November 16, 2014: A Post-Cruise Day in Quito
	November 7, 2014: Fred and I Walk Around Quito, Ecuador
	Return to the Index for Our Stay in Quito

Today, the four of us- Fred, Greg, Yoost and I- will begin the official activities connected to the Galapagos Cruise. Beginning with our first night at the Marriott, everything is provided by Celebrity, including meals today and the bus tour of Quito.

As I did with our walking tour yesterday, I want to provide you a map covering the area of the city that the bus tour covered. That map is at left. (The bus tour also took us outside of the city to the Equator Memorial, but we'll look at a separate map of that later.)

Anyway, you can come along on our bus tour from stop to stop, as that's how the pictures on this page will be organized.

The Basilica del Voto Nacional

As we suspected yesterday, the Basilica del Voto Nacional was one of the stops the bus tour made- the first one, in fact. We had already done some walking around the Basilica, and we had already climbed the two towers. Today, though, we will avail ourselves of this opportunity to go into the church itself.

Basilica del Voto Nacional

We left the hotel about 9AM, and by 9:30 the bus was pulling up beside the basilica. We got off the bus to listen to our guide for a bit. This might be a good time to introduce you to our party (in case you haven't been to previous or subsequent album pages). Just click on the small pictures below for the full-size image:

Yoost and Ron

Greg and Ron

Fred

We spent a bit of time walking on the outside patio-like area beside the church; from this patio you can get a view of Parque Moreno below. Click on the thumbnail images below to see some of the other pictures we took outside the basilica on this bright morning:

Before we headed inside the church, I thought I would snap a picture of the tour guide for our bus, and I flanked her with Greg and Fred. After that, we all paid our admission fee (a couple of bucks) to enter the church.

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The entrance to the church brought us directly into the south end of the transcept. Looking across the transcept, I could see that there was a priest leading some sort of service, and we could hear music as well. Fred thought that the service was part of a funeral or memorial, and and I have no reason to doubt that. But I thought the music and singing were quite nice, and would be an excellent background for a movie, so that is the first thing I did.

I walked into the nave and then turned left, walking down the south aisle towards the front doors of the church. Then, when I had gotten behind all the attendees, I turned right and walked out into the middle of the nave. Standing there, I panned around the nave, taking in the ceiling and stained glass as well (which, sadly, doesn't show up all that well in the video), coming to an end facing the choir and sanctuary. I hope you will use the player at left to watch this movie, for it is a good introduction to the inside of the basilica.

After making that movie, I joined Fred, Greg and Yoost in silently wandering around inside the church, taking pictures of the nave, the transcepts, some of the memorials along the walls and, of course, the stained glass.

Click on the thumbnail images at left to see some of the pictures we took here in the nave. The nave seemed thinner than most churches, and taller as well. Perhaps this is because the church was built more recently, and thus could take advantage of construction techniques that made even higher walls possible. The effect was breathtaking; the tall, thin supports flowed smoothly upward, arching overhead to form graceful ceiling segments.

I think the effect is enhanced when there are people in the church to give it scale. Looking at the inside of the nave with the ceremony going on makes it seem even more beautiful- and more overwhelming. One cannot doubt that the scale of the construction gives the desired effect- the smallness of the worshippers contrasting with the immensity of the object of that worship.

The other common subject of our pictures was the extensive use of stained glass throughout the church. Some of the stained glass windows were high in the walls, almost like clerstory windows. Each set of gothic peaked rectangles (each one of which depicted a church official) had, positioned above, a five-pointed star that had little circles rather than points. The larger stained glass installations were along the outer sides of both the north and south aisles. These were lower and easier to photograph. To see some of this beautiful stained glass, you can click on the thumbnail images below. The first row are the stained glass windows high in the walls, as well as the large, circular stained glass installations at each end of the chapel:

The row of images below are of the larger windows set in the sides of the chapel; there were twelve of these, but these are the best eight of the pictures that I took:

We thoroughly enjoyed our second visit to the basilica; this time we got to go inside the church. Had we not come yesterday, we would have had to choose between the inside of the church or the outside and the towers. We are glad we got both.

