Celebrity Flora – Galapagos Cruise Blog – Day 0 – Quito 

Officially start the tour part of our cruise-tour of the Galapagos. While yesterday was a day we had to ourselves, today would be jam-packed, with everything planned by Celebrity, from a full-day city tour to dinner at a local restaurant.

Celebrity Flora Galapagos Cruise Blog – Quito Overview

• Full Day Tour of Quito
• Included Buffet Breakfast at Botanica Restaurant
• Meeting the Tour Group
• Virgin of El Panecillo Statue
• La Compañía – Jesuit Church
• Basilica and Convent of San Francisco
• Mistelas
• Ecuadorian Lunch
• Intinan Equator Museum
• Dinner at La Gloria
• Preparing for Tomorrow’s Travel
• Quito Wrap Up: Celebrity Excellence

Full Day Tour of Quito

The day before, Celebrity gave us a paper with a rundown of what to expect over the next two days, but for today’s activities, it was a pretty rough outline. It felt so odd, though, that I didn’t have to plan any of it. I’m normally a big planner, so having it all laid out for me was pretty different from what I’m used to.

I got dressed and prepared for the day. I was really surprised how chilly it would be in Ecuador in the mornings. Today, it was only in the 40s to 50s until closer to 11 AM. I wore a light pair of hiking pants and a long-sleeve button-down UV-protection shirt. It wasn’t supposed to be overly hot, but it would be sunny, and since I didn’t know if I’d have time to reapply sunscreen, I went with a long-sleeve shirt.

Tip: Bring your water bottles and backpacks. You can leave them on the van/bus, so they’re not that annoying to carry around, but they’re handy to have around.

Included Buffet Breakfast at Botanica Restaurant

We started our day with an included breakfast buffet at the Botanica Restaurant at the JW Marriott Quito. It was open from 6 AM to 8:45 AM. Located on the bottom floor and at the back of the hotel, the space felt like a garden. The restaurant opens onto the indoor solarium with palm trees and a koi pond, and it has massive windows overlooking the garden. It made for a very relaxing, calm breakfast as we fueled up for the day.

The buffet had all the stuff you’d usually expect: omelets, pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausages, cereal, and pastries. I always like to try local foods and fruits while visiting another country, and the buffet had a good assortment of fresh fruits and freshly squeezed juices.

Overall, the food was pretty good, although I think it was the first time in my life I didn’t eat the bacon. It was cooked properly, but the texture was almost like shoe leather. I eventually learned that this is how bacon is in Ecuador, and as a result, it was the least bacon I ever ate on vacation.

As we sat, I looked around at the other people at the restaurant. It was only half full, but I was wondering how many were in our group. I couldn’t figure out what the age range would be or the other kind of guests we’d be sailing with. At one point, I saw an older woman arguing with a hostess, complaining that the table she was sitting at wasn’t good enough. I thought, “I sure hope she’s not on our cruise.” About 5 minutes later, her granddaughters came down with their Celebrity backpacks and dashed those hopes. I’d run into that family a lot on this sailing.

Meeting the Tour Group

We were asked to meet in the lobby at 8:45, where they’d assign us to our groups for the next two days. Then, at 9 AM, we’d head out in our individual groups.

The whole thing was very well orchestrated. The groups were all around 10 people, small enough to make them feel very personable and to make it easy to get around the city. I can’t be sure, but it felt like they assigned the groups a bit according to age ranges. It could just be how it worked out for us, but it seemed that people in the same groups were roughly the same age or fitness level. Some people weren’t as mobile or maybe a bit older, and they were assigned to the same groups.

At 9 AM sharp, our guide came to our group and introduced himself to everyone. Before we started, Pedro checked in to see if we were experiencing any altitude sickness. We were at 9,400 feet at the moment and going up to 10,000 feet. No one in my group reported having any problems. I had a slight headache, but it could also have been from lack of sleep on the red-eye flight. It was nothing that stopped me, though, and we made sure to stay hydrated.

