Boyacá department (the department just north of Bogotá) isn’t exactly undervisited by tourists and travellers, mainly because it’s home to the iconic pueblo patrimonio of Villa de Leyva, a must-visit spot on many people’s Colombian travel lists (and rightly so, it’s gorgeous). But Boyacá has a huge amount to offer beyond Villa de Leyva, as I found […]
Tag: Tunja
Colombia gained a new idol this past weekend. Nairo Quintana was already incredibly popular in his homeland before he rode to victory in the ‘Vuelta a Espana’ cycling race on Sunday, but his victory has catapulted him to a new level of adoration in Colombia. I’ve even heard people suggest that, at the relatively […]
Yesterday marked the anniversary of the death of Simon Bolivar on December 17th, 1830. Although the man commonly known as ‘The Liberator’ was born in Venezuela (Caracas in 1783), many of Bolivar’s greatest triumphs and disasters took place in what is now Colombia, during and after the Wars of Independence which have made him […]
Yesterday, Colombia celebrated it’s Independence Day: on July 20th, 1810, independence was declared in Santa Fe de Bogota. The process was by no means easy; the Wars of Independence continued long after this date, and Colombia became part of Gran Colombia (including modern day Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador) in 1819, but, following it’s break-up […]
On the 7th of August, 1819, the Battle of Boyacá took place in Colombia (then known as New Granada). This was the battle in which Colombia gained independence from the Spanish Monarchy, and it just so happens to be the day after Bogota was born. Double reason to celebrate. In 1819 a combined republican army […]