Plaza de San Francisco

When our group was finished at the Basilica Nacional, it headed off southwest, down the narrow streets of Quito's old city, towards Plaza de San Francisco.

The streets got narrow quite quickly from the basilica, and they were quite steep as well; I would not have wanted to be the driver of the bus, trying to negotiate them. Fred took some pictures from the bus windows (using his zoom to look out the front window from our seats a few rows back), and a few of these are at right.

We were driving down Calle Angosta, which led pretty directly from the basilica to the plaza. It took us only fifteen minutes before our driver was letting us out right in Plaza de San Francisco. (He then drove off to a waiting area, as he would be picking us up at a different plaza that we would be walking to in a while.)

The Plaza de San Francisco (“Saint Francis Square”) is a major public square in the Historic Center of Quito; it takes its name from La Iglesia y Monasterio de San Francisco (the Church and Convent of St. Francis) which is its northwestern border. It is said that the plaza is built upon ancient Incan ruins, including Emperor Atahualpa’s (1497-1533) palace.

The Plaza and Church of St. Francis

The cobbled Plaza de San Francisco is one of the oldest and most beautiful sights there are in Quito. One of the things that makes it striking is that the huge white Monastery of San Francisco overlooks it. For a long time the Plaza was a location where many native people would come to engage in trade. Today, it is one of those places where locals and tourists come to take a seat at a cafe of on the steps and watch all the other people strolling along as they get on with their business. The Plaza also affords a great view of the southern part of Quito because it is situated on an incline.

To see some other views taken here in the plaza, click on the thumbnail images below:

As we were milling about, listening to our tour guide, someone she apparently knew came by to offer hand-painted pictures on wood for sale. She showed one to us, which is what led me to believe that she knew the vendor (or perhaps had a deal with him). Fred, along with a few others in our tour, bought one.

Before we leave the plaza and go inside the Church and Monastery of St. Francis, I wanted to make a 360° view of the plaza (since you could not hope to get it all in one shot). I did that, taking a series of eight pictures. I thought you might be interested in what the original pictures looked like, because during the stitching process, the perspective had to be altered a couple of times, as I was not in the exact center of the plaza and because of the incline, not all the pictures were perfectly aligned. So here are the eight pictures:

And here, in a scrollable window, is the resulting panorama:

The Church and Monastery of San Francisco

The Church and Monastery of St. Francis is a 16th-century Roman Catholic complex, fronting onto its namesake plaza. The imposing structure has the distinction of being the largest architectural ensemble among the historical structures of colonial Latin America and for this reason is sometimes known as "The Style of the New World". The style evolved over almost 150 years of construction (1534-1680) through earthquakes and changes in artistic fashion. The Church houses the city's beloved Virgin of Quito (1734).

At the Church of San Francisco

The facade of the main Church reflects, for the first time in South America, Mannerist elements, which later became a reference point for that style in the rest of the continent. The severity of the building's Renaissance and Mannerist exterior contrasts with the inner decoration of the Church, in which Mudejar and Baroque elements bathe the nave, chapels, and high altar in an exotic golden splendor. In its nave and aisles, the Church of San Francisco reveals its Mudejar (Moorish) coffered ceilings, lavishly decorated altarpieces, and columns fashoned in different styles. In the choir — original from the end of the 16th century — Mudejar details are fully preserved, although the central nave was brought down by an earthquake and then replaced by a Baroque coffered ceiling in 1770.

San Francisco houses over 3,500 works of colonial art, of varied artistic styles and techniques, most notably those of the famous Quito School of art, which had it genesis precisely here. Undoubtedly the most celebrated of these is the 18th century sculpture known as the Virgin of Quito, which has long been a kind of icon of the city. There also is a magnificent Franciscan library, described in the 17th century as the best of the Viceroyalty of Peru. We did not go anywhere but up to the balcony to overlook the chapel, but we still passed a number of objects of colonial art. You can click on the thumbnail images below to see some of them:

Our guide took us into the church and up a set of stairs to a balcony overlooking the main chapel.

