To continue my breakdown of our time in El Salvador, this is the second blog dedicated to our time in San Salvador, focused on the Centro Histórico, or the historic “old town” of San Salvador. Centro Histórico is the second of two primary neighborhoods we explored during our time in San Salvador, and definitely one I’d highly recommend prioritizing, especially to get a better sense of the history and culture of the city (and country more broadly, although there aren’t as many museums as you might expect). It’s easily walkable and centered around a variety of plazas and monuments (and many beautiful churches!). Of course, it’s also filled with people and vendors of all kinds – especially during the holidays, since our visit was just a few days before Christmas. Since we opted to hire drivers for the days we weren’t on formalized tours, we parked on the outskirts and walked in, navigating through the huge crowds and hawkers selling fresh produce and bottled water.

We were slightly intimidated initially, as we saw quite a few military police with tactical vehicles surrounding the plaza – however, it turns out that the heightened police presence (we’d see military, state and local police forces) is largely for crowd control and to protect tourists, since quite a few come for the holiday festivities. Each of our drivers confirmed that El Salvador on the whole is much, much safer than it was even a few years ago – and, anecdotally, we didn’t feel at all uncomfortable or on edge (could walk around taking photos, weren’t worried about getting pick pocketed, etc., unlike the vibe in San José, Costa Rica, for example).

We visited the neighborhood several times during our stay in San Salvador, so I’ve tried to pull together a cohesive retelling of some key sights. On our first jaunt through Centro Histórico, we decided to casually walk through and see what was open. We strolled past the large Mercado Municipal Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, a multi-story market (it looked like you could buy any number of items, from food to clothes to a variety of household goods).

From there, we continued on to the Basilica Sagrado Corazon, which happened to have a youth choir singing carols, which made for a lovely first moment. As you can see below, the entire Centro was decorated for the holidays, which made it feel incredibly festive despite the beating 91 degree heat.

From there, we meandered through the square, making our way to the National Palace.

I fully expected the National Palace to be in a similar vein to those we’ve seen around the world – an opulent home for the Head of State to enjoy while their population suffers in poverty. However, it turns out there was quite a bit more history to the site (and it was never used as a personal home!). After being ushered into a waiting room (and thankfully seated briefly in front of a slightly effective but much appreciated portable air conditioner), we were gathered for what turned out to be a personal tour (since we were the only English speaking tour participants).

As we began our tour, we wandered through the absolutely stunning interior of the Palace, which is decked out in white and gold, with Italian Carrara marble floors. The two-story structure has dozens of rooms (formerly Cabinet chambers, rather than bedrooms!) and is centered around a plaza that houses several soaring trees. Originally, there were four, representing a former President’s attempt to unify El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize into a megastate (apparently the United Kingdom, which at that time had colonial control of and still has a fraught relationship with Belize, objected); however, the tree representing El Salvador has since been removed to a different location. Of course, the entire property was tastefully decorated for the holidays and there was a live band (El Salvador is filled with live music – in fact, the Centro Histórico had not only this performance that evening, but a free, live showing of the Nutcracker by the national ballet company!).

The goal of the National Palace was to bring the executive, judicial, and legislative bodies all under one roof (interestingly, different colors correspond to different functions – red for foreign affairs, yellow for Presidential activities, blue for the legislature, pink for judicial activities; green appears to catch everything else). The result is a stunning, sprawling set of rooms decorated with incredibly ornate tile and ceilings. You can also see a few examples where they’ve been able to restore the room’s decor to match the remaining originals.

I also found it quite interesting that the tile specifically changed every room – from our guide, it appears that this was a conscious choice rather than a happy coincidence.

In the pink room, we were also able to see some holdovers from a former First Lady, who loved butterflies and would have historically decorated her own Christmas trees with butterfly-related decor.

Also prominently displayed in the Palace are two clocks, both of which were recent gifts from Spain and ~200-300 years old (although sadly not functional).

The ceiling decorations are also beautiful, as were the variety of electric fixtures.

The Blue Room, or legislature, is an impressive room as well. Of course, it too was decorated for the holidays, including the press pit (below). They also still have a few pieces of original furniture (most of the other furniture pictured is replica), including beautifully carved leather seats for the legislative members. In the below RHS photo, you can also see one of the original bakeries in San Salvador, which would have provided pastries and sandwiches to the folks working at the Palace. We asked if there would have been a security risk to these buildings being so close (quite literally, just across the street) and historically, the Palace would have been surrounded by armed security (although this did not save one of the Presidents, who was assassinated in the square – it turns out this wasn’t politically motivated but a lover’s dispute – of course!).

Overall, a very informative and beautiful stop!

