THIS IS EL SALVADOR'S CAPITAL CITY: SAN SALVADOR! 24-Hour Guide to visiting San Salvador!
welcome to the city of San Salvador a city of just less than 300 000 people but it is one of the most developed and one of the most modern cities here in Central America this is a city with so much history that only recently recovered from the scars of a civil war just a couple of decades ago but today it remains one of the most interesting cities in Central America and even though most people don't actually come to the city and instead go to the beaches of El Salvador San Salvador actually still has a lot to offer so today we're going to go ahead and explore the city and has a reputation of being dangerous and has the reputation of gang violence and guns and all of that but I'm still confident that this is going to be a beautiful city and I'm going to share it all with you guys in today's video so let's go ahead and get started with Visiting San Salvador [Music] thank you foreign first off something really important to note about El Salvador is that the national currency of this country is the US dollar so they don't have a local currency wherever you go whether it's street food or Supermarket you're paying in US dollar now you might think that that's really expensive then because if they're charging in US dollar they're probably going to be prices similar to the United States but that's not true you can get drinks on the street for 25 cents you can get a completely full meal for like two dollars a dollar and a half yesterday I did a full video on how much five dollars can get you here in El Salvador and let me tell you it's a lot so even though everything is charged in US Dollars it's really really affordable and it also makes conversions really easy so if you're coming from the United States don't worry about changing money because the money here is exactly the same as it is back home all right first stop of the day it's packed it's busy I almost got run over by a car but this is what life is like here in San Salvador this right here is the main Municipal market of San Salvador foreign [Applause] okay this is probably one of the best things to see here in San Salvador this Market is massive you actually look at it on the map it takes up like this entire huge block that's really the size of like two blocks combined together and there's like 10 11 15 different buildings each selling them that you've got a building for meat got a building for vegetables you've got a building for fruits you've got a building for seafood you've got a building for makeup it's ridiculous how big this Market is and how divided it is it's actually pretty organized but there's just so much going on it's so hectic it's insane to imagine it's so big in fact they have a church inside the market I've never seen a church inside a market but this Market is just massive it is humongous it's pretty old it's been around for a long time it's just incredible to me how big and how hectic this Market is and it's like a Tuesday Morning everybody's just running around ladies coming bring chickens bumping into you they do not care they are like they really do not care what they do to you but it's just amazing how this Market functions well we are finally out of the market I've got to say that is a very big Market I think that's actually one of the biggest markets I've seen in all of you know Latin America it's massive and it's got like multiple I think it's not like three floors two three floors there's like 10 20 different buildings you're gonna get lost in there like that that's just a fact you will get lost in the market it's still a fairly organized Market they've got different regions where like fruits and vegetables and meat and Seafoods eateries and all that they've got them all in the different areas but still really really incredible great way to see what the local wife is like here in El Salvador okay [Music] just a couple of walks down from the main Market here in San Salvador is the Civic square of San Salvador now the Civic square is says the name suggests it's a Civic Square it's where a lot of civic participation takes place right behind me is the National Palace of San Salvador it's usually open to the public but for some reason today it's closed I think they're undergoing some Renovations and stuff over there is the Metropolitan Cathedral of sand salad over as you can see right there it's absolutely stunning I'll tell you guys more about the history of that later look at this place it's really really beautiful the cops are really nice they're handing these out oh man I am loving San Salvador but let's go ahead and go and check out the main Metropolitan Cathedral of San Salvador first [Music] oh [Music] that has got to be actually one of the most beautiful churches I've seen here in Central America it's starting on the inside the stained glass is incredible you've got these huge pillars at the very end it's so tall it's so Grand it's really really stunning and the interesting thing is that there is a big portrait at the front of the church of a guy named Oscar Romero his Crypt where he's buried is right here around the corner so I'll show you guys that first and then I'll explain why he's so important here in San Salvador oh foreign to understand why Oscar Romero is so important to San Salvador and El Salvador in general you have to understand the politics of this country back in the 80s and the 90s when there was a civil war going on between the gorillas on the left side and the military on the right side now these two forces were fighting all the time and it was really really bad in fact the gorillas would use the tower at the very front of the church that one right behind me all the way up there they would use that to broadcast a lot of their messages all across the city so the churches even became very much politicized and turned basically into a war zone as the gorillas and the military were fighting together now what this guy did Oscar Romero is that he sent a letter to both parties and asking them in the name of God to come together and stop fighting and work something out and just be peaceful for once to give the country finally some peace and well he got murdered for it they literally came in came into the church shot him and that's how he passed away but he's very much very important here in El Salvador and because of his contributions because of his sacrifice the people from the Vatican actually came over and canonized him so he's actually a saint now it's Saint Oscar Romero and what he's done for this country is amazing even though he sacrificed his life for it today you see El Salvador is a much more peaceful country the people here are optimistic they