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On the balcony, which was at the back of the chapel, I took the picture you saw earlier of all the gold on the walls and ceilings. It was pretty impressive. But I thought that only a movie would really do it justice, so that's what I did, panning around the upper level we were on to show you what it was like. You can use the player at right to watch the movie.

When we came out of the chapel and down a set of stairs, we were on a walkway that ran all around the monastery's central courtyard at the second level. From here, we could see the chapel's bell tower and of course down into the courtyard (which we'll look at in a moment). From our vantage point here, we took pictures of each other with the with the courtyard atrium as a backdrop; you can click on the two thumbnails below to see these pictures:

Then we went back to ground level to explore and see the courtyard of the monastery. Here, Fred took what I thought was a very interesting picture of one of the monastery's monks sitting on a bench in deep conversation with a young man. I find something intriguing about the picture; you can see it here. Also, Fred and I went and sat down on another of the benches nearby and asked Yoost to take a picture of us. Yoost didn't count to three, and when he took the shot I was looking off at the courtyard, but even so, the picture turned out OK. You can see that picture here.

The Monastery Courtyard As Seen From the Second Level

The monastery occupied the three buildings which, along with the chapel, enclosed a beautiful interior courtyard, very much in what we might call the Spanish style. I took a good picture of the courtyard, and you can see it at left.

In the middle of the courtyard there was a large fountain which, sadly, was not on. But the courtyard was an amazing space to walk around, and we did that, taking pictures as we went. If you would like to see some of them, click on the thumbnail images below:

Together, Church and Convent encompass almost eight acres, which include 13 cloisters, three churches, and the large courtyard. San Francisco follows the classical typology of medieval monasteries. The main Church is the guiding axis and from there the cloister galleries extend: the refectory, the chapterhouse, and winery. These define the quadrangular courtyard, with the four respective pandas, or galleries: that of the chapter room, the refectory, the converts, and the mandatum. In addition to the basic dependencies of a convent, there were areas devoted to health care, education, crafts, a garden, and even a jail (to maintain strict discipline). The kitchen and dispensary operated in the cloister of services.

Yoost and Greg were walking around, so I sat down to wait. When we were all done, we left the church to head back outside to find our tour guide again. I took a picture of Fred outside the church and then we headed back out into the middle of the plaza where our tour guide was waiting for us. Walking ahead of us, Fred looked back to take a picture of Greg and I walking along.

The Church of the Jesuits (La Compañía)

From Plaza de San Francisco, our tour guide led our group out of the plaza at the east corner, and one block down a street named Avenue Jose de Sucre.

La Compañía As Seen from Plaza de San Francisco

When we came out of the Church of San Francisco, we saw our tour guide down at the corner of the plaza, so we all four went down to gather around her, and that's where Fred snapped a picture of Yoost, myself and Greg. She pointed out the domes of La Compañía where we would be heading next. From this corner, we could see back up the narrow street the bus had traversed in coming here from the Basilica Nacional. Then we headed down Avenue Jose de Sucre one block to the corner at Avenue Garcia Moreno.

When we got to that corner, Fred got a picture looking back towards Plaza San Francisco, while I took a picture of him looking further down the Avenue. At this intersection, the Ecuadorian Numismatic Museum was on the northwest corner, in a building that also housed the Ecuadorian Central Bank. We did not go in, although it would have been interesting to follow the history of Ecuadorian currency, from the barter times before the arrival of the Spaniards, passing through the adoption the Sucre as the national currency, and finishing with its disappearance and the acceptance of the dollar for the country's transactions.

On the northeast corner, was the building we had passed on our way down the avenue- our next stop, the Church of the Jesuits (known locally as La Compañía.

The Facade of La Compañía

The Church of the Society of Jesus, known colloquially as la Compañía, is among the best-known churches in Quito because of its large central nave, which is profusely decorated with gold leaf, gilded plaster and wood carvings. Inspired by two Roman Jesuit churches — the Chiesa del Gesù (1580) and the Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola (1650) — la Compañía is one of the most significant works of Spanish Baroque architecture in South America. It is Quito's most ornate church and thought by many to be the country's most beautiful.

