Callao Attractions

TRADITIONAL URBAN CENTRE

If the traveller keeps driving through the Avenida Colonial Avenue towards the West, he will presently arrive to the City of El Callao proper, accessing it through the Plaza Grau Square, that serves as an anteroom to both the Port and the Capitanía General del Puerto- General Port Captaincy.


To the right side of this Square depart two streets. The first one heads towards the main entrance towards the Empresa Nacional de Puertos - National Port Company, where are located the loading harbour and the warehouses. The second will take the traveller to the historical Main Iglesia Matriz Church of El Callao and to the Plaza Gálvez Square.


To the left of the Plaza Grau Square are located the Museo Naval Museum and the avenue that connects the historical centre of El Callao with the aged neighbourhood of Chucuito and the welcoming District of La Punta.

 

GENERAL CAPTAINCY OF CALLAO

This organisation, adjoined to the Marina de Guerra del Perú (War Navy of Peru), had its origins back in the year of 1791, when it was created observing a Royal Order. Two years later, the rest of the Captaincies and Ports throughout the Colony became institutionalised.


In the modern times, and with the purpose of controlling the Captaincies services, the Marina Mercante (Merchant Navy) was created and also the Industrias Marítimas y Pesqueras (Maritime and Fishing Industries). On September 23rd 1969 the Cuerpo de Capitanías y Guardacostas - The Captaincy and Coast Guard Corps - was created under the authority of the General Direction. Its premises is a good looking building that rises facing to the sea.


Some traditional passages, balconies and galleries have been recently recovered from decay and oblivion.


Location: The Plaza Grau Square.

 

KING FELIPE FORTRESS.

An authentic jewel of military architecture of the Colony, its construction was the result of the imperious necessity of defending the Port and thus the City of Lima from the pirates, which put difficulties to the commerce between Spain and its Colonies, and also to avoid the looting such as that to which the treasure ships in the harbour of El Callao were submitted to in the year of 1579 by Sir Francis Drake.


The construction itself was accomplished in several distinct stages.


The first attempt to raise some kind of defensive system came about in 1618, when the Viceroy Don Francisco de Borja demanded the construction of two platforms with six and seven cannons respectively.


He also established a detachment of 1,500 men and on the sea a small fleet of eight ships with 150 cannons.


Six years later, the Marquis of Guadalcázar ordered the Locality of El Callao to be surrounded by a trench made of adobe and brick, in addition to three platforms over the beach containing 50 cannons and a small fortress on the outskirts of the Town.


After the disastrous earthquake of 1746, which ravaged El Callao and the City of Lima, Viceroy José Antonio Manso de Velasco entrusted the French mathematician and cosmographer Louis Godín with the design of a fortress.

The design presented by him was approved and the works started on January 16th, 1747. The task took 27 years and was finally inaugurated by Viceroy Manuel de Amat y Junient.


The resulting Fortress was named Real Felipe in honour to the King Phillip V of Spain.


During the times of the Independence Wars, it remained as the last stronghold of the Royalist army. Most renowned was the strong resistance performed by the Spanish brigadier Ramón Rodil.


In the year of 1823, the Fortress hosted the First Constitutional Congress.


The building would then serve as a political prison from 1826 to 1833. In 1833 it became the premises of the Customs Offices. The last military incident in which the Fortress took an active part, occurred during the Battle of El Callao, on May 2nd, 1866.


Its layout is shaped as an irregular pentagon, having on each of its corners triangular bastions, named El Rey (The King), La Reina (The Queen), San Felipe, San Carlos and San José. On each of these bastions was located a warehouse for ammunition and gunpowder built solidly enough to resist any kind of attack


The lateral walls of these triangles were named "flanks" and "curtains". The imaginary straight line between the corners of each bastion was called "Magistral". Only the bastions of the King and the Queen contained turrets, also called "Caballeros" or "Knights".


Each of these bastions is accessed by a small bridge and communicate across an embankment 22 metres wide, called "Camino de Ronda" or "Track of the Watch". The turret in the King's bastion has two circular platforms for artillery, the access to which is by a spiralled stairway.


