Things To Do in Cuenca, Ecuador

Parque Calderon & Nearby Attractions

Parque Calderón is the historical heart of Cuenca and the center of the action. Here you'll find both the Catedral Nueva and the Catedral Vieja. The Catedral Vieja (Old Cathedral), also known as the Iglesia del Sagrario, is the oldest structure in the city. Construction began in 1557 and utilized stones taken from the nearby Inca ruins of Pumapungo. Because cities can't have two cathedrals, once the Catedral Nueva opened in 1967, the old one ceased functioning as a house of worship. Today it houses a modest museum of religious art. The museum (no phone) is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 1pm and 2 to 6pm; and on weekends from 10am to 1pm. Admission is $2 (£1.35).

In 1885, construction began on the Catedral Nueva (New Cathedral), also known as the Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción, but it wasn't completed for almost another 80 years. It has a mix of styles -- Romanesque on the outside with Gothic windows. It is modeled on the Battistero (Baptistery) in Florence. The two massive blue domes are distinctive and visible from various vantage points around the city. The floors are made of white marble imported from Italy, while the stained-glass windows contain a mix of Catholic and indigenous symbols (the sun and the moon, for example). In 1985, when the Pope visited this cathedral and saw the Renaissance-style main altar (which is modeled on the one in St. Peter's in Rome), he looked confused and asked, "Am I in Rome?" The cathedral is open Monday through Friday from 7am to 4:30pm and Saturday from 9am to noon.

Around the corner, on Padre Aguirre and Sucre, is the Iglesia del Carmen de la Asunción. The church is not open to the public, but from the outside you should take note of its unique stone entrance and neon-lit altar. The church sits on the delightful and colorful Mercado de las Flores (Flower Market). In the early part of the 20th century, women weren't allowed to work. To create a diversion for them, the men of the city decided to set up this little market for the use of women only. Nowadays, anyone can wander around the fresh-smelling market. Ecuador is one of the world's largest exporters of flowers, and some beautiful varieties are found here. At the market, you'll find folk remedies for all sorts of illnesses, too. Nearby, on Presidente Córdova and Padre Aguirre, is the Iglesia y Mercado de San Francisco.

If you're interested in archaeological finds, stop by the small Todos Los Santos archaeological site. Discovered in 1972, the short loop path here takes you through overlapping constructions by the Cañari, Inca, and Spanish cultures. As you walk the path, you will see the remains of massive Spanish milling stones alongside an Inca-period wall with four of the style's classic trapezoidal niches, as well as pieces of wall that date to the era of the Cañari. The site is located at the intersection of Calle Large and Avenida Todos Los Santos (a few blocks down from the Museo del Banco Central). At the entrance to the site, you'll find the Museo Manuel Agustín Landiva (tel. 07/2842-586), which has a small collection of archeological artifacts, and also serves as a gallery space for young Cuencan artists. The museum and archeological site are open Monday to Friday from 9am to 1pm and 3 to 6pm; Saturday from 9am to noon. Admission is $1.50 (£1). It will only take you about 30 minutes to tour both the site and museum.

For a bird's-eye view of Cuenca, take a taxi up to the Mirador de Turi. In Quichua, turi means twins, and from this site you can see twin mountains in the distance. A taxi here should cost about $4 to $5 (£2.65-£3.35) each way. You can -- and really should -- combine a visit here with a visit to the ceramic gallery Taller E. Vega.

Cuenca is a shopper's paradise. Ceramics and Panama hats are the best buys here, but, in general, you can find an excellent selection of folksy handicrafts, as well as some higher-end art and ceramic works. If you're here on a Sunday, you should hop on a bus to, or sign up for a tour of, the nearby villages of Sigsig, Chordeleg, or Gualaceo. They all host active Sunday markets where you can buy some very high-quality, locally produced handicrafts. All the local tour agencies offer day trips to these villages, and even on nonmarket days, you can find good arts and handicraft works here.

In Gualaceo, be sure to stop in at Tejemujeres (tel. 07/2839-676; www.tejemujeres.com), a local cooperative of textile artisans that produce and sell beautiful handcrafted sweaters. The river that flows right through Gualaceo is a popular spot for a swim or picnic on sunny days. If you make it to Chordeleg, be sure to check out the fine silverwork and jewelry in the numerous shops that ring the town's central park. I like Mar de Plata (tel. 09/2223-781) for good quality wares.

Arts & Handicrafts

Walk down any street in the center of Cuenca and you are sure to find scads of stores specializing in handmade crafts. I especially like Arte con Sabor a Café (tel. 07/2829-426), a gallery, coffee shop, and bar with a good rotating selection of local artwork and crafts; it's located on Paseo 3 de Bolívar 12-60 and Juan Montalvo. In the evenings, this place sometimes has live music.

Ceramics

For hundreds of years, Cuenca has been a center for ceramics. Walk into any museum in the area , and you'll see examples of beautiful pre-Inca jugs and vases. Artesa (tel. 07/2842-647), at the corner of Gran Colombia and Luis Cordero, keeps the tradition alive and is the best place in the city for hand-painted ceramics.

For a more personalized experience, I recommend visiting Taller E. Vega (tel. 07/2881-407; www.eduardovega.com), located just below the Mirador de Turi. Eduardo Vega is a ceramicist and one of Ecuador's most famous artists. Monumental sculptures and murals by Vega can be found around Cuenca, as well as in Quito. A visit to his hillside workshop and gallery is worthwhile just for the views, but you'll also have a chance to glimpse a bit of his production process and to buy from his regularly changing collection of decorative and functional works, handicrafts, and wonderful jewelry. Most organized city tours stop here. If you're coming to Taller E. Vega on your own, I recommend calling in advance to be sure it's open.