have a young new president that's doing great things for the country it's really really heartwarming to see how far this country has come and despite the problems with gang violence and everything it's still a really really beautiful country that has so much potential thanks to people like Oscar Romero who have laid down their lives to help move the country forward but the church is amazing it's beautiful on the inside and there's just so much history I mean this church is the site of the Civil War as we knew it back in the 80s in El Salvador those Towers were used by the gorillas it's incredible how far this country has progressed in just a couple of decades and I'm excited to see how much farther this country can move forward foreign right behind this church is this sort of main square there's a statue inside but the main thing to see here is this building right here which is the National Theater of El Salvador unfortunately they're not allowing anyone to go in which kind of makes sense most of the theaters that I've been to don't really allow anyone it looks pretty cool it looks like there's some chandeliers inside but I'm not allowed to enter but usually I think if you look like a ticket and you're here to watch a show like there's one on the 12th of September you'll be able to go in and see what's inside but if you're not going for an actual show I highly doubt they're gonna let you win but it's a really really nice place you can see down there on the street you've got some really nice like grass sort of things growing on the metal beams or something I don't really know how to describe it but it's really really nice really really clean the main sort of Plaza you can see right behind me is really really nice as well and the thing is there's so much security presence there's two soldiers back there there's two cops over there it's just really really safe in general just walk around the center of San Salvador I feel safe I know that if I ever have trouble there are cops everywhere there are soldiers everywhere that I can count on so it's a really really nice city so far but the National Theater I'm sure it's been around for a very long time it's got that old architecture and it's all yellow in color it's really really beautiful unfortunately we can't go inside so we're gonna head on to the next stop I think this spot right here is an incredible contrast of what else Gore is on this side you've got the National Theater there it's really really nice and clean you've got a Subway coffee shops ice cream parlor super developed super nice there's a bakery over there there's a pharmacy really really nice and clean and then on the opposite side right behind me you've got just a bunch of Street cards umbrellas shoes whatever you want it's sold down there so that contrast is kind of incredible but that's what El Salvador is all about that mix of the modern and the old the traditional and the development it's all mixed together in this city and I love how it's just sort of merged and this point right here this point is like the merging point between these two areas [Music] just one block down from the National Theater is this park right here this is Liberty Park here in San Salvador why is it called Liberty Park there is a structure erected right at the center of the park that's dedicated to what happened on the 5th of November 1811. that's when the independence movement started here in El Salvador that's the first shout for Independence here in the city of San Salvador and this building was a record at the Centennial so 100 years later in 1911 to commemorate what happened back in 1811. it's the park of Liberty it's supposed to be the freedom of El Salvador and today it's a really quiet area you can see everybody around me is just sort of sitting down chilling out some people are eating ice cream some people are taking a snack others are taking the stroll it's just another nice park to walk around I have to say San Salvador has a lot of really really nice Parks so yeah it's an absolutely amazing place to be but this Tower I hear the structure a record for the independence the liberty of San Salvador it's a great place to be could not ask for anything better now we're obviously going to be seeing a lot of churches today because El Salvador is a Catholic country and it's also like San Salvador is the capital of El Salvador but this church right here this is a really interesting church it's supposed to be an absolutely stunning Church let's go inside and check it out this is the Church of el Rosario gracias [Music] [Music] this right here is probably one of the most unique and one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen you can see that it's in this like sort of arch sync that goes up all the way until it gets to the other side which is absolutely amazing now when the architect actually suggested and brought up this architecture plan to the people in charge of the Catholic Church here in El Salvador they got rejected but at the end of the day it was finally built and it's amazing the original church was built in the 1500s but as you know El Salvador suffers from many many earthquakes so it had to be rebuilt over and over again I think it was rebuilt once in the 1800s another time in the 1900s and then another time in like the 1960s 1970s which is the current church that stands but it is incredible how beautiful this place is it's on an East and West axis which means that when the Sun rises it'll rise from that side all the way and then it'll set on this side right behind us and in the middle of all this is that thing right there which is the eye of God overlooking the church symbolizing you know the holy nature of this place and how God is watching whatever happens in his house which is just absolutely incredible with the symbolism now it's time to mix in a little bit of modern political history into this church now in the 70s there was a big civil war going on and was fought between the gorillas which were on the left and the military which was on the right now there was an election that occurred during this time and basically the gorillas were winning by far and then there was an electrical power outage suddenly the military when the electricity came back the military was leading in the votes so there was this massive protest at Liberty Square which is the one that's right next to this church the one we were at earlier that commemorates the independence or the start of Independence for San Salvador and the country as well now the military started firing guns on people and because of that the crowds that were in the Square on the opposite side of the church came into the church to seek Refuge but while they were doing that a