(Visited 2024.10)

In these years Venezuela seems to be a bit "removed" from the plan of international tourists. After an overnight bus from Caracas we arrived at Coro in early morning. We had some empanadas as our breakfast near the terminal, which is fair and delicious.

After the breakfast we walk ~15 min to the WHS area. San Francisco church is the most important building of this WHS and it would be your first impression. It was open when we arrived so we can enjoy the church without any problem. After we headed to Casa Balcón de los Arcaya, which opened later at 8. The house now houses a little museum but it's not that interesting. However the balcony did impress us a lot thus we took a lot of photos. In the morning of Saturday there's almost nobody on the street, only a few local residents were walking along. With this atmosphere we visited almost all WHS area. But unfortunately almost all museums are closed on weekends. (incl. the synagogue and Casa de Las Ventanas de Hierro)

Later after 10 the city started its activities, we settled down and had a short break at our accomodation. During the noon the temperature becomes red-hot so we decided to go to the Médanos later at 4. The park is not well-maintained now, but you can tell it was once full of visitors.

The follwed day we took the bus to Vela (its port). The buses shows "Velita" on their windows. You can catch them anywhere along the Av. Buchivacoa-Pinto Salinas-Independencia and it was 20 bolivares.

Vela preserves more old houses than the Casco Viejo and it was also quiet during the day. The custom house is a must-see. Now it works as acultural center but it's usually closed. We were lucky enough to meet some choir members who was practising so that we were able to enter. To be honest it doesn't have much to see. We spent ~1.5 hours there just walking around and taking photos and later we went back to Coro and left for Maracaibo.

Compared with other historical centers of Latin America, Coro is not that outstanding. But we enjoyed the atmosphere of its locality. Probably because it's not tourist-oriented: you won't see any hawkers or souvenir shops there. So, slow down your step and dive into the pure ancient vibe.