Palacio De Gobierno, Lima

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The Palacio De Gobierno is the home of the Peruvian president. It is a relatively new building built in 1937 in the style of French Baroque architecture. Formerly the site was the home of Francisco Pizzaro. Everyday around noon there is an elaborate changing of the guard at the palace. Folks line up for over an hour to see the impressive event. Entrance into the palace is free even though there are armed guards posted to the sides of the palace. We did not get an opportunity to visit the inside of the palace because of the changing of the guard ceremony going on at about the same time.

From what I had read the City of Lima's water treatment program is a work in progress and unreliable. I would recommend purchasing bottled water from the local grocery store. From talking to folks the San Luis brand appears to be one of the best. Oh yes the water you will find comes with either "sin gas," or "con gas." The latter being club soda so unless you are looking for mixing drinking go with "sin," or without gas.

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The Palacio de Gobierno is the Presidential palace of Peru. It is located in Plaza Mayor. If you are looking for Plaza Mayor don't be surprised to find that most people in Lima still call it by its former name Plaza de Armas. Even the staff at our hotel referred to the Plaza by its former name. The palace was the original old home of Pizarro. It was built around 1538. The structure had major damage over the years and was eventually restored in the 1920's and 1930's after major fires. When you approach the palace you will see that it is surrounded by a large black fence and that armed guards are stationed in all directions.

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This building was built by Francisco Pizarro when he was Governor c 1535. Then, it was used by the Viceroys of the Viceroyalty of Peru. There were several fires - the last one was in the 1920's, so some of it isn't very old. The President doesn't actually live here anymore. People used to be able to visit, but that may not be possible now.

Every day at noon, the guard at the palace changes and this is fun to watch according to some of our friends on the ship who saw it on Friday.

Because of APEC, the Presidential Palace was being used for meeting of various heads of states and therefore the square and Cathedral were closed for a good part of the time we were there. But on Monday, when we did our Highlights tour, the square was open again.

After we came out of the cathedral we saw a band forming up in the forecourt and a limo, and were told that the Chinese ambassador was getting ready to leave. We waited to see if he would come out, but he never showed nor did we get to see the changing of the guard.

Hi! Yesterday, i went to Historic Centre of Lima, and i asked about a question, and i was surprised of the answer. There is no more tour inside Presidential Palace.
There were tours before, but with this new goberment (since 2 years ago) they were cancelled. It is a pity.

I had the opportunity to view a spectacular changing of the guard ceremony in front of Lima’s Presidential Palace. The ceremony, almost an hour long, was heralded by the Presidential band, blowing through trumpets and French horns in bright red suits as they paraded around the courtyard. This was followed by a hundred or so militia men who executed elaborate patterned marches in synchronicity around the courtyard. After 30 minutes, the band and the militia marched out of the palace gates and started a slow procession around the main square. Dozens of men riding horses joined in the march, and a sizable crowd of locals and tourists gathered around the square to witness the spectacle. The event was quite memorable even with the sight of two armed and manned military tanks sitting at each corner of the palace facing the crowd in the square.

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The magnificent building of the Government Palace dates from the XVI Century and was known as "House of Pizarro" because the spanish conqueror worked and lived here since the foundation of Lima until his death in 1941.

The change of guard takes place daily at 11:45 AM. I´ve missed it when I visited Lima... shame on me!!!

This is the official residence of the president of Peru and the building was only completed in 1938. It was on this site in 1541 that Francisco Pizarro was murdered. Tours can be arranged a day in advance by booking at the entrance. Unfortunately, we didn't have that information, so we didn't visit the interior.