Jewelry

The spondylus shell was used as currency by early civilizations of Ecuador. At the custom jewelry shop Spondylus (tel. 07/2820-689), you'll find the shiny shell integrated into a wide range of pendants, earrings, and bracelets. You'll also find plenty of beautiful pieces in silver, either plain or with assorted gemstones. This shop is located on Gran Colombia 20-85, on the western edge of town.

Panama Hats

You may be surprised to learn that Panama hats have always been made in Ecuador: For generations, the people on the coast have been using local straw to create finely woven hats. The trade was moved inland, and Cuenca is now the major hub for the production of Panama hats. Homero Ortega P. & Hijos (tel. 07/2809-000; www.homeroortega.com) makes the highest quality Panama hats in the world; patrons include the queen of England. You can visit the factory and learn how the hats are made, and afterwards you can browse in the elegant boutique. The store is located a few minutes outside the center of town, at Av. Gil Ramírez Dávalos 3-86. Sombreros Barranco (tel. 07/2831-569, www.barrancospanamahats.com), at Calle Larga 10-41 between General Torres and Padre Aguirre; and K. Dorfzaun (tel. 07/2807-537; www.kdorfzaun.com), Av. Gil Ramírez Dávalos 4-34 and Alcabalas, also sell finely crafted hats.

Panama hats in Cuenca vary greatly in price and quality, running from around $10 to $12 (£6.65-£8) for a basic version, to around $150 to $250 (£100-£167) for a superfino. That superfino, though, may cost over $1,000 (£667) in a boutique shop in New York, Los Angeles, or London.

The Panama Hat -- If a rose by another name would still smell as sweet, then a hat, invented, designed, and manufactured in Ecuador, would look as stylish and protect you from the sun just as well if, for example, it were called a Panama hat.

The Panama hat is endemic to Ecuador, with Panama mistakenly receiving credit for the hat's origin over a century ago. These lightweight woven hats made a splash at the 1855 World's Fair in Paris. When they were shipped from Ecuador, they went via Panama, their last port of call before landing in Europe. By the end of the World's Fair, Panama had gotten the credit for producing the hat, and the Emperor Napoleon III became perhaps the first in a long line of celebrities associated with the headpiece.

As far back as the 16th century, Ecuadoreans were wearing and weaving hats from paja toquilla, a fiber from the leaves of the Carludovica palmata palm. The fibers from these plants were boiled and dried and then painstakingly crafted into the final product. Cities in Manabí province -- Azogues, Biblian, Sigsig, Montecristi, and Jipijapa -- developed into major centers for the production of these hats. A single artisan can take anywhere from 3 to 6 months to craft just one superfino (super-fine) hat. Major production was moved to Cuenca in 1836, and then spread throughout the provinces of Azuay and Cañar, now the largest centers of hat production in Ecuador. The popular style of today is still called Montecristi, after the town where to this day the finest quality panamas are still woven.

After taking Paris by storm, the hats began covering the heads of American troops during the Spanish-American war (1898). Gold miners who arrived in California by way of the Isthmus of Panama also donned these light and breathable hats, whose popularity escalated further when a photograph circulated of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wearing one. Other prominent politicians to wear Panama hats included Winston Churchill and Nikita Khrushchev. The Panama hat also has its fare share of Hollywood cred, having graced the heads of stars as diverse as Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, Orson Welles, Sean Connery, Paul Newman, Bruce Willis, and Danny Glover.

Today, despite the popularity of the Panama hat, few, except those who visit Ecuador, know its true origins. But a toquilla straw hat, by any name, keeps the sun off your head and looks pretty sharp to boot.

Cuenca used to be a sleepy, provincial city, but local young folk and visiting tourists have turned this into a respectable little party city. For quiet drinking and conversation, Wunderbar Café (tel. 07/2831-274), right off the stairs below Calle Larga and Hermano Miguel, and La Parola (tel. 09/9910-234), on Calle Larga and the Escalinata, are both popular spots. Early birds will appreciate the Wunderbar Café's happy hour, which begins at 11am and runs until 7pm, while you really can't beat the views from the open-air patio of La Parola. You also can't go wrong at the bars at either the Hotel Santa Lucía or the Mansión Alcázar, which are much more refined and mellow.

Cuenca's top bar and hangout is Eucalyptus, which has a popular Ladies' Night every Wednesday and a rowdy salsa night every Saturday. Other good spots for mingling with the local crowd include Tal Cual (tel. 07/2801-459) and Sankt Florian (tel. 07/2833-359), both located on Calle Larga, near the Hotel Crespo; and Tinku (tel. 07/2838-520), on Calle Larga at the corner of Alfonso Jerves.

For live music, head to the San Angel (tel. 07/2839-090), on Hermano Miguel at the corner of Presidente Córdova, or Blanco & Tinto (tel. 07/2455-196), on Av. Jose Peralta 2-132 and Cordero. On any given night, both of these places might have anything from a folk singer or small combo to a DJ spinning electronic dance tunes. La Mesa Salsoteca (tel. 07/2833-300), on Gran Colombia between Machuca and Ordóñez, is the best place in town for dancing, with a heavy mix of salsa, merengue, and other tropical rhythms.

Note: Many venues are open only Wednesday to Saturday. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday are very quiet nights in Cuenca, and hardly anybody ventures out late. Covers are sometimes charged and usually range from $2 to $6 (£1.35-£4), which may include a drink or two.