The Turret of the Queen, on the other hand, has three stories and four platforms for artillery, reached across an internal net of stairs and corridors.


For the construction of the Fortress were employed five million cubic metres of solid material, obtained from the quarries of the San Lorenzo Island, as well as from Panama and from unearthed stones from former defensive facilities which were shattered by natural catastrophes.


A geological research has established that the materials employed in the construction of the walls of the fortress were quartzite and sandstone, put together with a mortar made of lime , water and eggs from the guano birds called calicante, giving as a result a very strongly bonded structure. It has actually resisted the passing of time as well as the forcefulness of men.


Since 1984, this Fortress has become the seat to the Museo del Ejército Peruano (Peruvian Army Museum), exhibiting war devices, military uniforms and weapons belonging to the Peruvian warriors of all times.


From the tour through its facilities, we can mention the Casa de la Mujer (House of the Woman), a hall that pays tribute to the uninterested services accomplished by women during warfare. There also can be seen a canvas painting depicting the so called La Rabona, name given to the ladies that followed the armies on behalf of their husbands during the war against Chile. Other places worth visiting are the rooms that exhibit scale models and diagrams re-enacting the heroic deeds accomplished by the Peruvian Army during Republican times.

It has been recently enabled a screening hall in order to visualise in a didactic way the history of Peru.


Location: The Plaza Independencia Independence Square, at 100 metres from the Plaza Grau Square, El Callao.
Phone: (511) 429-0532.
Visits: All week long from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.

ABTAO SUBMARINE

As a great museum, adults and children could visit the Abtao, Peruvian submarine that, during 48 years patrolled and guarded in silence the sea of Grau. The ship was totally rehabilitated in the SIMA (Industrial Services of the Navy).

The Abtao, submarine weighs 1 500 tons, is 80 meters long, 9 meters in width in its central part, 4 torpedo launchers in the prow and 2 in the stern, speed of 35 kilometers per hour, immersion of up to 200 meters and a crew of 40 men.

The ship was a member of a group of four-sub mountain type submarine that the Peruvian government bought at the beginning of the 50s and which were constructed in the shipyards of the Electric Boat Co, in Connecticut, United States. Its original name was Tiburón. Its twin the 2 de mayo was called Lobo. Tiburón came into service the first of March of 1954 and arrived at Callao three months later.

Since then it fulfilled patrolling missions and it contributed to the balance of the Peruvian naval forces with those of the others South American countries.

It was re baptized as BAP Abtao in March 1957. In 2000 after 48 years of services it had served in important missions as the rescue as the BAP Pacocha in 1988 and the patrolling of the North coast during the Cenepa conflict between Peru and Ecuador in 1995. It left the service in March 2000.

Four years later it has become the only floating museum of Latin America. This museum has the particularity to use videos, besides using a program that will simulate a combat. Also, the visitors will be able to participate in a simulated immersion through a multimedia program.

The total route is made in an average of 45 minutes. The attention in the submarine is from Tuesday to Sundays, from 9 in the morning to 6 in the afternoon.

PALOMINO ISLANDS

Swimming with Sea Lions in the Islands off the Callao Lima Port
We will pick you up early from your hotel to transfer to the embarkation point in the District of La Punta in the Callao Sea Port.
Here you will receive information and recommendations regarding what you can experience during your trip to the Palomino Islands.

We leave for the Islands off the Callao Seaport. At the beginning we can appreciate the anchorage of the yachts, war ships and freighters in the Bay. During the trip we will pass through the "El Camotal" Shallows, where we will be told stories about old ship wrecks and grounded ships. We will pass by the Isla San Lorenzo Island, rich in stories dating back to pre- Columbian times.

We will also be able to observe fishermen in their boats hauling nets, several Guano bird and Humboldt penguin rookeries.Finally we will reach the furthest point of our trip, the Isla Palomino Island, which harbours a big rookery colony of Sea Lions, and where we will be able to get into neoprene wet suits to swim with them, thanks to the absence of predators, making for unforgettable moments.

Afterwards we will start our return trip skirting through craggy islands and sounds of impressive forms. We will have a light snack before we return to the dock at the La Punta Port. Transfer to your Hotel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naZH-g0GYLQ