Whilst we were there we stayed in the Miraflores district - where you could smell the sea even if you couldn't see it! The Kokopelli had a 20% discount with the inticard we got from PeruHop - but that was the only reason to stay there really... It's fairly cramped with little communal space except the bar. We were craving getting back to the beach after being spoiled in Paracas so that's one reason we didn't stay long; another was the amount of harassment you got off the restaurant owners in the area - literally trying to drag you into their expensive identikit places - complete turnoff!
We did the free walking tour that met at Kennedy Park in Miraflores and took us on the express bus downtown to the centre. That was hot and sweaty - crammed in under people's armpits... Wouldn't want to do this often!
We arrived in the plaza de Armas to catch the daily changing of the guard - which was very impressive being set to music from the guards band.
The plaza it's self was very pretty - with most of huge buildings painted in yellow and the gardens planted up with yellow and orange flowers to match.
The tour takes you around the downtown of Lima - in about a 5 block radius - so not far to walk. It includes entry to a archeological museum and a free pisco and maracuya sour tasting at a little stall.
The tour ended at the San Francisco church with its catacombs.
We didn't go in - lunch was more important! We weren't as impressed with this tour as we had been with the Cusco and La Paz ones (which were run by different companies) - but it was free!
For lunch we found a cheap vegetarian restaurant for the set meal - 7 soles which is about £1.5, so we were pretty happy with that.
We then headed back to the hostel to book up our bus to Mancora for the following day. Dinner that evening was an epic sandwich from the busy place under Flying Dog hostel - I'd highly recommend this, if only I could remember the name - it sounded like lucky sandwiches - easily recognised by the huge (but quick) queue outside day and night!
The following day we didn't getup to much before it was time to head to the bus stop. If we'd had more time or were on an actual city break holiday the Barranca area of Lima wasn't far from Miraflores and is close to the ocean with lots of cool bars and restaurants to explore - next time perhaps?!
(Also the gold museum is meant to be worth a visit - you'll need to get a taxi out there though, we ran out of time for this, sorry Dad!)
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