The carvings of La Compañía’s main façade, which was begun in 1722 and completed in 1765, were executed entirely of Ecuadorian andesite stone. As many architectural experts have pointed out, the body of the Church and the façade are of different styles. The structure of the Church shows Renaissance influences, while the façade is in the 18th century Baroque style, inspired by the Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome. Click on the thumbnail images below for two additional views of the carving detail on the façade:

Over the 160 years of its construction, the architects of La Compañía incorporated elements of four architectural styles- Baroque, Moorish, Churrigueresque (the ornate decoration, especially in the interior) and Neoclassical (notably, the Chapel of Saint Mariana de Jesús which was, in the early years, a winery). The floorplan is a Latin Cross, and has the conventional nave, transept, crossing, presbytery, sacristy, and chapel. The central nave is topped by a 26-meter high barrel vault constructed of pumice and brick. This vault is decorated with plaster, polychrome and Moorish figures in gold leaf. The skyline is capped by two green and gold domes.

The first group of Jesuit priests arrived in Quito in 1586. Most sites for the construction of churches had been granted by the city council to the Franciscans, the Augustinians and the Dominicans. However, in 1587 the council granted land to the Jesuit order at the northwest corner of Plaza Grande (now Independence Square). When the Augustinians showed their displeasure with the decision, the Jesuits chose to settle in another lot located southwest of the Cathedral and Plaza. A new Jesuit rector arrived in 1602, and brought with him the plans for the new Church. Construction began in 1605, but the building was not completed until 1765.

The Chapel in La Compañía

La Compañía served as the headquarters of the Jesuit order in Ecuador until King Charles III expelled them in 1767; at that time, many texts describing the history and architecture of the structure were lost. During the colonial period, the bell tower of La Compañía was the tallest structure in Quito. The original tower was destroyed by an earthquake in 1859, rebuilt in 1865, and destroyed by another earthquake in 1868. It was never rebuilt. Another earthquake damaged the church in March 1987. This prompted another period of restoration, undertaken between 1987 and 2005.

We were anxious to see the nave and the reported 18 tons of gold used to adorn the walls and ceilings, so we entered through the ornate main doors. The interior was simply amazing, and I confess that I surreptitiously violated the strictures against photographs a number of times to capture this beauty. Click on the thumbnail images below to see some of my pictures of the interior of La Compañía:

The church was incredibly beautiful inside, and I wish that there had not been restrictions against photography; I really cannot see why this is so, as there are many professional pictures that can be found freely on the Internet. I can understand a restriction against flash photography, as it might be disturbing to other visitors and worshippers, but I would have liked to get some closeup shots of the carvings and perhaps have taken a movie or two.

Our group left the church and headed northeast along Avenue Garcia Moreno.

The Metropolitan Cultural Center

From the Church of the Jesuits, we walked northeast along Avenue Moreno. In that last picture, you can see one of the towers of the Quito Cathedral in the distance. And in the picture of the avenue taken from the corner by the Church of the Jesuits that you can see here, you can see the church and, beyond it, our next destination- the Metropolitan Cultural Center.

Courtyard of the Metropolitan Cultural Center

The Metropolitan Cultural Center is one of several monumental buildings that earned the old city of Quito designation as the first world heritage site by the UNESCO in 1978. The building includes the Alberto Mena Caamaño Museum and Library Federico González Suárez. There are frequent thematic and artistic exhibitions, musical performances and other exhibitions by emerging and mid career artists.

The land on which the center sits was the original plot given to the Jesuits, but it reverted to the Crown in 1767. Many activities leading up to independence occurred in these buildings. After independence in 1826 the building became the Central University of Ecuador in 1836.

In 1945 the Central University moved to larger quarters, and the municipality of Quito took over the building, and it was temporarily a meeting place for the city council. Between 1997 and 2000 the building acquired its current configuration, when the museum, library and courtyard were constructed.

If you would like to see some other views of the courtyard, just click on the thumbnail images below:

We walked through this building along one of the long halls, looking into some of the research rooms, and we passed the stairs to the Suárez library on the second level.

