Our ship docked at La Guaira, and a coach was waiting at the pier to take us on a tour of Caracas, Venezuela's capital City.
Venezuela is a country in South America, and now called Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. It is on the Atlantic Ocean, and not in the Caribbean Sea.
The official language is Spanish, the largest religious group are the Roman Catholics.
The currency is the Bolivar.
Some History:
Venezuela was discovered by Christopher Columbus, (1498), and named it Venezuela, (little Venice).
Amerigo Vespucci, (1499), arrived and made it a Spanish Colony, until 1961, when it became an independent country.
Driving to Caracas:
Caracas is on top of a high mountain. The road twisted around it, to get there. We were on a two lane highway, that hadn't been repaired in years. The driver of the coach, drove so fast, that when he passed every car, some of them almost went over the cliff.
We flew past the villages and the only thing we saw were that the were all made of tin shack huts.
The huts were also built on the outskirts of Caracas.
Caracas:
The population is over 4 million people. The architecture is a mixture of Spanish colonial and modern.
We began our tour at the Plaza Bolivar. There was a park in the middle and a lot of shops that formed a square, with the Cathedral, (that was build in the 17th century), at one end of the plaza.
We toured the Cathedral, and then drove to Casa Natal de Bolivar. This is where Simon Bolivar was born, and to the Venezuelans he is very important because he liberated their country.
Our next stop was a the Theatre. We were here during the day, so there were no performances. We toured the Theatre and while we were there we saw a troupe of ballet dancers, practising Swan Lake.
We went to the Museum of Modern Art, and saw the local artists paintings. I'm not a fan of modern art, so I was glad when we left here.
The Coach went back to the Plaza and our Guide told us we had 3 hours to shop and have lunch.
We walked around the square, and we bought some T-shirs, an aqua marine ring for me and my husband bought his Rolex watch.
The square was so crowded, the air was full of smog, that our friends said we should share a taxi and go back to La Guaira, for lunch.
La Guaira:
The taxi drove slower so we did enjoy seeing the forests, farms and wild flowers. We passed a few Gas Stations and saw that they were selling their gas at 25 cents, for an Imperial litre.
When we reached La Guaira, and ate lunch at the Pensao Seca Restaurant. It is on the beach, and has a seafood buffet.
My daughter went to boarding school with a girl who lived in Venezuela. She didn't go home for the short holidays, but came and stayed with us. She told us her father was a General, and they had a summer home in La Guaira.
After lunch we hired a taxi, with a driver who spoke English, and asked us to drive us through the residential district. On the ride I asked him about the General, and he said he was a very important man, and took us to see where their house was.
The house was a mansion, with gates surrounding it, and guards standing on both sides of the gate. Our friends thought we should drop by for tea, (as a joke).
When we got back to the beach area, we went to the Duty Free Shop, before we boarded the ship.
My Final Thoughts:
I have friends who go to Venezuela, every winter. They love it! I wouldn't go back if you paid my air fair. I am rating this a 3 star, because I'll leave it up to you to decide.
If you would like to know more about Venezuela the link is:
https://embavenez-us.org/tourism.html
Thank you for reading my review.
©LL2004