Once that was done, we headed out to the bus. Some groups had smaller shuttle vans, but our group went onto a larger, tourist-type bus with another group.

Virgin of El Panecillo Statue

Our first stop was climbing even higher to a statue of the Virgin Mary called the Virgin of El Panecillo. It was still very early; the local vendors and shops hadn’t opened yet, so we basically had the site to ourselves.

I’m not usually one for statues, but I had to admit, it was way more impressive than I thought. At 135 feet tall, it towers over the city. Its aluminum composition, which makes it the tallest aluminum statue in the world, meant it shined in the powerful equatorial sun. The statue depicts the Virgin Mary with wings and taming a serpent; not your usual way to see her.

During the visit, Pedro explained how this was important to the city, and also a bit controversial (the back of this impressive statue faces the poorer part of the city).

We spent about 30 minutes here, learning about the statue and taking in the views of the historic district it overlooked, before getting back on the bus.

Quito Historical District

We headed back onto the bus, and it made its way down into the heart of the historic district. Here, the city had so much more personality than the financial district where our hotel was. Buildings were colorful and had ornate details, a far cry from the concrete and glass construction in the hotel’s part of Quito. Here, it felt like the city was more alive with little shops and street vendors.

As we got closer to our next sites, the streets became too narrow for the bus, so we got off and headed on foot. At each stop, we were escorted by our guide Pedro and one “security officer.” He was in charge of keeping the group together and making sure pickpockets stayed away from the group. When I first read about having a “security officer,” it made me a bit apprehensive about the town, but in reality, it was a second-in-command to help with the group and watch us, not an armed guard or anything like that.

La Compania – Jesuit Church

Our first stop was the Church of the Society of Jesus, also known as La Compañía by locals. Construction began in 1600, and it took over 160 years to finish.

We walked through the massive wood doors and turned the corner to see a golden room. Nearly every surface of the walls and ceilings in this church was covered in 23K gold leaf. I’d seen pictures before, and I’ll post one here, but none of them do it justice. To walk into such a massive room that’s coated in gold is just a completely unique experience.

Pedro walked us through the history of the building and how it was built in the Spanish Baroque style with intricate carvings and art. Of course, when it was built, candlelight was the only light source, so they built small windows along the top to let the sun shine in and illuminate the gold. It was a really smart design.

Paintings hung around the walls of the church. The most interesting to me was this massive painting they used to educate the locals on what sins were and the punishment…hell.

Basilica and Convent of San Francisco

Our second stop was the Basilica and Convent of San Francisco. It’s larger and older than the previous building, with construction starting around 1535, but the outside actually felt newer because of the whitewashed walls.

We walked across a large, busy public plaza, which was filled with the bustle of locals and some tourists. It didn’t feel like a typical tourist area. In fact, we got many strange looks because of the listening devices we had on our ears. I’ve used them in other cities around the world and never saw reactions from people in the streets, so it must be fairly uncommon.

Currently, the facility is a Franciscan monastery, but it was originally designed as a convent. Inside the complex is a beautifully maintained tropical garden dotted with palm trees and sculpted shrubs. It felt like a calm, tropical retreat in the middle of a bustling city outside the walls.

Our guide took us up the stairs for a look at the large cathedral from the choir level. The space had a completely different feel than the previous cathedral, being longer and a bit more ornate. It was darker since there wasn’t an active service in progress and they were preparing for a wedding, but the skylights still let us see all the artwork.

Mistelas

The streets were so much busier at this point. I have to say, this part of Quito was probably the loudest city I’d ever been in. Music played from several restaurants, and people shouted out the goods they were selling, “agua, meringue.” It almost made New York City seem quiet.

On the way to lunch, Pedro stopped by a small shop in Quito that sells Mistelas. These are sugary candies with a hard sugar shell filled with real alcohol. They were invented during the colonial period when it was frowned upon for women to drink alcohol. These candies were a more acceptable way of doing it.

