{"id":9417,"date":"2013-08-08T14:25:55","date_gmt":"2013-08-08T19:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/?p=9417"},"modified":"2016-05-04T16:41:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-04T21:41:00","slug":"stepping-back-in-time-villa-de-leyva-impressions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2013\/08\/stepping-back-in-time-villa-de-leyva-impressions\/","title":{"rendered":"Stepping back in time: Villa de Leyva Impressions."},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

In the words of the greatest Australian poet of all time, if you ever find yourself in \u00a8a ball of confusion, when nothing is new-and there\u00b4s nothing doin\u00b4, step back in time.\u00a8 And if you\u00b4re lucky enough to find yourself in Colombia, your best option for following renowned poet-philosopher Minogue\u00b4s advice is to high-step it to the colonial portal of Villa de Leyva<\/p>\n

Now, I was going to try to squeeze this blog-post into some kind of \u00a8Ultimate Guide,\u00a8 or \u00a8Top 5,\u00a8or something, but, to tell you the truth, I\u00b4m feeling a bit lazy today (I\u00b4m Aussie, after all. Mate.) , so I thought today that I\u00b4d just leave you with a series of impressions about the places I love in this cobblestoned retreat, and what it means to me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stones.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"More<\/a>
More fossils than a Rolling Stones concert.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have a great presence here. Four-wheel drives are favoured by the moneyed Bogotanos that have managed to escape the big smoke and settle in Villa de Leyva\u00b4s peace. They park their sleek Ssang-Yongs \u00a0and Merc beasts in whitewashed mansions behind stone walls studded with fossils; and try to hide their secret smiles from tourists gingerly negotiating their sedans up the crazy-paved streets of the city. It\u00b4s harder to hide the laughs occasioned by the visitors from Bogota or Medellin brave enough to bring their stiletto heels to a weekend away. This is Colombia, after all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Art.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The best corner in Van Gogh\u00b4s patio. Well, til we got there, anyway.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some of the big smoke escapees are artists, and they\u00b4ve steadily gone about claiming Villa de Leyva as their own. Little private galleries are springing up like the local, \u00a8special\u00a8 mushrooms further afield. We were eager to meet up with my mate, Dan, who\u00b4d read at one of our Bogota\u00a0poetry nights<\/a> months ago, but who was now spending an enviable two months living and working in VDL. We stumbled across him taking some cartons of beer up to the caf\u00e9 he was tending. It turns out that this caf\u00e9, Van Gogh\u00b4s Patio, is also a beautiful little gallery in its own right.<\/p>\n

A gallery, a garden, a caf\u00e9. A retreat. We spent many an hour just soaking up the fact that we didn\u00b4t have to do much anything else. We soaked up a few canelazos – steaming cups of rum-or-aguardiente-charged, cinnamony well-being – to boot.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the greatest feat of art of Villa de Leyva, however, is the city itself. Every house, without exception, is proudly and immaculately whitewashed, and every trimming is just as proudly embellished in the same shade of royal green.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Food.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Oh,<\/a>
Oh, and before I forget, you need to try the local Boyaca arepas. Just do it, OK?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The culinary art is well represented in this very tourist-orientated town. The enormous, and by now predictably, meticulously-restored mansion, Casa Quintero, houses a number of foodie shrines, from caf\u00e9s to steak houses, to organic anti-pasto. Dan warned us against the tourist haunts circling the main plaza (biggest one in Colombia, I was gleefully informed on more than one occasion) like so many sharks, informing us they were a little on the costly side. Instead, we landed on a restaurant by random on Carrera 10 (Pizza Street) called Santa Lucia, and, Santa Lucia!!! we were pleasantly surprised. The pizzas were gourmet, as were the gelatos (sigh), and our hands and feet were cheerfully waited upon by Santa Lucia\u00b4s eager matron and her brace of equally cheerful daughters.<\/p>\n

The Plaza.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Happy<\/a>
It\u00b4s a very big plaza, alright?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

It seems that everyone in Villa de Leyva can\u00b4t resist informing bizzarely-dressed gringos that their plaza is the second biggest in South America, and\/or the biggest in the country. I started to get worried that it would get progressively more difficult to keep on forming the appropriately impressed expression each time, but that didn\u00b4t seem to matter much after a few rums at the little bar Dan considers the best on the plaza, Boca, run by a typically friendly and fun-loving relocated Cali native. Kicking back on a renovated milk crate, looking out at the locals beginning to claim their plaza for their night-time frolics, it wasn\u00b4t hard to be impressed about how easy it is to relax once you take in the time-locked atmosphere of the Villa, and how little modern city concerns seem to matter here. Cheers, Villa de Leyva. Thanks for reminding me that. See you soon.<\/p>\n

For actual\u00a0information<\/em> on Villa de Leyva, check out the following:<\/p>\n

Marcela\u00b4s short guide to the town.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Our guest, Ed\u00b4s extended guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u00b4s also a post where I lie about some of the tourist attractions in Villa de Leyva\u00b4s surrounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Enjoy!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

* Featured photo by Sandra Tobon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  In the words of the greatest Australian poet of all time, if you ever find yourself in \u00a8a ball of confusion, when nothing is new-and there\u00b4s nothing doin\u00b4, step back in time.\u00a8 And if you\u00b4re lucky enough to find yourself in Colombia, your best option for following renowned poet-philosopher Minogue\u00b4s advice is to high-step […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88889,"featured_media":2297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[3,626,4,51],"tags":[224,2977],"yoast_head":"\nStepping back in time: Villa de Leyva Impressions. - Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2013\/08\/stepping-back-in-time-villa-de-leyva-impressions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stepping back in time: Villa de Leyva Impressions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  In the words of the greatest Australian poet of all time, if you ever find yourself in \u00a8a ball of confusion, when nothing is new-and there\u00b4s nothing doin\u00b4, step back in time.\u00a8 And if you\u00b4re lucky enough to find yourself in Colombia, your best option for following renowned poet-philosopher Minogue\u00b4s advice is to high-step […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2013\/08\/stepping-back-in-time-villa-de-leyva-impressions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-08T19:25:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-05-04T21:41:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Colombia-Pictures-Villa-de-Leyva-1024x735.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"735\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul Giles\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel\",\"description\":\"Colombia Travel Blog: An international perspective on travelling in Colombia by world travellers.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2013\/08\/stepping-back-in-time-villa-de-leyva-impressions\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Colombia-Pictures-Villa-de-Leyva.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Colombia-Pictures-Villa-de-Leyva.jpg\",\"width\":\"2850\",\"height\":\"2048\",\"caption\":\"The Beautiful Villa de Leyva main plaza by Sandra Tobon.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2013\/08\/stepping-back-in-time-villa-de-leyva-impressions\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2013\/08\/stepping-back-in-time-villa-de-leyva-impressions\/\",\"name\":\"Stepping back in time: Villa de Leyva Impressions. - 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