Salvador’s sights
Before the Spanish conquest of the Earth, where Salvador is located today, wore the name Kuscatlan, which means "Earth of jewels". Mysterious culture flourished here "People-jaguarov" – Olmekov (approximately 4000-2000. to N. NS.) who created the first empire in America, grew up the city of Maya and Aztec (IV-XII centuries. N. NS.), and by the time of landing on the shores of the modern Salvador of the Spaniards (XVI c), the powerful cities of peoples Pipil, Naiathl and Toltec developed here. And today, the country strikes guests with mysterious structures of the ancient cities of the Precucumbian era with magnificent sandstone pyramids in Taasuma and San Andres, mysterious stone heads of Olmekov, scattered throughout the country, monuments of disappeared Indian civilizations, Lenka and Curb, mysterious surroundings of Lake Gich, which, According to local residents, keeps the secret of resting at his bottom of the ancient city, as well as dozens of other archaeological monuments, many of which are still waiting for their researchers. In the mountain slopes, countless rivers flow, and at the foot of two dozen volcanoes lie amazing in the beauty of the lake with picturesque surrounding valleys. Despite the relatively weakly developed tourist industry and many years of civil war (and maybe just thanks to them) the territory of the country is still quite poorly studied and mastered guests from abroad, which makes it particularly attractive in the eyes of fans of historical tourism.
San Salvador
The extended Valle de Las Amakas valley, at the foot of the magnificent eponymous volcano (Ketzaltepk, 1943 m), the city of San Salvador is a chaotic and pretty unsightly capital capital, its main political and industrial center.
Hoya de Serena
Just 15 km from the capital, near the village of Santa Tesla, there are ruins of a unique settlement of the classical Mayan period – Hoya de Seren (open from Thursday to Sunday, from 9.00 to 16.00; Login – $ 3). Included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1993, they are widely known as "American Pompeii", Since there are residues of a village destroyed by a volcanic eruption of approximately 600 g. NS. (Suffice it to say that a layer of ashes and volcanic slags over the houses of this once blooming village in our days reaches 6 m). The excavations themselves are rather modest, especially compared to the gravestone Mayan complexes in Guatemala and Honduras, however, their value is that ashes and slags retained the situation and household items practically in untouched state, which is completely unthinkable in the large cultural centers of this civilization plundered by vandals. Little, but very informative archaeological museum in detail illuminates the Mayan culture on the territory of modern Salvador.
Also close to the capital and just 5 km from Hoya de Serena lies the San Andres municipality, where the fertile soil of the same name is hiding a lot of historical mysteries. Complex San Andres (Opened from Thursday to Sunday, with 9.00 to 16.00; Entrance – $ 3) – one of the largest plots of pre-columns in El Salvador, originally covered more than three square kilometers. According to scientists, in the Lategoriest Mayan period (650-900. N. NS.) When the city reached his heyday, about 12 thousand people lived here, and he himself was the capital of the fertile valley of the Sapotan. Only a small part of the facilities of the city are currently opened, among which the so-called Acropolis, or South Square, is particularly distinguished, – a powerful stone platform on which a plurality of pyramids and turrets are installed. Also interesting "Structure I" On the southern edge of the square (allegedly the temple – the altar was found in its northern part), the quarters of the northern and western parties of the Acropolis; The funeral pyramids in the eastern edge of the square, the so-called market square is somewhat north, as well as the open pyramid "Structure V" on the eastern edge of this area. A small museum contains an accurate model of this ancient city and a good exposition of ancient artifacts.
The closest beach to the capital – La Libertad, on the weekend, is overwhelmed by the people, so a foreigner is better to focus on one of many, no less beautiful, shores in the area of La Costa del Balsamo, 75 km west of La Libertad.
Eastern Salvador
The wild landscape of East El Salvador remained practically unexplored land for Indians who were not solved for the natural border of Rio Lamp, in Popochetetet ("Smoking land") – So they called this land of high volcanoes, hot plains and hard-to-reach mountain chains. And today, this region is still sufficiently isolated from the capital, and the main human settlements are concentrated around the rich Coffee Plants of San Vicente and San Miguel. Eastern Salvador was a venue of fierce clashes during a recent civil war, so this wild and beautiful area is obviously poor and launched. Traveling here is very difficult, not least because of some hostility of local residents who are accustomed to see in every foreigner "gringo".
The charming city of San Vicente was founded in 1635 by fifty Spanish families in accordance with "Indi laws" (1600 g) and has a rich colonial history.
San Vicente stretches the many hiking trail to the peaks of the Chiconpephek volcano (San Vicente, 2181 m) and the crater lagun-de-apastepek lags, Laguna-Alegria and Laguna de Siege (Laguna de Siega, 3 km to the North East of the city), to the village of Kohhetepek and the local shrine located in it – the statue of the Virgin Fatima Portuguese (1949) on the crest of the Serro-De Las Pavas ridge, to the craft village of San Sebastian, to the hot sulfur sources of Los Infhenilos near Verapas (10 km east of San Vicente), as well as to the ruins of Maya Teuacan (open from Thursday to Sunday, work hours irregular, entrance – $ 2).
