Lima

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Located on the right bank of the Río Rimac, Lima is sometimes referred to as the "City of Kings". It was on Twelfth Night, January 5, 1535, that the bloodthirsty Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro drew up the first plans for Plaza de Amas, using a checkerboard pattern; the town was officially founded that same year on January 18. Therefore, Lima was in effect founded by Pizarro.

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Thirty-four years after being founded, Lima grew rapidly, and its residents prospered - so much so that the city became one of the richest in the New World, as well as the political, religious and commercial hub of Spanish South America. Unfortunately, Lima's wealth and glory did more than simply dazzle artists and aristocrats. Just as the gold of the Incas had attracted the Spanish conquistadors, the riches of the Spanish colonists who subsequently settled in the area attracted the attention of the brigands and pirates who combed the shores and inspected the galleons laden with gold sailing full-speed toward Spain.

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Today, it is a sprawling city bustling with some nine million inhabitants - nearly half the population of Peru. Bereft of its former splendour, Lima is now a gigantic urban jungle enveloped nine months out of the year in an ochre-coloured fog known as the garúa. There are no Inca ruins to be found, and vehicles of all different sorts careen through the streets, filling the air with a nonstop cacophony of blaring horns. Despite these drawbacks, however, Lima still manages to spark the imagination of nostalgic visitors, who enjoy strolling through old neighbourhoods haunted by ghosts of the colonial era, a prosperous time that is long-gone. This is reason enough why UNESCO added the city's historic centre to its list of World Heritage Sites. Come nightfall in the seaside neighbourhood of Barranco, there is a certain je ne sais quoi in the air that piques the imagination of romantic souls and lends a mysterious quality to the nocturnal activities of local artists and performers.