"Day of the Dead" Exhibition

We then came to another atrium, and here, we found that the cultural center was having a free exhibition related to the Day of the Dead. The "day of the dead" is a holiday celebrated through out Latin America, although the tradition is strongest in Mexico where it originated. This tradition of celebrating the dead dates back to the Aztecs who believed in life after death and therefore viewed death as a continuation to another life, rather than the end of it all. Once a year they held a celebration for the dead who were, presumably, having a better time in the next life.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see more of the "day of the dead" exhibition:

We walked all the way through the cultural center to the doorway leading to Plaza Grande.

Plaza Grande

Independence Square, locally known as Plaza Grande, is the principal and central public square of Quito and one of the symbols of the executive power of the nation. Its main feature is the monument to the independence heroes of August 10, 1809, the date remembered as the "First Cry of Independence" of the Royal Audience of Quito from Spanish monarchy. The square is by Calle Chile on the northeast, Calle Gabriel García Moreno on the northwest, Calle Venezuela on the southeast and the pedestrian segment of Calle Eugenio Espejo, which runs in front of the Quito Cathedral on the southwest (the square being tilted about 45° off north-south).

On the North Side of Plaza Grande

Beginning in the early 1600s, the city began to concentrate around in the area around the current Plaza Grande, and city leaders began thinking of making it the city's central square. Initially just an area of packed dirt with a water source, there was vacant land around it, so some institutions decided to build there. n its flanks. The Catholic church acquired land on the southwest, and built Quito's main church there- the Quito Cathedral. Next to it, at the extreme southwest corner of the square, they built the headquarters of the archdiocese ( the Archbishop's Palace).

On the northwest side, some of the town's founding families built homes, but after the earthquake of 1627, which damaged those homes severely, they were replaced with the Palacio de Carondelet. Carondelet Palace (Palacio de Carondelet) is the seat of government of the Republic of Ecuador. The only private building on the square is at its western corner; it is a former private residence known as Palacio Hildalgo, now a multifamily residence.

Coming in to the plaza at its western corner, we passed a typical street vendor, and we were looking southwest along the front of the cathedral.

On the northeastern side of the plaza, a city council building was constructed, but that building was demolished in the 1970s to be replaced with the Municipality of Quito (the Quito City Hall). The picture shows the north corner of the plaza, and the Municipality is at right. At left is the north end of the Palacio de Carondelet. Finally, on the southeastern side of the square there were various commercial buildings over the years. Currently on that site is the Hotel Plaza Grande.

Independence Monument

For several centuries after its founding, the Plaza Grande was just a paved plaza with a beautiful fountain in the center. In the eighteenth century, it was replanned as a true city square, and it served as a garden for the Palacio de Carondelet. The plaza took its current shape when President Eloy Alfaro ordered the construction in the Plaza of a monument to commemorate the centenary of Ecuadorian independence. Independence Monument was placed in the center of the square, replacing the fountain, which was moved to the southwest ccorner. In a public ceremony in 1906, the President and Mayor unveiled the "Independence Monument" and changed the colonial name ("Plaza Grande") to "Plaza de la Independencia".

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

We took a lot of pictures in and around the plaza, and you might be interested in seeing some more of them. To make that easy, I have put them into a slideshow.

To view the slideshow, just click on the image at left and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.

As I like to do in places like this, I walked around the Independence Monument and took a series of pictures looking out from the square. Then I stitched them together into a long panorama. The Bishop's Residence is at the very left, at the south corner of the square, where the picture starts. Going to the right, you have the Cathedral, the west corner, Palacio Carondelet, the north corner, the Municipality, the east corner, the Hotel Plaza Grande (interrupted by the Independence Monument) and finally the south corner again. Have a look at this panorama using the scrollable window below:

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We waited for a few minutes before our guide told us that it would be at least another fifteen, for the buses had to come from some distance away where they had parked. So I walked back across the street into the Plaza to take some additional pictures.

While I was here, I decided to take a movie as well, so I walked to a good vantage point for it. I made a single movie panning around Plaza Grande, and you can use the player at left to watch it.