Noisy San Miguel (136 km from San Salvador) – the third largest city in the country, is a large commercial center and a starting point for many interesting areas of the eastern part of the country. North of San Miguel stretches a beautiful and poorly populated mountainous mossens Morasan, who experienced the most nightmaries of the past war. Most of the region today serves as a venue for a unique project for the restoration of the social infrastructure of Ruta de La-Paz, during which the Schools, Roads, Hospitals and Tourist Objects are built, are built. North of Gother, in the small village of Cocoaker, you can see a local relic – a colonial church with walls up to 5 m thick, whose construction refers to 1660 (one of the oldest in the region), as well as Musa-Guanakirika ("Museum of Community" In the local language of ulua) with excellent exposition on local history, tradition and culture. Northeastern, near the commercial town of Corintho, the caves of Gotas-del-Espirita-Santo, whose walls are literally dotted by the onset paintings of the Precumbovoy Epoch (according to some data, their age is estimated at 10 thousand. years).
North Salvador
North of San Salvador, hilly pastures and agricultural land are inferior to the wild and rarely inhabited regions of Chalatanango and Kuscatlan, almost closed for outsiders. In the midst of the Conquists, even the Spaniards came to the conclusion that this distant northern corner of the country is not worth their attention, therefore the customs of the Indian cultures of the past were preserved here for many centuries. Centuries-old poverty "Campesinos", What the inhabitants of the northern regions are called, created an excellent ground for the formation of revolutionary sentiments, and at the end of the XX century, the FMLN partisans were filled here almost all, devastated in permanent skins with the government troops of the and without that poor lands of Chalattenanggo. Still here, except for the breathtaking of the mountains and blue heaven, there is nothing almost nothing to attract a foreign tourist. However, a tortured traveler will find a lot of interesting places here, not fit into a canonical triangle "Ruins-Temples-Poncho", So characteristic of most countries in the region.
North of Arambala lies a small and surprisingly friendly mountain town Perkin – one of the cult places of the country.
Town Suchitoto ("City of birds and colors" In Naiathl language) lies in the middle of an idyllic-beautiful countryside in 18 km east of Aguilares, on the very shore of the beautiful Lake Lago de Suchitlan.
Just 39 km northeast of the capital is the most important post-classical sector of the Maya era – Pipil Chihuatan, or just a chihuatan ("Place women" in Naiathl language). One of the largest and at the same time unexplored archaeological objects of the country, it covers an area of about 4 kV. KM. The city was founded immediately after the penetration of Toltec to the region (x in n. NS.) and for unknown reasons will leave approximately in 1200. The residential areas of the city were surrounded by two ceremonial ceremonial ceremonial ceremonial ceremonial ceremonial ceremonial center stretched to the West from Rio Akeluate and contains about 20 different structures, and the East is still open by archaeologists. There are several burial sites, pyramids, a ball in the ball, a lot of ritual purposes, ceramics and statues of the Rain Tlaloki and God, Evil Miktlanteuktley, as well as many artifacts pointing to the close relationship of local residents with Indian settlements Guatemala, Central Mexico and the coast Caribbean.
Several norther (84 km north of San Salvador) lies a mountain village La Palma (Dulche-Namba de la Palma), The Dulce-Lamb de Maria (third week of February) and masters of folk crafts, whose products – Wooden and ceramic toys in the widespread festival "Naive style" – Sold throughout the country. This branch of local "farm" was conceived by Salvador artist Fernando Lordov in the mid-1970s and today I acquired a wide range of scope. On the main street of the village there is a gallery of Salvador artist Alfredo Linares (open from Monday to Saturday, from 9.00 to 12.00 and from 13.00 to 16.00) with its beautiful watercolors and lines.
North of La Palma rises the highest mountain Salvador – Serro-Nero (2730 m), as well as numerous hiking routes through the Las Pilas massif to the shores of Lake Chalattenango and the city of the same name, to the La Pena mountains, to the thermal resort of Agua- Fria-Touristenro, to the village of Concepcion-Ketzaltepk, famous for its workshops on the manufacture of hammocks, and to the west of the majestic mountain chain Metapane-Alotepek, whose slopes serve as a recognized place of organization of various hiking and horse excursions.
Western regions of Salvador
More calm than in the north, rich landscapes of Western Salvador are the edge of mountain ranges, deep valleys, bright green coffee plantations and small villages, the whole life of which keeps on growing coffee and livestock. These edges largely avoided the shocks of war and the economic difficulties of the 90s, and a relatively well-developed tourist infrastructure makes a trip to this area a markedly easier enterprise than any other area of the country.
