Zipaquirá is a town that not many visitors to Colombia take time to embrace. They simply pile onto a day bus from Bogotá, take a quick spin through the town and head straight for the cathedral of salt, which is one of the biggest tourist draws in the country (and we thought, well worth it). To get there, we were coming from the north. So, we hopped an 8-hour bus ride from San Gill, got dropped off on the side of the highway 5k from the central station, (ummm…still don’t know why the crappy bus company called Reina did this), and then decided to stay for four nights, one of those including Nochevieja (New Year’s Eve.)
We were glad we did! Zipaquirá felt like a little taste of Europe (which we’re starting to miss), had some charming restaurant options (with glühwein like Europe!), and simply sparkled with the best Christmas decorations we had seen in the country including a stupendous peppermint colored tree that performed a Jingle Bell light show.
Nothing like Christmas trees blended with palm trees and a side of a gorgeous cathedral which took a hundred years to build. In more ways than one, this town truly feels like a little slice of Spain.
The view from our apartment window, which was $22/night. We were footsteps from the main square.
Gazing down from the top of the hill is this fetching church with a seductive view of the town.
Strangely Zipaquirá has two squares which are smack next to each other. This is the second one. We’d never seen this configuration done before.
Since Las Vegas is one of our second foster homes, we found this cafe hilarious.
The pride of my homeland, says 2019 Tour de France winner Egan Bernal. There’s a lot of this in Colombia. And for good reason.
A view of the city of 130,000 as seen from the mountain where the salt mine is.
Oh boy do Colombians love their meat! We’re very ready for a change of cuisinery. (Cuisine scenery)
Colombians may be a little superstitious. When they dress their table in preparation for the New Year, it’s traditional to make sure that the table is decorated with shafts of wheat – generally, 12 is the right number. By doing this, they ensure that the New Year will be bountiful and there will be an abundance of food to eat (Culture Trip).
This isn’t it. On New Year’s Colombians also:
- Eat 12 grapes in 12 seconds at midnight
- Wear yellow underwear
- Fill their pockets with lentils
- Take their suitcases around the block
- Clean their house on December 31
- Put their right foot forward
Wanna know the reasons why? Read the full article
Who needs devices when you have pigeons?
Another view of the plaza principal.
Streets of Zipaquirá
Lots of funky bars and restaurants. Including this one. If you wanna be treated like royalty. (While sipping a Club Colombia)
What a lovely small town feel.
Ringing in 2022 with a drink in the square. Mandy couldn’t have been more excited when she realized they had a “hot” wine option. Aka German gluhwein! And it was just chilly enough for her to appreciate the toastiness of the glass! $12000 pesos or $3/glass. Mmmm. Next Christmas might need to be somewhere cold again…
The dazzling Christmas tree.
La Catedral de Sal
We took an entire morning to explore deep inside an unassuming mountain in Zipaquirá, where one can find a mysterious chamber of earth dedicated to a cathedral made of sulphury goodness. The Salt Cathedral is a true wonder…an underground Roman Catholic Church built 660 (200 meters) feet into the tunnels of a ancient salt mine. Considered one of the most notable accomplishments in Colombian architecture, it is a momentous place for pilgrimages and one of Colombia’s premiere tourist destinations which has received more than 13 million visitors from all over the world. The entrance fee is marked accordingly at a steep (for Colombia) $60000 pesos or $15/ticket, which includes an audio guide if your first language is not Spanish or are still weeding through the intermediate level trenches.
Accompanied by at least 40 other masked people, you begin the 2-3 hour tour by shuffling through a dark tunnel, and your nose takes in its first whiffs of sulfur. This salt deposit was formed 70 million years ago when an inland sea covered the region. The use of the mine itself has a history going back to pre-Columbian (“U” not “O”!) times and continuing in colonial eras to the present day. The ancient Muisca indigenous people were the first to benefit from this enormous salt deposit, which turned them into one of the most prosperous pre-Hispanic societies of their time. (Colombia Travel.) It was the miner’s themselves who embedded the cathedral within in the 1990’s. It begins with an eerie and lengthy tunnel which has 13 illuminated crosses carved of rock salt and representing the various stages of Jesus’s death.
These crosses represent Jesus falling for the first time and Veronica wiping the face of Jesus.
Jesus falls the second time and Jesus is stripped of his garments.
Jesus dies on the cross
Jesus is laid in the Holy Sepulchre.
A blue dome representing heaven.
You are then able to start peeping into the temple at the bottom which has three sections representing the birth, life and death of Jesus. 250 thousand tons of rock salt had to be extracted to form the area that is now the cathedral.
Stunning oversized gothic chandeliers are accented with blue and purple lighting.
The cathedral has a capacity for and astounding 10000 people. Weddings and even Sunday mass are held here. At the end of this room is a nativity scene. We read after the fact that the Baby Jesus has a six-pack so we didn’t get to check out his divine abs.
Pillars of salt graze the walls. And of course, the Pope made an appearance.
Allegedly, this is the biggest underground cross in the world. It dazzles with constantly changing hues. We were very impressed with their A/V Department.
Another view of the main cross and altar. Interestingly, the cathedral has no bishop; therefore, it has no official status as a cathedral in Catholicism.
Connecting the three naves are slinky tunnels reminiscent of the last scenes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The light show leads you between darkness and light giving you the opportunity to feel your way through a pitch black chamber at some points. Not for the claustrophobic!
While in one of the other naves, we began hearing booming music coming from the main nave. They were showing quite a video recreating the resurrection with its images blanketing the top of the huge cross.
As if that wasn’t enough, we also visited our first underground movie theater which showed a movie on the mine’s creation from the perspective of a beefy rock salt monster who bellowed like an ogre. A wee bit different than the last video. We questioned if all this reverberating surround sound was the best for the delicate walls. ?
Once you come out of the central nave, there is an entire underground shopping mall which we found a bit odd. Really? In a cathedral? We did enjoy the tree of life carved into the rock salt, however, but that was not on the market to slip into our backpacks.
