We took the relatively short journey from Bogotá to Villa de Leyva by bus. The Bogotá traffic meant that it took well over an hour to get from Bogotá’s modern bus terminal to the city limits despite the road being a modern eight lane highway. The journey north passes through some very fertile farmland, a lot of cattle and lush green vegetation, interspersed with numerous glass houses supporting Colombia’s large fresh cut flower industry.

Villa de Leyva sitting at the foot of spectacular mountains is gem of colonial architecture. It’s buildings are neatly whitewashed and its large cobbled streets showcase Colombia’s colonial era. The centre is well preserved and has a beautiful consistency of architecture, with no large modern buildings interfering with its original architecture.

Today at 163 kms from Bogotá, it specialises in tourism and in particular weekend breaks for Colombian tourists, especially those from the burgeoning middles classes from Bogotá. Many of the city centre buildings therefore specialise in supporting the tourism industry. It is also on the international tourism circuit as one of the things to visit in Colombia, but as of yet it has not become a backpacker haven like Salento or a cruise ship destination like Cartagena, so it still feels like a genuine Colombian experience.

The centre of town is the Plaza Mayor, which at 14,000 square metres is the largest in Colombia. In the centre of the square is an old well, which used to be the towns principal source of water. All around the square are two story whitewashed buildings, many with balconies, giving an elegance and symmetry to the whole square. As with all town squares in South America, on one side is the old Church, Iglesia de Nostra Señora del Rosario, which dates back to the seventeenth century, and still contains many original features so adds very much to the step back in time feel of the town.

Much of the town’s life is centred on the Plaza Mayor, and our visit coincided with a light festival. On both the Friday and Saturday nights there was a nearly two hour firework display, and the 14,000 square metres were not enough to accommodate the vast number of visitors. It was a big crush of humanity, but in typical Colombian style very good natured. The less crowded display on the Friday also saw many visitors bring multicoloured wax candles which they lit in clusters of several candles, leaving a large residue of wax on the cobbles.

Villa de Leyva and its citizens played an important role in Colombia’s fight for independence from Spain. This is best shown off in the Casa de Antonio Ricaurte, which was the birthplace of one of Colombia’s national heroes, who fought with Simon Bolivar, and when the Spanish captured the Bolivarians’ main ammunition store, succeeded in blowing it up, killing the Spanish troops and himself in the bargain. However this action decisively turned the war in the Bolivarians’ favour. Today the house is a fine museum of colonial architecture, but what is also impressive are the well maintained cottage gardens.

Sitting a block away from the Plaza Mayor is Monasterio de las Carmelites, which today is a beautiful square complete with the elegant white church and also the old monastery. Today the monastery contains on of Colombia’s largest collections of religious art. Many of the paintings are quite austere, not many smiles in evidence, and there is a whole room dedicated to displaying some twenty of so crosses.

Back in the main square is a very attractive old house, which was owned by the avant-garde artist Luís Alberto Acuña. While the art may be an acquired taste, the courtyard, with its murals and plants is very beautiful. Also as with many colonial buildings the exterior often hides some lovely internal courtyards and patios. From the centre of the courtyard you can look out through the main door straight into Plaza Mayor.

Sitting in one corner of Plaza Mayor is a pub selling some of Bogotá’s finest beers from the Bogotá Beer Company. The pub has five of they brews on tap selling “pintas” and other beers by bottle, all very much part of Colombia’s burgeoning microbrewery scene.

Date: 07/12/2018 to 08/12/2018