Trujillo, Chan Chan and Surroundings
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Trujillo, Chan Chan and Surroundings
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Trujillo City
The city was founded by famous the conquistador, Diego de Almagro.
Diego de Almagro founded the city under the name of Villa Trujillo, to
honour his fellow partner's, Francisco Pizarro's birthplace: Trujillo in
Extremadura, Spain.
Founded in 1534, Trujillo had earned the rank 'city' and the coat of
arms that are still used today, only 3 years after its foundation.
Trujillo city was constructed on an area where 4 Chimú settlements were
located. The Spaniards wanted to ally with the Chimú People against the
Incas.
Interestingly, Trujillo was the first major city of Peru and has served
as a temporary capital in 1825, after Peru's independence was gained in
1821.
Located in northwestern
Peru, Trujillo is the capital of the La
Libertad Region.
Trujillo is Peru's 3rd largest city with its more than 800.000
inhabitants.
Trujillo is an important economical spot of northern Peru. Its economy
is fed by agriculture, industry, first of all.
Sugarcane is the primary agricultural produce in the area.
The city is also an important transportation knot.
Travelers who arrive to Trujillo will find a city with many
restaurants, shops, even shopping malls. Modern houseblocks and other new
buildings are wide-spread.
Attractions of Trujillo
Trujillo has the typical Spanish colonial architecture, like the
typical open spaces between buildings - the plazas, the colonial churches
and strongly ornamented entrances, terraces...
Plaza de Armas
The typical main square of South American cities that were former
Spanish colonial cities. A complex of statues, colourful buildings, palms
can be seen here and beautiful colonial Roman Catholic churches in the
distance.
The Colonial Centre
Centrally located streets close to the Plaza de Armas are abundant in
colourful several hundred years-old colonial houses. Some of them are
surprisingly elegant and ornamented, despite their small dimensions.
Chan Chan Archaeological Park
An ancient Chimú city's ruins 5 km (3.1 mi) from
Trujillo city.
Chan Chan was constructed by the Chimor/Chimú
civilization, a civilization considered to have been the continuation of
the Moche civilization.
The city of Chan Chan was constructed at around 850
AD. The Incas have conquered them in 1470 AD.
The estimated population of Chan Chan was of 30.000
people.
Because it is constructed of adobe, Chan Chan is
vulnerable to rains, storms, winds...
In order to better preserve the archaeological park,
Chan Chan was included by UNESCO to the World Heritage Sites in 1986.
Chan Chan includes 10 citadels in it. They are all
protected by walls.
The buildings inside of these fortifications are
temples, burial chambers, houses, ceremonial buildings and others...
The city of Chan Chan has a triangular shape.
Its protective walls are massive: about 17 meters on
average or 50-60 ft.
What is peculiar and beautiful even is the carefully
made carvings on these walls. These carvings are mostly textures, but on
many portions they contain animal and other humanoid-shaped figures...
Chan Chan is considered to be the biggest adobe city
in the World!
Because not so many people know about it, you can
get the chance to see a place that's almost unknown to the western
tourists. It is one of the least known major attractions in
Peru...
Getting to Trujillo
The best way for getting to Trujillo is to fly by plane to its own
airport. The Trujillo airport has links with Lima, Chiclayo, Cajamarca,
Tumbes.
There are no trains in this area.
Buses from the big cities of northern Peru and Lima are operated often
on a daily basis. You might even find multiple buses per day to Lima and
other big, more important cities.
The roads in the north and south direction are good, but eastwards they
are of poor quality, often unpaved and winding.
Trips will often take a whole day to any major city in northern Peru of
the capital. There are few connections to southern cities.
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