Plaza Bolívar is the heart of colonial Caracas: a leafy square shaded by big jabillo and apamate trees, with a bronze equestrian Bolívar at its centre. Sloths still live in the trees overhead — look up and you will probably see one. Around the perimeter stand the Cathedral, the Yellow House (Casa Amarilla), the Bolivarian Museum, and the Caracas City Council. The square is the official kilometre-zero of the city and the place from which Venezuelan distances are measured.
The current plaza, laid out in the 1870s, replaces the original colonial market square that occupied the same site from 1567. Mornings are pleasant — buskers, chess players, retirees feeding pigeons. Visit by day and ideally with a local; the surrounding centre changes character quickly after dark.