Biting into one of the candies was certainly a unique sensation. I’ve had liquor-filled chocolates, but they had a soft outer shell and a creamier center that would ooze out. Biting into these was more like puncturing a hard shell and getting a straight liquor shot.

Tip: Be careful if you want to bring these home, as they’re a bit fragile. We got a box of 16 for only $5, but only 3 of the 16 survived the trip home after being packed in our luggage.

Ecuadorian Lunch

At 12:15 PM, we arrived at yet another convent called Convent of Saint Augustine, but this time, not for sightseeing but for lunch. A long reception room was lined with tables for each tour group, while the buffet tables were just outside.

Tip: Make sure to bring your water bottle if you want to fill up. It was the only midday stop to get more filtered water.

The staff here was extremely welcoming and suggested you try all the different specialties of the area. Ecuador is known for its seafood, so there were plenty of seafood options, but you also had grilled chicken, empanadas, etc. Any food allergies and restrictions were already passed on to the staff.

A favorite of many was the shrimp ceviche, which you put popcorn on, but my favorite was the potato soup, which they served with avocado and cubes of cheese.

Soft drinks and soda were included in the meal, or you could pay for wine or beer. It was $5-$7 for a beer and $7 for a house red or white wine.

They gave us a full hour, which was plenty of time to have a relaxed meal and talk more with your tour group you were seated with.

Intinan Equator Museum

At 1:30, we left lunch and headed back to the bus for a trip to the Intinan Equator Museum. We had a 50-minute trip to get to the museum from the city. Pedro filled us in a bit about the city for the first 10 minutes, and then we got to rest for the remainder of the trip.

The Intinan Equator Museum is not your typical museum. It was originally built as a museum about the local culture, but years ago, with the advent of GPS, they realized the equator ran right through the museum, so it became a dual-purpose museum. It’s all outdoors, not some massive dark building you walk through.

Our guide turned us over to our local guide, who would take us through the museum. It took about an hour, with about 40 minutes learning about culture and natives and 20 minutes about the equator.

It was really interesting. Cacao is a big part of Ecuador, and they’re known for having some of the best cacao in the world. In fact, some of the best Belgian chocolate makers will only use Ecuadorian cacao. In one hut, we watched as a woman chopped a raw cacao bean and let us each taste the raw product. I’ve been to plenty of chocolate-making demonstrations, but never one where I tasted the raw cacao. It was slimy and really sweet, not chocolatey at all. I have no idea how an ancient person figured out that by roasting and grinding them, you could turn them into a completely different product.

After we learned about the culture, we went to the equator itself. Here, we could stand on both sides of the equator and try some experiments. In one, you’d balance an egg on the head of a nail, supposedly made easier at the equator (I could not do it).

In another experiment, you’d see the difference in the way water swirled at the equator and north and south of it. The Coriolis Effect works differently in the two hemispheres. While most people think the best example is how toilets flush, in reality, the jets and pipes affect the direction more than the Coriolis Effect. Here, though, they had a tub of water to show you the differences. In reality, it’d have to be much larger bodies of water to show the real Coriolis Effect, but it was a good illustration.

We finished at the museum at 4:10 PM and were back at the hotel by 5 PM. It was a long day, but very interesting and didn’t feel too rushed. Overall, I walked about 4.8 miles.

Dinner at La Gloria

As part of the tour, Celebrity arranged a private dinner for us at a local restaurant, La Gloria. We met in the lobby at 6:10 in our same tour groups and headed out. The local restaurant was a quick 10-minute bus ride away.

Because Celebrity rented out the whole restaurant, we could wear whatever we wanted. The menu here was a 3-course prix fixe meal of Peruvian and Ecuadorian dishes. Soft drinks were included, but wine cost extra.

The space actually felt like how Celebrity would design some of its own dining rooms, with dark burnt-orange walls lined with bottles of wine and yellow chairs. The space was a bit loud with 80-some people and few soft furnishings, but it still felt intimate.

