"Caracas- Modern and Colonial" a Caracas Travel Page by melosh

The setting of the city with surrounding hills is actually quite beautiful. Although there are barrios on hillsides like the favelas of Brazil, they are not right around the city center. They are most evident on the drive from the airport on the coast to the city which is inland. The poor neighborhoods in the flat valley do not present an eyesore to the common visitor as they might if on a hillside, but Venezuelans do warn against visiting them.

Unfortunately the whole city seems to suffer from structural neglect and high levels of street crime. (with the price of oil back up maybe this will change.) Although, I never experienced a problem I received lots of helpful warnings from Venezuelans. The insecurity of the streets for Venezuelans and tourists makes it harder to get a feel for the city. There seems to be a conflict between its modern architecture and the colonial and pre-modern structures, with the former overwhelming the later. It is kind of like visiting a old church in the center of NY or Chicago. The tall modern buildings make the older buildings seem out of place. The old buidings indicate that people used to live here, but the new buildings seem to indicate that this is only a place to work.

I guess when we refer to "colonial" architecture we really mean all buildings before the modern period of 20th century construction but after the first colonial invasion. Many of these buiidings are really post-independence and therefore not really colonial at all. The more public of the buildings often have the neo-classical Greco-Roman style we see in many capitol buildings.

Visit the house of Bolivar which is now a museum.

Unless you have a view of the surrounding hills, the modern buildings of Caracas could be anywhere. They would fit in any modern city and have the same type of impact. In general their scale seems to shrink the importance of man and when hard expanses of concrete are included the places become suitable for passage rather than relaxation or contemplation. The contrast between these spaces and the lively crowded old streets of Caracas could not be greater. In the old streets there is always a lot of activity and much to observe; in the modern complexes there is not much to see other than the buildings themselves.