Quito - City tour (Full day)

"You will start our walking tour in Plaza de la Independencia, Quito’s main square named after the country’s Independence from Spain. This is the location of some of Ecuador’s main administrative buildings such as the Presidential Palace, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and the Municipal building. The tour will continue to visit two of the most significant churches of the colonial area and the 17th and 18th century artistic movement knowns as the Quito School (Escuela Quiteña); the church of Society of Jesus (La Compañía de Jesús) known for its impressive gold-gilded nave, and the church of San Francisco where we will visit the temple and its impressive convent that houses the most important museum of religious art in the country․ Then, we will continue with the walking tour through several of the neighborhoods of this vibrant historic center.
These areas still maintain traditional aspects of the daily life of quiteños. We will walk through Carmen Bajo convent, the so-called Queen’s Arch next to the City Museum, the emblematic La Ronda street, Santo Domingo Church, Junín street and San Marcos neighborhood. The tour will conclude at Espejo Street where travelers will have a lunch break and explore the nearby area on their own. Throughout this tour you will be able to discover a fascinating commercial system of artisanal and local products, and even some more peculiar ones. In the afternoon, we will travel towards the Middle of the World, located 22 km north of Quito at the Equator’s location. The line’s position was determined in the 18th century by the French Geodesic Mission with the support of Spanish and Ecuadorian geographers. You will visit the ethnographic museum, the colossal Middle of the World monument, and to take fun photographs while stepping with one foot on each hemisphere. At the Intiñán museum, which is located nearby, you will perform a series of dynamic experiments that validates the Equator’s location."