Quito & Galapagos Island Hopping inkl. Ausflügen

About the destination: Quito, formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city of Ecuador. Quito is beautifully situated in a valley on the eastern slopes of Pichincha Volcano. Situated at an altitude of 2850 metres above sea level, Quito is the highest capital in the world. Quito’s Centro Histórico is a lovely area with colonial architecture, cobbled plazas, majestic churches and many interesting museums. Centro Histórico is a Unesco World Heritage Site. One of the prettiest spots in the old centre of Quito is the Plaza de la Independencia, beautifully landscaped with flowers and trees. The buildings around the plaza include the pink confection that is the Hotel Plaza Grande, the Catedral Metropolitana de Quito, and the Presidential Palace. In the centre of the plaza there is the memorial to independence. Plaza San Francisco is one of the most beautiful places in Quito. It is a cobbled square with the whitewashed church and monastery of San Francisco standing along its north-western side. The Monastery of San Diego, situated southwest of Centro Histórico, is a lovely monastery from the 17th century, full of outstanding colonial religious art. It is absolutely worth a visit even if it is a little bit further away from the Centro Histórico. North of Centro Histórico we have the colourful Mariscal neighbourhood where there are many hotels, international restaurants, bars and trendy cafés.Quito is a friendly and fun city. With a superb Old Quarter and a dramatic setting, Quito is a place that grows on anyone.

About the destination: San Cristóbal (Chatham) is the easternmost island in the Galápagos archipelago, as well as one of the oldest geologically. It is administratively part of San Cristóbal Canton, Ecuador. Its Spanish (and official Ecuadorian) name "San Cristóbal" comes from the patron saint of seafarers, St. Christopher. English speakers increasingly use that name in preference to the traditional English name of Chatham Island, derived from William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. San Cristobal Island is composed of three or four fused volcanoes, all extinct. It is home to the oldest permanent settlement of the islands and is the island where Darwin first went ashore in 1835. A small lake called El Junco is the only source of fresh water in the islands. The availability of fresh water is what led to the early settlement of San Cristobal. A penal colony was built on San Cristóbal Island in 1880 for prisoners from mainland Ecuador. This later turned into a military base for Ecuador and export center for the island's products including sugar, coffee, cassava, cattle, fish and lime.

About the destination: Isabela Island is the largest island of the Galápagos with an area of 4,640 square kilometres (1,790 sq mi) and length of 100 kilometres (62 mi), almost four times larger than Santa Cruz, the second largest of the archipelago. It was named after Queen Isabella I of Castile. The island straddles the equator. This island was originally named Albemarle Island for the Duke of Albemarle by Ambrose Cowley, one of the first men to ever set foot on the islands, in 1684.