Then I walked back across the street to the hotel where the bus showed up a few minutes later to take us about six blocks away to lunch.

Lunch at the National Theatre

I didn't quite know where the bus was taking us; all we knew was that it was to a restaurant where lunch would be provided.

National Theatre and Theatre Plaza

As it turned out, the bus just took about five or six blocks as the crow flies through the narrow city streets to let us out just a few feet up Manabi Street from its intersection with Guayaquil. Then our group walked the rest of the way down Manabi, crossing Avenue Guayaquil and came into Plaza del Teatro.

As it turned out, our lunch was to be in the Theatrum Restaurant which is on the second floor of the National Theatre. Our guide took us in the outside entrance and we headed upstairs to the restaurant.

When we got up to the restaurant, one busload of folks had already arrived, and so the desirable tables out on the patio balcony were taken, so we grabbed some seats together inside.

In the Theatrum Restaurant

The restaurant was set up for us as a buffet, so once we sat down and got our drinks, we just ambled up to the buffet where we were served whatever we wanted. I thought that the food was quite good, and I tried to sample as much as I could (not being that much of a lunch eater). I was particularly fond of the cerviche, which they made mostly with shrimp rather than fish.

I just had some bottled water, but Fred tried a juice made of blackberries, which is, apparently, quite common in Ecuador, for the hotel had it for breakfast as well. During our lunch, Fred took a few pictures of the food and the venue, and you should click on the thumbnail images below to have a look at them:

After I'd finished, I wanted to go out into the Plaza del Teatro for a while, so I excused myself to go downstairs. On the way, I followed the signs to the lavatories. Now some of you may know my interest in all the different ways that restaurants and other venues label their restrooms. For example, you might have the simple "Men/Women" designation, but in a western bar you might see "Cowboys/Cowgirls". Of course you have seen "Hommes/Femmes" in a French Restaurant (or in France), or something cute and quirky like the "Laddies/Lassies" that I saw a year ago in Aberdeen, Scotland. The possibilities are quite numerous, and I invite you to think of others you have seen. Here, as you might suspect from the lead-in, you might have expected to see something like "Senor/Senorita", which is what I expected, but I was not prepared for how the two doors were labeled here. When you think you know how they were labelled, click here and have a look.

There was a lot to see out in the Plaza del Teatro, including the rather elaborate shoeshine setup that I took a picture of (and that you can see at left). I walked over to Jose Flores street, which makes a right turn right beside the National Theatre, and I just wandered around the plaza- taking pictures of whatever was interesting. When Fred and the others came out, he took some pictures as well. Click on the thumbnail images below to see some of these eclectic photographs:

Out in the plaza, there were two groups of performance artists. One was a singing group and the other consisted of some young kids doing impromptu breakdancing. I made movies of both, and you can use the players below to watch them:

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When our whole group had gathered outside, the buses were called and we headed off to see the Equator Monument outside the city.

The Middle of the World Monument

Our next stop was going to be about twenty miles north of Plaza del Teatro in Pichincha province, near the town of San Antonio de Pichincha, at the Middle of the World Park- where, we were assured, we could each stand astride the Equator.

The bus left the city slowly, having to negotiate the narrow streets (see a couple at right), but eventually come onto the Pan American Highway and headed north out of town. Eventually, the Pan Am Highway split off to the northeast while we continued north towards the town of San Antonio de Pichincha. Along the way there were some interesting roadside scenes, and the landscape to our right became riddled with fairly deep ravines. Click on the thumbnail images below to see some of this scenery:

As we neared the entrance to the equatorial monument, we passed the headquarters of the Union of South American Nations, which was still under construction. Quito was selected to be the site for this organization a couple of years earlier. The bus came to the entrance to the monument and we turned in.

The Middle of the World monument is located in an area called "Middle of the World City", a tract of land owned by the prefecture of the province of Pichincha, Ecuador. It is located at San Antonio parish of the canton of Quito, fifteen miles north of the center of Quito. The grounds contain the Museo Etnográfico Mitad del Mundo, a museum about the indigenous ethnography of Ecuador.

