A quick visit to Salento, a beautiful town in the Colombian coffee region

Last month, when we went to Pereira to attend the wedding of one of my husband's colleagues, we had the opportunity to take a day trip through Colombia's coffee region with some of the wedding guests. The main purpose of the trip was to visit a coffee farm, but I'll tell you about that another day, hehe. But on the way, we made a few stops, one of which was in a town called Salento, located in the department of Quindío, one of the three that make up the coffee region, known as El Eje Cafetero.

Salento is very popular with tourists, as it is a good starting point for visiting different tourist attractions in the area. We didn't have much time to visit it, but we were still able to take a quick tour.

The driver of the van we hired for the excursion dropped us off at one of the corners of the town's Plaza Bolivar.

The square area around is spacious and the facades of the surrounding buildings are very colorful.

This square is very busy because it is the departure point for the jeeps that take visitors to different places of interest in the area, mainly the Cocora Valley. A valley that is very popular for its beautiful landscape where palmas de cera grow, which are the tallest palm trees in the world. We didn't get to go there, and it is definitely one of the places I want to visit if I return to this area of Colombia.

Back to Salento, we headed from the square to Calle Real, one of the town's main streets.

It is bursting with shops, cafes, craft stores, and markets. Here, too, the facades are very colorful.

On Calle Real, we came across some local musicians who were playing and singing traditional music in the middle of the street, which added a special touch to our short visit.

At the end of Calle Real, there is access to a trail that leads to a viewpoint, but we didn't have time to visit it, so we walked back to the square.

I spent some time taking photos of the church and the square while we waited for the van driver to pick us up.

More views of Salento's Plaza Bolivar.

And another one.

Traffic was restricted around the square, so we had to walk a bit to get to our transport, which gave us the chance to walk through some less touristy streets.

Luckily, we were going downhill, otherwise we would have had to ask the man guiding those horses for a ride.

Finally, we found the van and the driver, and before setting off again, I took this photo.

We couldn't go up to the viewpoint or take a ride in one of the jeeps that visit the Cocora Valley, but I hope to do so on a next time and visit Salento at a more leisurely pace.

This is also my post for this week's #wednesdaywalk challenge hosted by @tattoodjay

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