**Historic centre
Trujillo has quite an interesting colonial centre with many churches and mansions. The whole centre used to be walled, and Av. España now marks where the wall used to stand. There is a section of the wall still standing on the northern part of Av. España. The large Plaza de Armas (**) is surrounded by attractive colonial buildings with beautiful wooden balconies. There is an impressive statue of La Libertad (freedom) in the centre of the Plaza. The churches are quite different from some of the more ornate examples in Lima, Arequipa and Cusco, for example, and the facades are rather austere. The most interesting church is the Iglesia del Carmen (**), which has a small gallery of colonial art, the Pinacoteca Carmelita. The church and museum are open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 1pm. There is a $1 entrance fee.
Trujillo has many elegant colonial mansions, including the Casa Banante (Ayacucho 426) and the Casa de Emancipación, which is used for exhibitions.
The Trujillo Museo de Arqueología, Antropología y Historia (**) (Jr. Junín 682, Mon 9.30am-2pm, Tue 9.15am-1pm, 3.30pm-7pm, Sat and Sun 9.30am-4pm, entrance $1.50) is housed in the elegant Casa Risco, a colonial house built in the early 18th century. This charts the development of pre-Hispanic cultures in northern Peru, especially the Moche, Chimú and Inca cultures. There are plenty of ceramics and some good explanations. The museum has a particularly good section on the Huaca de la Luna, with a large-scale model of the Huaca and artefacts found at the site.
The Museo Cassinelli (**) (Basement of Shell Petrol Station, open Mon to Sat 9am-1pm, 3pm-6.30pm, Sun and holidays 10am-12.30pm, 3.30pm-6.30pm, entrance $1.50) has a very interesting collection of ceramics, although it is not really a museum. There are 2,000 pieces on display, piled from floor to ceiling in one room with flickering neon lights. The museum actually has a collection of 8,000 pieces, although there is no space to exhibit most of these. Although there are plans for an ambitious museum, there is a lack of money for the expensive project and it does not look likely that it will be realised. Although the collection that can be seen is badly displayed, there are some very good pieces and it is worth visiting. The lack of information on the pieces is more than compensated by the caretaker of the museum, who will guide you giving thorough explanations, although many of these sound a bit far fetched. The collection includes ceramics from the Chavín, Chimú, Moche, Inca, Virú, Salinas and Cajamarca cultures.
The Museo de Zoología (San Martín 368, daily 7am-7pm, $0.50) has two rooms of stuffed animals.
There are several beaches near Trujillo, the best of which are at Huanchaco and Playa Las Delicias. It is possible to walk on the beach from Huanchaco to Chan Chán, although this is not advised, as muggings are common.
www.peru-guide.com - the most comprehensive travel guide to Peru available on the Internet.
The Peru Guide is © 2004-2008 Llama Travel
Peru Holidays from Llama Travel