From Bogotá: Salt Cathedral and Lake Guatavita Day Tour

From Bogotá: Salt Cathedral and Lake Guatavita Day Tour

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Escape the city for a day to explore the surrounding areas of Bogotá. Travel through Colombian salt towns, visit the famous Salt Cathedral, and learn the legends of Lake Guatavita.

Highlights

Travel through Colombian villages from the pre-Hispanic period
Visit the Salt Cathedral, built within the salt caverns of an old mine
Go to the site where the legend of El Dorado originated at Lake Guatavita

Description

Learn about Colombia's salt trade dating back to the pre-Hispanic period. Take a tour of some villages outside of Bogotá, and explore the subterranean Salt Cathedral. Try a traditional Colombian lunch followed by a visit to Lake Guatavita, a sacred place for the native Muisca people. A staff member will pick you up at your hotel in Bogotá. Your tour begins by traveling in an air-conditioned van or bus through some of the villages from the pre-Hispanic period. Learn the history of the exploitation and trade of salt and gold manufacturing in the area. Travel north along the Bogotá savanna to the city of Zipaquirá. There you will visit the renowned Salt Cathedral, a Roman Catholic church built in the ancient hollows of a salt mine, 180 meters below ground. Marvel at the cathedral’s architecture built within the mine’s remaining caverns and tunnels. After touring the cathedral, enjoy a typical Colombian lunch with boiled potatoes soaked in brine (salt water from the mine) and ajiaco (chicken soup). Then head to Lake Guatavita, a small crater lake surrounded by forest. Learn about this sacred site of the indigenous Muisca people, where the legend of El Dorado was born. Relax on the ride back to Bogotá where you will be dropped off at your hotel.