We also loved the mix of architecture – few places in El Salvador retain the truly colonial architecture (see my blog on Suchitoto for one of the remaining examples!) but Centro Histórico has a mix of colonial, contemporary (including a variety of bright colors and construction styles), and modern (including a very beautiful glass-enclosed library – more on this later!).

We also got our first glimpse of the giant, electronically decorated Christmas trees that are set up in pretty much every major town center (of course, smaller cities don’t have these). We were deeply amused on our first night to see that the trees are sponsored by Pollo Campestre, one of El Salvador’s (many) fried chicken chains. As we’d learn, Pollo Campestre is two things: 1) the only ‘local’ fried chicken chain and 2) a premium dining experience – I’d consider it ‘fast casual’ rather than fast food relative to competition (more on our adventure to Pollo Campestre below!). As we discovered in Santa Ana, you can also walk through the Christmas trees and they’ve got fun internal decorations, music and a light show – and, of course, all the decor is in the Pollo Campestre cartoon branding (think cowboy hats, etc.).

We took the above photo our first night, but over the course of the next several days saw Pollo Campestre references everywhere – billboards, sponsoring Christmas trees and decor in a variety of different cities (large and small!) – a Pollo Campestre ad was even the last thing we saw as we boarded for our flight! Of course, we had to actually try it. Since fast food chains from the US are so popular, we assumed it’d be a similar experience, but still figured it was worth a stop given the popularity.

We discovered that Pollo Campestre is a sophisticated operation! After entering the restaurant, we realized it was more like a fast casual rather than fast food experience – if you want to dine in, you’re seated at a table, with full table service (rather than ordering from a kiosk or doing counter service, as has become popular in the US for fast casual dining). I don’t know if we got special treatment as tourists, but the servers were incredibly friendly (we were speaking Spanish but they tried to speak English in response and kept coming over to ensure we were enjoying ourselves, especially since they didn’t have bottled water and wanted to make sure we got the full value from the combo meal we ordered). Several Salvadoreños in the restaurant also stopped by to tell us (in both Spanish and English) to enjoy!

We tried the basic chicken breast combo meal, which was great – it’s just 4 chicken tenders, a dinner roll, and fries, served with their house hot sauce (which tasted pretty similar to Tabasco). Since they didn’t have bottled water, we got the carbonated water (which we assume must have also been bottled or otherwise filtered, since we didn’t get sick drinking it). The chicken was great, and definitely punching above it’s American chain counterparts (we had Popeyes in the Houston airport on our layover to Costa Rica and it reminded us why we hadn’t had Popeyes for the last… 15 years or so). I’d compare it to Chick-Fil-A (side note: I could have sworn that it was Chik-Fil-A…) but without the bad politics and with fresher chicken. Interestingly, the price for the combo meal was $8.99, which is expensive relative to “local” food prices (if helpful reference, we got by on $40 cash total for two days, excluding the dinners we ate at the hotel and the car service we hired / tour costs).

While wandering around after our National Palace tour the first day, we saw this gorgeous tree (probably 4 feet wide!) and got a nice view of the Cathedral (from the National Palace windows – you can see where they were setting up for the free performance of the Nutcracker performance in the plaza!).

Within the Cathedral, Mass was being conducted so I didn’t take too many photos, but it was a beautiful space with lovely murals.

On our return visit to Centro Histórico, we asked to be dropped off near the Iglesia El Rosario, which I’d marked during my research as a “must see” location. I’m SO glad we came back, since we apparently missed the heart of the whole historic downtown during our first visit! Ironically, it’s really about 2 blocks from where we explored the first time, but with some much more to see. Of course, since it’s Christmas, the main plaza (Plaza Libertad) was fully decorated, including a Christmas village, various vendors, and Santa’s House. Amusingly, there was very little line for Santa’s house, but a giant one for the Grinch’s House (about 2 blocks over) – the Grinch seems super popular in El Salvador! They even have multiple trains that run by the Grinch’s House.

Of course, the juxtaposition of reindeer and tactical vehicles is an interesting one!

Up next was the church we came to see, Iglesia El Rosario – I have to admit, this was more than a “must see” but truly a “can’t miss” for me. As you can see from the exterior (LHS below), it doesn’t look like much from the outside – however, the architecture enables a series of stacked stain glass windows to create an incredible rainbow effect inside, which is stunning.

The interior views are beautiful as well, with striking art.

The decorations are beautiful, including a statue of Nuestra Señora del Rosario (Our Lady of the Rosary, aka the Virgin Mary) and a lovely painting of Saint Óscar Romero, a famous Salvadoreño priest (and I believe the first Central American saint!). Saint Romero is a very prominent figure in El Salvador (portraits of him are placed in every church and many other buildings as well). Interestingly, he was a well known advocate against gang violence and for human rights, especially within El Salvador. Unfortunately, he was killed just after delivering a powerful sermon for peace.

