Streets squares and districts to visit Asunción

Mercado N° 4 is the capital's most famous market. With its labyrinth of aisles lined with dozens of overloaded wheelbarrow pushers, it stretches over several cuadras between Perú, Peterossi and Dr Francia avenues. A market full of smells and colors. Stalls are grouped by type of product: fruit and vegetables, yuyos, fish, leather goods, telephones, woollen garments (at the "Feria de los Bolivianos"), etc. ¿Adelanteque busca? The film 7 Cajas, shot on location, perfectly captures the atmosphere of this picturesque market.

Behind the port, on one of Asunción's seven hills, this is the capital's oldest district. The lanes of the loma (hill) underwent quite a metamorphosis in 2012. Houses and small staircases were repainted in bright colors, bohemian cafés were set up... but the fever didn't last very long, and "SanGer" was gradually abandoned by visitors. Nonetheless, the area retains a pleasant village feel and offers beautiful views of the bay and historic center.

This tree-lined square is located in front of the former main railway station. Plaza San Francisco was renamed Uruguaya in 1885, to thank Uruguay for returning to Paraguay the trophies from the War of the Triple Alliance. In the center is a statue of José Gervasio Artigas, the father of Uruguayan independence, who lived in exile in Paraguay from 1820 to 1850. It's a tranquil spot, ideal for a shady tereré, or to relax with a book (there are two architecturally striking bookshops on the square). Classical music concerts are sometimes organized.

The historic heart of the capital is made up of four tree-lined squares, joined by Avenues Palma, Oliva, Chile and Independencia. These squares are: the Plaza de los Héroes, home to the Pantheon; the Plaza Juan E. O'Leary, where the Mercado Guasú (municipal market) stood until 1913; the Plaza de la Democracia, which hosts political and cultural events; and the Plaza de la Libertad, nicknamed the "Hippies' Square" and home to a small craft market and a number of itinerant tereré renters.

This vast square seems completely abandoned. It is often occupied by encampments of destitute families (landless peasants, indigenous people or people displaced from the bañados, neighborhoods regularly flooded by the river). The place, which is more striking than truly dangerous, shows a very sad side of Paraguay, just a stone's throw from Congress and the presidential palace! The square is framed by the cathedral and the brick building of the Universidad Católica to the east; the central post office and police headquarters (a colonnaded building dating from 1854) to the south; the Cabildo and the Chacarita district to the north; and finally, Congress to the west. In front of the Cabildo, a statue of Juan Salazar de Espinoza, the founder of Asunción (August 15, 1537). Towards the Congress, Hermann Guggiari's tree-trunk sculpture pays homage to the "Mother of Cities". North of the Congress, a statue of Mariscal López on horseback, surrounded by the cannons of the War of the Triple Alliance. The square is nicknamed the Plaza del Marzo Paraguayo, because it was here that, on March 23, 1999, a huge citizens' demonstration took place in defense of justice and democracy, in response to the political assassination of the Vice-President of the Republic, Luis María Argaña. The demonstration ended in a bloodbath, with 8 dead and 700 wounded, the demonstrators falling under the bullets of ex-general Lino Oviedo's snipers (located at the top of the building where a large advertising billboard is installed on the roof).