Pueblo Libre
August 1, 2008
Once a small town outside Lima on the way to the port of Callao, Pueblo Libre still maintains its colonial looks and that small town feel.
Now deep in the centre of the metropolis that is Lima and Callao – one of South America’s biggest cities – Pueblo Libre manages to remain relatively quiet. Only a couple large thoroughfares pass through the district – and the streets just off of these are mostly residential.
In the centre of Pueblo Libre is the old plaza of Magdalena Vieja – the town’s original name when founded in 1557. It was renamed to Free Town in 1821 by liberation fighter San Martín owing to the patriotism demonstrated by its people for the newly declared republic. Sealing the name was Simón Bolívar, another liberation fighter, who decided to make a mansion on the plaza his home.
Bolivar’s mansion now forms part of the National Anthropology, Archaeology and History Museum – home to numerous relics from Peru’s vast history. A couple of blocks away is another piece of history. The old Cruz de Viajero, or Traveller’s Cross, was stopped at on the way out of Lima by Spaniards heading on long journeys.
Nearby is the Santiago Queirolo warehouse and tavern, a Pisco and wine producer with a long history. It is attractions such as this that are perhaps the main reasons to visit. Lovers of good food are very well catered for – many restaurants such as the popular Bolivariano fill the streets around the old plaza, each serving some of the best creole food in the city.
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[...] of Peru’s many Italian immigrants, Santiago Queirolo Raggio arrived in Magdalena Vieja, now Pueblo Libre, in 1880s. In this time Magdalena Vieja was surrounded by an expanse of countryside and the city of [...]
[...] can close for a month or two at a time with little notice, hands down. Located in the district of Pueblo Libre, in the beautiful little plaza, there’s no excuse not to try some of Lima’s [...]
[...] of Lima’s classic restaurants along with the Cordano, El Bolivariano sits in the heart of Pueblo Libre, just a short work from the plaza, and is named after the liberation fighter Simón Bolívar who [...]
[...] at at the Plaza de la Bandera where the district of Pueblo Libre meets Breña and Lima Cercado, the ruins of five pyramids that make up this Lima Culture complex [...]
[...] I found a nice little place to rent in Pueblo Libre (if I wanted to live there) for only $70/mo!!!! [...]
[...] to other museums such as the Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú in Pueblo Libre and the museum became instead the Museum of Peruvian Culture. The Larco family would later build [...]