The other thing that really fascinated me about this church – and that I personally found very moving – was the sculptural depiction of the Stations of the Cross (the 12 ‘stages’ or ‘stations’ of the process of Jesus’ crucifiction, beginning with his conviction to death and ending with his resurrection). The sculptures are extremely well done both conceptually and in execution, showing a very deep reflection on the text and emotions that underlie each ‘station’.

They also inspire thought and interrogation, which I imagine is helpful for partitioners conducting prayer at each station. With the rainbow of light in the background, the resurrection sculpture is especially compelling.

After viewing these photos, my father (who studies Biblical Greek and has extensive knowledge of Biblical scripture) provided some helpful Christian insights, including the fact that Jesus is oliquely referred to as the Rock in the Old Testament. This forms the basis of several miracle stories, including one in Exodus in which the children of Israel were dying of thirst and Moses touched his staff to the Rock, from which water gushed forward to allow them to drink. In these sculptures, Jesus is emerging from the Rock to take on this semi-human form. Similarly, he interpreted the final form of this Rock / Man as descending upon the altar basked in the kaleidoscopic light of God, in turn, lifting up and transporting the congregation through the stained glass into the heavens. A very beautiful and poignant interpretation!

From there, we continued on through the Plaza Libertad and made our way to our final stop within the Centro Histórico (after a brief stop for iced coffee at Juan Valdez!), the Biblioteca (finally we had cause to ask the key question taught in introductory Spanish!).

The Library itself is a stunning glass building (and, we learned, built by the Chinese government). Inside, it contains a wealth of resources for Salvadoreños – especially Salvadoreño youth. The first floor is largely dedicated to children under 5, with a variety of activities and play areas to encourage the development of early childhood skills, including motor skills. The upper floors are a paradise of books and video games – since many kids can’t access them at home, the library offers them for free! However, kids must read for 30 minutes beforehand to ensure they are getting some educational time in as well. The library also includes sections for nearly every major fandom, from Harry Potter to Star Wars to Lord of the Rings to Game of Thrones to a variety of comic books. Amusingly, they also have a giant Bitcoin statue (Bitcoin used to be legal tender in El Salvador from 2021 until about 6 months ago!).

After that, we walked back to meet our driver, taking in the vibrant sights of the streets. In particular, I loved the fruit vendors (and these women are creative, using anything for a makeshift display, including old strollers!).

The last constant feature of Centro Histórico and beyond were the buses! I absolutely loved the buses (and wish I’d gotten more photos!). We learned a few interesting things about them:

• Buses aren’t managed by the government, but rather independently operated; essentially, if you can buy a bus and decorate it, you can begin a route – typically routes spring up based on demand between certain places (this reminded me of Jeepneys in the Philippines that don’t have a fixed route but head in a certain direction)
• Despite the informality of the routes, the buses do stop at both the “west” and “east” bus terminals (from what we could tell, El Salvador generally orients travel as going east or west since San Salvador is relatively central – even north / south routes typically have to east / west at some point)
• The colors generally correspond to regions, although again the routes aren’t quite as “fixed” as you might expect with a formal routing system – based on what we learned, the red and white is traditional for the central region, while the green and white signifies buses heading south to La Libertad region near the Pacific Coast; we saw a number of yellow (“school bus”) colored buses, but didn’t catch where those head
• The decorations serve as advertising to attract people to the bus for a given route; we heard that inside, they also have some paintings, stickers, colored paper, etc.
• It’s common for vendors to use the buses to run micro businesses, selling fruits, vegetables, a variety of dry goods, and sometimes even prepared foods; I love the idea of being able to just grab an extra ingredient or two on my commute vs. having to make a separate trip to the store; apparently during the height of gang rule, it was incredibly difficult and dangerous to run these businesses, so El Salvador’s brutal crackdown on (even suspected) gang activity has been a godsend for these vendors
• At night, we saw that many buses have light up strips on the front, making them both intimidating and festive (this is also true for trucks!)

Final thoughts on Centro Histórico:

• I’d likely stay in Zona Rosa but spend more time in Centro Histórico next time – there are many more churches we didn’t have the chance to see, as well as walking tours and tours of the various markets that would be fun to explore
• There are several additional museums I wanted to explore but wasn’t able to – this was largely due to our limited time and the irregular hours on the days we visited (both due to the holidays and a case of the Mondays)
• Museums I’d love to visit on a return visit: Monsignor Romero Historical Center (a history museum dedicated to Saint Romero), the University Anthropology Museum, Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen (the Museum of the Written Word and Image), the Millennium Tower

Overall, highly recommend visiting El Salvador – we’re so glad we did and would absolutely return. There are so many more things to see, both in the city and beyond.