The 30-meter-tall monument was constructed between 1979 and 1982 by Pichincha's Province Council to replace an older, smaller monument built by Government of Ecuador in 1936. It is made of iron and concrete and covered with cut and polished andesite stone.

The monument was built to commemorate the first Geodesic Mission of the French Academy of Sciences in 1736 that conducted experiments to test the flattening at the poles of the characteristic shape of the Earth. They compared the distance between a degree meridian in the equatorial zone to another level measured in Sweden. The older monument was moved to a small town 4 miles away.

The bus let us out and we gathered around our guide led us over to the monument.

The pyramidal monument, with each side facing a cardinal direction is topped by a globe which is 4.5 meters in diameter and weighs 5 tons. Inside the monument is a small museum that displays a variety of indigenous items pertaining to Ecuadorian culture: clothing, descriptions of the various ethnic groups, and examples of their activities. When we eventually went inside the monument, we saw many of these exhibits, and you can see a couple of them here and here.

We went up close to the monument, and marked on a corner of it is the fact that it marks the point of 0 latitude (although we were to find out a bit later that this is probably not precisely true). In any event, walking around the monument (which is circled by a lawn and circular walkway, was interesting. If you would like to see some other views of it, just click on the thumbnail images below:

Before going up in the monument, we spent some time in the plaza below.

Over the years, countless tourists have had their pictures taken straddling the line drawn down the center of the east-facing staircase and across the plaza, and we were no exception. I asked Greg and Fred to pose, each with a foot in each hemisphere, and the result is the picture at left.

I know it may seem schlocky, but we just couldn't resist.

Also on the plaza was an interesting outdoor exhibit that talked about the relationship between the ancients and the seasons and the colors and the sun and the earth.

There was a flagpole with some colored pavers around the base of it. Each of the four colored sections tied in to one of the four signs planted around the area. There was also a sign talking about the relationship of the sun and earth and equator.

I thought you might be interesting in reading the English portion of each sign, and also about the equator. There is a picture of this area at right. If you click in the middle of any of the four colored areas, I'll pop up a little window so you can read the sign associated with it. And if you'll click on the little sign image in the foreground, I'll pop up the sign that talks about the equator.

Also nearby there was a nice little fountain and you can see Fred with the fountain here.

Then we followed the equator into the Middle of the World Monument, and climbed to the top.

Atop the Middle of the World Monument

We spent a good deal of time here at the top of the monument, just walking around and looking at the amazing views in all directions. We took a lot of pictures, but I've tried to whittle them down to just a selection here. Click on the thumbnail images below to see some of these views:

Finally, while we were here at the top of the Middle of the World Monument, I did my usual selection of photos to attempt to put together a 360° panorama. It turned out pretty well (after a bit of work) and you can use the scrollable window below to have a look at the result:

Postscript

It was not until I was working on this album page, in January following our trip, that I became aware that our time at the Equator wasn't actually that. After all the work done by the French expedition, and all the years that everyone thought that the Equator passed right where this park is, readings based on the World Geodetic System WGS84, used in modern GPS systems and GIS products like Google Earth, have revealed that hthe equator actually lies about 240 meters north of the marked line.

The best explanation of the discrepancy I found was in a column in the New York Times a while ago. Rather than send you to their website, which sometimes requires a registration, I have copied the relevant page and put it in the scrollable window below. It is quite interesting.

Dinner at La Gloria in Quito

After our tour got back, we had some time to ourselves before the Celebrity buses arrived to take us all to dinner at La Gloria, an Ecuadoran restaurant two or three miles away from the Marriott. It was a very nice restaurant, and I think the cruise line had booked the whole place for dinner- as there were some eighty of us there. We had a good meal, and we took just a few pictures during dinner. You can see them below:

After dinner we went back to the hotel to get ready for our departure in the morning for the Galapagos Islands.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	November 16, 2014: A Post-Cruise Day in Quito
	November 7, 2014: Fred and I Walk Around Quito, Ecuador
	Return to the Index for Our Stay in Quito