'' for its extraordinary climate with moderate temperatures.

Few days before leaving for Cusco and Machu Picchu. We decided to stay in Arequipa, and I have to say we did a great choice . Old houses, Convents, majestic Churches, Volcanos, Meadows, the beautiful ''Plaza de Armas'' and its surroundings are some of the main reasons to visit Arequipa.

“Being Peruvian means to come from the farthest place possible to get to Europe. Peru is the land of the Incas. It was the capital of South America; it was where the Spanish founded their empire and took over the Inca Empire and made it into a colony of Spain.” Mario Testino

After taking probably a 12 hours bus to Arequipa from Lima, we were feeling really tired and just wanted to find a place where to sleep, so we took a cab and asked the driver to take us to the nearest, cheap and cozy hostel that he knew about. Surprisingly, he did actually a great job and left us at a cozy hostel with great central location, so we just needed to walk a couple of minutes to see what Arequipa had to show us.

One thing I wanted to add and mark down here is that traveling by bus from Lima can be a pain in the ass. There's not an actual big bus station where all buses go to all directions in Peru. Instead, the 'small ' bus companies have set little stops on their own. so basically if you need to travel to the south then, you need to figure out what company is going to the south and then go to their bus location, which was extremely tiring and we had to spend money using a cab to get there, so be warned about it!

So definitely a good tip here, is to find an #Airbnb or #Hostel in Lima near to the bus stop you want to go next depending of where you're heading up afterwards.

Plaza de Armas

Arequipa is a comfortable city to walk, friendly, and can be seen in one or two days.  Here I leave you our itinerary and the visits that we made in our one day pass through Arequipa. We tried to get up early next day to see what the city had to offer and we were highly surprised by how beautiful it was. Arequipa is basically surrounded by many historical buildings and white houses. We started off with ''Plaza de Armas''. If you don't want to do it on your own there are free walking tours for about 3 hours, however, we wanted to do it on our own.

Arequipa’s main plaza is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen in South America. the historical core is basically a living museum of the city´s sillar which is made of volcanic rock architecture. Very stunning. 

Plaza de Armas is the perfect spot to hang out with friends and drink some real good pisco while enjoying the sunny days in Arequipa. This, of course, has to be the first thing to see when visiting Arequipa. We found an incredible atmosphere  here so we stayed for hours just sitting and watching people until they local army soldiers started to play their own national anthem (picture below).

Santa Catalina Monastery

So Plaza de Armas is just one of the most important things to do here, however, one of the top things to do in Arequipa Peru is the beautiful Santa Catalina Monastery. Undoubtedly a must see in Arequipa (and also the most expensive, since it costs 35 soles for the entrance).  This monastery, was built with sillar in 1579, is the most important exponent of the colonial architecture of Arequipa. Due to the constant and strong earthquakes of the area, the monastery has been changing its architecture over time to take the form of a citadel that it has today.

A friend of mine was there during the night and he told me it was even better. Being able to make the visit at night time adds a magic extra to the tour. 

Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus

The first church was built in 1578, then by the earthquake of 1584 was built in 1595, is characterized by being the largest example of the so-called mestizo architecture. Located in the historic center of the city, between Santo Domingo and Álvarez Thomas streets, its monumental architecture is the characteristic of this and other churches in the city

We stopped in just to walk through this church. It was fairly pretty. The entrance is free unless you want to go in the chapel. It was a nice church to stroll through. The outside of the church entrance has very intricate carvings on the facade which are pretty cool. Our guidebook said you could go up the bell tower or something but there was no sign of stairs anywhere. I would recommend stopping in for a few minutes if you are touring the main square area.

The top level has a good place for cheese and wine but gives a view of all the mountains and good for taking photos. Another wonderful location to get a sense of Arequipa's historic past. It is always included in the free tours of the city which give you good insight into architecture and carvings. Definitely one of the "must see" places in the city!

Yanahuara

I personally recommend this place as a great view point. It is not to far from central Arequipa, it is worth taking a walk and check the views if Misti and also walk around the neighborhood, some recommended food places in the area. We walked from the city center probably for around 30minutes and we could cross some nice parks and the local neighborhood. It is a very traditional neighborhood with cobblestone streets and old houses made with ashlar.

It is one of the emblems of Arequipa, a simply magical district!This viewpoint was built in the 19th century and has arches made of ashlar in which it has recordings of illustrious Arequipa figures.

Volcano El Misti

This volcano El Misti creates beautiful unity of Arequipa town and surroundings, where are mountains. Arequipa is surrounded by three volcanoes: Misti, Chachani, and Pichu Pichu. The Misti has the best shape. Regretfully, it is losing its snowy peak day by day, because of global warming. El Misti, also known as Guagua-Putina, is 5,822 meters above sea level, between the Chachani mountain (6,075m) and the Pichu Pichu volcano (5,669m). Although it has erupted for the last time in 1985, many residents of nearby cities say that the volcano is still active. An Andean legend tells that when the earth was created, El Misti and Chachani was a man, a woman.

Surrounded by the volcanos Misti, Pichu Pichu and Chachani, Arequipa is the first stop for those fearful of altitude sickness.

Hope you enjoyed this article. Let me know your thoughts on this on the comment section below:

Check out more about Arequipa here for a more detailed itinerary of things to see and do, as well as my recommendations for some of the best places to eat in the city.

Best Regards,

Jaime S