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We will drive through Quito’s colonial city. We will visit the Legislative Palace, Independence Square (Plaza Grande) and the Government Palace. We will also visit the magnificent churches of Compañía and San Francisco. Finally, we will drive up to a hill for a panoramic view of Quito and surrounding mountains.

ATTRACTIONS

Mitad del Mundo Monument: It’s one of the most common souvenir photos taken in Ecuador. Celebrating Ecuador’s location on the world map, Mitad del Mundo is one of the country’s most visited monuments, only 30 to 45 minutes from downtown Quito.

La Mitad del Mundo monument and complex dedicated to the equator and the fact that Quito lies only a handful of kilometers from it. In 1736 the French Academy of Science sent Geodesic mission to the Real Audiencia de Quito to prove the roundness of the earth. In the process, they recognize the equatorial line. With modern GPS technology, we now know that the frech geodesic mission missed the true line by 7.83 seconds to the South, meaning some 24 meters approximately Notice that the central monument features a globe encircled by a silver band representing the equator: the globe is curiously orientated corresponding to the true position of the Earth.