Our trip to Bogotá in September 2024, was a very special one. For the purpose of the trip was to fulfill the biggest dream of my travel companion’s (Colombian) father: to attend a concert by André Rieu and his orchestra in Bogotá.

Because we live in Curaçao and Father Antonio and his wife Alix live in the coastal city of Barranquilla, we flew separately to Bogotá, where we rented an apartment had booked an apartment in the neighborhood Chico Norte. Wij kwamen aan op zondag en zij op maandag, dus we hadden alle tijd om te settelen in het comfortabele appartement met een -gezamelijk- dakterras met uitzicht op de stad.

Next to the apartment complex is café Culto, eand fine place for a good breakfast, fresh juices or a cappuccino with something tasty from the bakery. You can also go there for lunch or dinner.

On Monday, we went to pick up Antonio and Alix at El Dorado airport. Getooid met bloemen en een sjaal van André Rieu, stonden wij de familie op te wachten. En wat mooi was het weerzien!

Antonio couldn’t wait for the day of the concert to arrive! To maximize our time in Bogotá, we had planned several outings, such as a shopping day at the outlets on Avenida de las Americas and a visit to the historic center and Monserrate on the day of the concert.

Furthermore, we went on a day trip to Jaime Duque park and the salt cathedral of Zipaquirá, where we wanted to visit the newest extension -the underground museum.

On September 18, the time had finally come. The concert was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. and the doors opened at 5 p.m., giving us the entire morning and afternoon for our sightseeing trip. We would then still have plenty of time to get ready for the concert and be whisked away to the Movistar Arena at 6 p.m…..But that schedule went pretty much haywire!

Still fresh and fruity, we began our city walk morning at La Candelaria in the historic center. The first stop was Museo Botero.

We are fans of Fernando Botero and had already seen his “oversized” sculptures in Medellín and this (free) museum was also worth seeing. After this we walked through the iconic restaurant La Puerta Falsa, Plaza de Bolívar and the busy Séptima to the Plaza del Chorro de Quevedo, the place where Bogotá was founded in 1538.

The last stretch was uphill and we made a break to catch our breath at Cacao y Cacao.

Around Plaza del Chorro de Quevedo you will find many colorful street art, some more colorful than others.

The objects of the murals range from early Native American residents to the flora and fauna and social aspects of life in Colombia. You will also find cafes where you can try the traditional drink Chicha, a fermented drink made from corn. Calle del Embudo in particular is a fun and colorful street.

Finally, we decided it was time to order an Uber, which picked us up at 12:30 p.m. at Calle del Embudo and dropped us off at the entrance to Monserrate. What we hadn’t counted on was that there was a mega crowd at Monserrate, probably because the funicular (the little train) was under maintenance and everyone had to go by cable car. Both up and down there was a huge line.

By the way, you can avoid that queue by buying a fastpass ticket of COP81,000/€20 instead of the regular tickets a COP29,500/€7.50, but we found that to be a big difference for 4 people. Moreover, the line didn’t seem to be too bad from outside, but what we couldn’t see was that it was also completely full inside. So if it fits your budget, then such a fast pass ticket is definitely worth it!

When we finally got to the top, the view was amazing.

We went to lunch at Santa Clara restaurant, which was serves specialties from the different regions of Colombia. We chose the Posta Negra Cartagenera, tender beef in a sauce of panela (cane sugar), coconut rice and stewed banana. Topped with a glass of Sangria, this was a success.

After dinner we actually wanted to walk around for a while, but the line for the teleférico back was so long that we decided to get in line right away.

At 4:30 we began to pick up speed and were almost at the cable car. Finally, we were in the cab at 5:15pm and drove -in rush hour- to the hotel, where we arrived at 6pm. At 6:30pm we were picked up and taken to the Movistar Arena, where we finally arrived well ahead of time.

The concert was beyond my expectations. I am not a real Andre Rieu fan myself, but the show was great and Father Antonio’s enjoying face priceless!

One of the highlights was the performance of Colombian boy Daniel Sanabria. He stole the show 5 years ago, when during André Rieu’s performance the power went out and he spontaneously started playing on a plastic flute. André Rieu then bought him a real flute, on which he began practicing fanatically. Now he got to perform for the home audience and would continue to do so on the other 3 nights in Bogotá, as a full member of the Johan Strauss Orchestra! Check here the video of Daniel’s performance.

The next day was our last day in Bogotá, before the family returned to Barranquilla. We stayed another week to tour the Quindío region in the Colombian coffee triangle. Daarom besloten we onze laatste dag volop te benutten, met een day trip to the Cathedral de Sal in Zipaquirá and Jaime Duque Park, which is 9 kilometers from Zipaquirá.

We had been to Zipaquirá before, but since the new underground museum opened this year, we wanted to go there again. therefore hired a cab driver for the day. We had taken this cab before and the driver had prepared well. In his (comfortable) cab we could hear a concert of André Rieu in Vienna -:) The ride took about 45 minutes and it was a relief to walk in the spacious park, with its beautiful gardens and ample habitats for the animals. The most striking building in the park was a replica of the Taj Mahal from India! After Jaime Duque park, we left for the town of Zipaquirá, where we stopped at the beautiful square.

Zipaquirá seems like a nice town to stay in once during a round trip through Colombia. We zagen een paar hotels in het historische centrum die er erg leuk uitzagen, waaronder hotel Camino de la Sal.

We decided to follow our driver’s tip and have lunch at a restaurant near the salt cathedral: Alma Llanera. We did not regret this, because the restaurant was funny to see with all kinds of trinkets and live music, which quickly set the mood. The food was very good, we had ordered several dishes, from avocado salad, to Aijaco (soup) and grilled meat.

Tip: if you go there for lunch and then to the salt cathedral, you can buy the tickets at the restaurant. With the tickets already in our pocket, we left for the salt cathedral of Zipaquirá. The cathedral was -also the second time- impressive.

After a wonderfully long day full of impressions, it was time to pack our bags for our flight the next day to Armenia in the coffee region. De laatste avond met de familie werd er nog veel nagepraat over de bijzondere trip en werden we uitgenodigd om volgend jaar op bezoek te komen in Barranquilla.

Written by Jeanette
Travel period: September 2024