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We began our 3-week honeymoon with 4 days in Bogotá, a 500-year old city of almost 8 million people and many many churches.

Our hotel, the Abadia Colonial, was in a great location in the Candelaria district, had a good Italian restaurant and beautiful interior courtyards …

… but our room had the hardest bed and toughest pillows we have ever slept on.

It was only marginally better than sleeping on the tiled bathroom floor, with the toilet for a ‘pillow’.

I also suffered from some mild altitude sickness (Bogotá is at just over 8,300 ft) for the first couple of days, which meant headaches and more insomnia.

We had a delicious breakfast one day at La Puerta Falsa, Colombia’s oldest operating eatery, a couple of blocks from our hotel.  Ian had a chicken tamale, and I had the traditional chocolate santafereño, a steaming mug of hot chocolate with cheese and brioche.

We also had two nice dinners at El Gato Gris, accompanied by excellent live jazz.

On Sundays and holidays, the main roads in the centre of Bogotá are closed to car traffic, and are solely for the use of cyclists, rollerbladers and pedestrians (a.k.a. the Ciclovía).

One of the weirdest things on the streets of Bogotá was people holding signs that said “Minutos”, and wearing vests with many many pockets, each pocket holding a cell phone that was tied with a thick chain to the person’s waist.  It was like a mobile cell phone booth!

Overall, we really enjoyed the city, but were more than ready for some tropical beaches.  Next, Taganga.