I started with the grilled Ecuadorian shrimp since that’s one of the country’s main exports. They were tender and seasoned perfectly, with the avocado mousse adding a nice texture to the bite. For the main dish, I got the “Slow-Braised Beef Hind in a Clay Pot.” It was quite tasty as well, flavorful but not spicy.

For dessert, everyone received the same 3-dessert sampler with crème brûlée, banana flambé strudel, and chocolate cream.

Preparing for Tomorrow’s Travel

On the bus ride back, our tour guide let us know what we had to do this evening to be ready for the flight to Baltra.

First, we had to bring our checked luggage down for inspection. Normally, if you’re going to the Galapagos, all your luggage must be checked at the airport for things that may contaminate the islands. This can be quite a lengthy process, apparently, so Celebrity arranges to have an inspector come to the hotel at 5 AM to inspect the bags before the flight.

Tip: While Celebrity Flora doesn’t use the Celebrity app and you don’t need your boarding pass, having the luggage tags you get when you check in online is useful. If you don’t have them, they’ll just tag your bag manually.

We could bring our bags down to the lobby between 8:30 PM and 10:00 PM. There, the staff would sign off that they received them, zip-tie them, and lock them in a room. The next morning, the inspector would cut the zip ties, inspect the bags, and re-tie them for the rest of the trip. What they’re looking for is to make sure people aren’t bringing fruits, nuts, or seeds that could contaminate the islands. They also frown upon spare plastic bags, as they could float into the ocean, but they had no problem with my garbage bag of dirty clothes or the baggies for sunscreen.

In your carry-on/backpack, you’d keep your clothes for the next day, any medications, tablets, chargers, etc. Because it was a domestic flight to the Galapagos, you could bring liquids onboard, which made packing for one night a lot easier.

After that, Celebrity told us to fill out a form using a QR code that we’d need at the Galapagos Airport. They told us everything we needed to fill out on it and to take a screenshot of the approval QR code in case cell phone reception wasn’t working. It was impressive how well they walked us through the entire process of traveling to the Galapagos.

Quito Wrap Up: Celebrity Excellence

I couldn’t help but be blown away by Celebrity’s pre-tour excellence. They have thought of every little thing you need on your trip and take care of it. From greeting you by name at the airport, to providing quality meals, to shepherding you through all the sites of the city, the team took amazing care of everyone. It was a well-oiled machine, but it didn’t feel too rigid at all.

Quito really wasn’t on my radar as somewhere I wanted to visit; it was just a destination on the way to my ultimate goal, the Galapagos. It turns out I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It had so much history, and I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know about the country of Ecuador. And while people say Quito can be dangerous, in Celebrity’s hands and on my own the day before, I felt perfectly safe. In fact, I felt more unsafe walking to my car in NYC at 1 AM when I got home from this trip.

Follow Along on Our Galapagos Adventures

• Celebrity Flora - Galapagos Cruise Blog - Pre-Cruise - Quito
• Celebrity Flora - Galapagos Cruise Blog - Day 0 - Quito
• Celebrity Flora - Galapagos Cruise Blog - Day 1 - Baltra (coming soon)
• Celebrity Flora - Galapagos Cruise Blog - Day 2 - Española Island (coming soon)
• Celebrity Flora - Galapagos Cruise Blog - Day 3 - Floreana Island (coming soon)
• Celebrity Flora - Galapagos Cruise Blog - Day 4 - Isabela Island (coming soon)
• Celebrity Flora - Galapagos Cruise Blog - Day 5 - Fernandina and Isabela Islands (coming soon)
• Celebrity Flora - Galapagos Cruise Blog - Day 6 - South Plaza and Santa Cruz Islands (coming soon)
• Celebrity Flora - Galapagos Cruise Blog - Day 7 - Santa Cruz Island (coming soon)
• Celebrity Flora - Galapagos Cruise Blog - Day 8 - Baltra and Disembarkation (coming soon)
• Celebrity Flora - Galapagos Cruise Blog - Day 9 - Quito and Home (coming soon)

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