"Ciudad Bolivar" a Ciudad Bolívar Travel Page by SallyM

Ciudad Bolivar was founded in 1764, at the narrowest point of the river Orinoco, and was originally called Santo Tomas de la Guayana de Angostura, as 'angostura' means 'narrows'.

In 1817, shortly after the town had been liberated from Spanish control, Simon Bolivar made it his base for the final stages of the War of Independence and in 1819 the Angostura Congress, which led to the creation of the unified republic of Gran Colombia, comprising Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia, was held here.

The historic centre of the city is full of old houses painted in bright colours, and is the area of most interest to tourists.

At night it is quite deserted. Our hotel was based there and the staff advised us not to wander at night. One of them even took the trouble to come from the sister hotel where we had dinner to check that we had got back safely. I don't know how real the danger may have been - we certainly saw no one and the streets were lit.