Northern region around the city Auacpan is one of the oldest settlements of Salvador, largely due to extremely fertile local ground. According to the excavations, already 1200 g to. Eh here appear the first major settlements of the Indian peoples. Auchapan is also considered one of the oldest Spanish settlements in the country – already in 1862 it was a fairly large city, successfully reflecting two attacks of the Guatemalan Army (in 1863 and 1864.). Today, the main branch of this economy of this once wealthy bourgeois town is the geothermal electric power industry (it produces up to 70% of the country’s entire electricity, and many European and Japanese technical specialists live). A lot of interesting places attracting tourists from all over the country around the city. 15 km to the west of Auchapan begins beautiful landscapes of National Park Boske El Imposible.
North of the city lies town Wihua (Residents themselves call him Hwahaua), whose magnificent Cathedral Temof del Señor de Jesus (1955 g) posts in itself "Black Christ Wihua", Cutted by the sculptor Kiro Katano – the author of a similar statue in the sketchyas (Guatemala). During the January festival "Black Christ" Thousands of pilgrims from all over the country flow into the city.
A little further in the mountains there is a quiet and charming mountain town Apaneka, Founded by Pedro de Alvarado in the middle of the XVI century. Beautiful landscapes, clean air and one of the most famous restaurants in the country – "La Kochina de Mi-Abuela" (open from 11.30 to 17.00 Only on Saturdays and Sundays, tel: 450-52-03, added 301) made it one of the most popular venues in the region in the region. 4 km northeast of Apaneka lies a small crater lake Laguna Verde, surrounded by reed and eternally loanted foggy pine forests. Closer to the city and slightly north several smaller Lake Laguna-Las Ningas, which is also a popular weekend site. Still north a serene Lake Lago-de-Guich and the Rio-Ovuto river flowing through it, which forms the border with Guatemala. On the West Bank, you can find a plurality of half a brine of petroglyphs of the Petroglyphs of the Petroglyphs, and in the very center of the water stroit,.
10 km from Lago de Guiha, on the very edge of Kordillera-Metapane-Alotepek, spread out a small town Metapane, Being one of the four cities that were the first to support the appeal of Delgado to independence in 1811. City Church of Iglesia de la Parokia (1743 g.) is one of the most beautiful colonial churches of Salvador.
Right above the city begins the zone of international forest Bosco Montecristo Reserve, managed by the governments of Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. The territory of the reserve encompasses as many as two climatic zones of the Serro Montecristo Range, at the highest point of which (2418 m) convergence the boundaries of these three states.
Northeast Auchapan extends a wide plain with a town Chalchuap, famous for its beautiful colonial church, stone strip and the archaeological site Tasumal (open from Thursday to Saturday, from 9.00 to 17.00; Login – $ 3) located on the edge of the city.
The most important portion of Maya in El Salvador, Tasumal is small compared to the ancient cities of Honduras or Guatemala, but is considered one of the most important centers for this disappeared civilization.
Santa Ana – the second most important city of El Salvador – spread out in the picturesque Valley of Chiautuaucan between three volcanoes.
Pacific coast
The Pacific coast of El Salvador, stretching from the rio-pass river in the West to Rio-Goaisan in the East, is a three-hundred-meter strip of sand tropical shores, wild cliffs, mangroves and small islands. It is difficult to expect the amenities and fashionableness of international resorts, but in abundance there are clean wide shores, colorful fishing villages and beautiful landscapes. Unfortunately, in this area, the devastating earthquakes are not uncommon, the last of which was recorded in January 2001.
The most popular tourist areas in this region are the small fishing city of La Liebertad (Puerto La Liebead, 34 km south of San Salvador), which is considered one of the best surf coast in Central America, as popular with surfers of El Sunsal and rock, untouched shores of Los Kubanos and Los Remedios (25 km of south of Sononsona) and Barra de Santiago, plus Plyus-El Espino coast, considered the best beach in the country. Also good shores of Playa El Sonta, Playa de Metalio and Costa del Balsamo coast in the West, the Costa del Salt resort area in the east and its capital – the small town of Sakatewucheuk with the impressive Cathedral Santa Lucia Cathedral (XVIII c), as well as the shores of Playa El Tamarindo, Playa El Cook, Playa-El Ikasal, Playa Las Tunas and Playa El Negrat (also in the East).
Tourists’ tourists Mangrove swamps Baha-de Ikilisco, Archaeological site Kara-Sunsea, 10 km west of Aquetla, La Unyon – In the past, the largest trading port of Salvador, as well as the islands of Gulfo de Fonseca Bay – Saktillo, Martin-Perez , Conchagit, Meanguer, Tortuga, Madre-Sol, Lo Sedros and San Sebastian. The islands offer good conditions for walking on yachts, boats and boats, the flocks of dolphins and whales regularly appear here, and on the black sands of the Fonzek Bay, sea turtles are heated in the sun. Stormy waters of LEMPA rivers, Paz and Torol are very good for rafting and alloy on kayaks and kayaks.