couple of people who died but there was one stray bullet and that bullet was launched from the square on that side of the church and hit specifically this little square right here you can see to this very day the cracks in the glass they haven't done anything to repair it they've left it the way it is and it's so specific it's a really really small square actually if you're shooting it from the other side of the park all the way here that's a really far distance and to be that accurate to hit that I mean I don't think he was aiming for that I think he was aiming for one of the people but it's incredible how they've managed to preserve that here at the church a Memento a sad Memento from the Civil War period of El Salvador it's in incredible that they've managed to preserve that and kept that as a memory of a very dark time in this country's history that has got to be one of the most beautiful churches ever the stained glass that rainbow the symbolism is incredible and there's no other Church like it it's so so unique that sort of art shape it's not your typical Church to be honest but it's beautiful in its own way like I said the architect got rejected by the Salvadorian Catholics uh when he first suggested it but it's so unique it's so crazy and I'm so happy they actually allowed him to build it because it is absolutely stunning now the next church is a little bit farther away from the center but it's like maybe six seven blocks away this church is a really unique church because a big part of it isn't actually even made here in El Salvador this right here is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus foreign [Music] what I'm loving about the churches here in San Salvador is that each church has its own character like the Rosario that we saw earlier so many colors this one is so unique it's so different now if you're thinking this church kind of looks like a northern European Church you're not crazy because this church right here I mentioned earlier was not made in San Salvador actually it was made in Belgium the whole facade all the towers which you can see all the way up there that was all made in Belgium and you can tell it kind of doesn't look like a Catholic Salvadorian church it's pretty different especially from the Metropolitan Cathedral that's near to the center in San Salvador so it's definitely different and you can tell from the way it looks and everything that it was produced somewhere else but Belgium is not the only country where parts of this church were produced the tiles in this church were produced in Italy and the wood was brought from Indonesia so this is kind of like an International Church in a way and El Salvador had such good relations with these countries because of its coffee exportation that all these countries helped to build this church here now one of the most crazy Parts about this church is that usually when you see a church it's you know made of concrete or made of brick or something like that but this church just listened to this it's made of metal sheets this church is literally just made of like aluminum Metals I don't know if it's aluminum but it's Metal Sheets I've never seen a church made of metal like this it's like you know a lot of those houses you have those metal tops those aluminum metal tops that just sort of cover it especially in like Jungles and and the farmlands that material is the same material that they're using to build the church here which it's just incred it's just incredible like why would you build a church like that using this sort of material but it's crazy to me how they've managed to build it the inside is beautiful those huge dark wooden beams and it's actually really dark inside like I said very northern European style because of that Belgian influence District was produced there but really really beautiful all right continuing to move west from the center of San Salvador we've come to a really really nice neighborhood actually in the city this is so you guys have probably heard me mention many times about the Civil War here in El Salvador and how that happened in the 70s and 80s but this wall right here is dedicated to all the people who were murdered in those Wars innocently civilians who are killed and the massacres that took place they put the year the locations and some of the names of the people that were massacred it's sort of a memorial for those who suffered because of the Civil War and it's incredible that they've actually managed to document all those names there's like they say over like 3 30 000 over 30 000 names that are inscribed on the wall right here it goes on pretty far down like you can see how far it goes but it's sort of a protected cultural site and a historical site here in El Salvador for the people to always remember the suffering that they went through from the Civil War and to never repeat it again well guys we're on one of the walkway paths that are elevated so you get a pretty good view of the entire park oh something really cool a rainbow actually just appeared in the sky here at the park but I'm gonna be ending the video here because we're gonna just be heading back to the center the Sun is setting we've got some dark clouds coming in that looks like it's about to rain and yeah it's kind of the end of the day already but San Salvador what an amazing City I know that before I came here I was actually quite skeptical I didn't really know what there was to see I know people had told me there's you know a danger element at least here in San sauro that is one of the most dangerous cities in the world with really bad homicide rates but after I've come here and I think you guys you can see in this video Sam and Salvador specifically is a city that is really really nicely developed there are areas of San Salvador especially in the center that are just like first world you could compare it to any other city in the United States or Europe and what I like is that they've also still managed to preserve some of the older Salvadorian elements the street carts on the street you know just selling clothes and selling food I love that I think that's beautiful and I think that that balance is they've got it right here anyways I hope you guys have enjoyed this video and I hope you found it helpful if you're thinking of coming to San Salvador if you did please give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more food and travel videos we've got more videos coming here from El Salvador but I'm so excited to show you more of this country it's beautiful it's developed it's nice and it's safe so make sure to come here make sure to subscribe to this Channel and I'll see you guys on the next one bye guys thank you [Music]
2023-06-03 04:25
