3 Days in Villa De Leyva, Colombia
Villa De Leyva is a small colonial town 3 hours north east of Bogota. We hopped a bus to spend 3 days there and had a lovely time!
The bus ride there was in a minivan and was pretty smooth and easy.
Villa De Leyva's claim to fame is that it has the largest town square in South America and the second largest in Latin America (the largest is in Mexico). For a small town, it is a big square! Surrounded on 4 sides by restaurants and tour agencies, with a church at the top it's an impressive sight!
The hostel had just a handful of rooms, which were immaculately kept. A well supplied kitchen and nice living/dining area made us feel very comfortable and we easily met and chatted with other travellers (including an art teacher!)
The hostel was decorated throughout with paintings and yarn mandalas (Ojo de dios), all done by the owner and her boyfriend. They try to make everything themselves.
The bus ride there was in a minivan and was pretty smooth and easy.
Villa De Leyva's claim to fame is that it has the largest town square in South America and the second largest in Latin America (the largest is in Mexico). For a small town, it is a big square! Surrounded on 4 sides by restaurants and tour agencies, with a church at the top it's an impressive sight!
It was hard to get a photo to capture the full square!
We stayed at the gorgeous small hostel Magna Z. Tali was thrilled to have a bunk bed!
The hostel had just a handful of rooms, which were immaculately kept. A well supplied kitchen and nice living/dining area made us feel very comfortable and we easily met and chatted with other travellers (including an art teacher!)
The hostel was decorated throughout with paintings and yarn mandalas (Ojo de dios), all done by the owner and her boyfriend. They try to make everything themselves.
Once settled, we went walkabout. Cobbled streets, little shops and restaurants and, of course, a small chocolate museum (read: chocolate shop & restaurant).
Mayan Chilli hot chocolate!
Villa de Leyva is a jumping off point for various sites and activities: Hiking, 4-wheel buggies, fossil museums, and the terracotta house. [Dedicated blog post on this to follow as it was so amazing].
We checked out one small fossil museum (which houses a partial fossil of a pliosaur and did a jeep outing to Gondava dinosaur park. This park has clearly marked paths that take your past various plastic dinosaurs which Tali loved. As the guided tour (informative) was in Spanish we went by ourselves. Climbing inside the belly of a brachiosaur (?) was the highlight for Tali!
Sadly T Rex was under construction! Not something you get to say or see everyday...
Awesome little outing!
Whilst walking around the town centre we met other travellers. They are from Argentina and have driven south to north across South America in their camper van!
We really enjoyed our time in Villa De Leyva. Highly recommend a visit here!
Relaxed and I came away inspired to try a new art form.... watch this space for Kath versions of woven manadalas....
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