Medellín is a city in a bowl. It fills the Aburrá Valley in the Colombian Andes, with houses climbing the steep sides in tight brick and tin-roofed rows, and the mild climate at around 1,500 metres has earned it the nickname of the city of eternal spring. For decades the world knew it for the drug trade and its violence, but over the last twenty years it has changed itself with a good metro, cable cars that link the poorest hillside districts to the centre, library parks and outdoor escalators in the former no-go neighbourhood of Comuna 13. The sculptor and painter Fernando Botero, born here in 1932, gave the city a collection of his plump bronze figures in a plaza in the centre.
The Las Palmas road is the classic ride out of the city. It climbs from the valley floor through pine and eucalyptus forest to the high plateau where the airport and the town of Rionegro stand, with views back over the city lights that are stunning at dusk. The tarmac is mostly good, but corners tighten without warning, trucks grind up the slope, and fog and rain arrive in the afternoon, so the morning is the better time. Beyond Rionegro the Oriente loop heads into the countryside of reservoirs and green hills, with the huge granite monolith of El Peñol rising from the lake near Guatapé, topped by a stairway of some seven hundred steps.
Plan carefully for city restrictions. Medellín has rules known as pico y placa that limit which vehicles can circulate on particular days according to their number plates, and these can apply to motorcycles, so check the current rules before you set out. Local drivers are assertive and motorbikes are everywhere, but if you keep your head up and your distance, it works. In August the Feria de las Flores fills the streets with parades of silleteros, farmers who carry flower arrangements on their backs, a tradition from the nearby village of Santa Elena.
Fuel is easy in the city and along the main road, and food is hearty. The local dish, the bandeja paisa, is a plate of beans, rice, pork, plantain, egg and avocado that could feed two, and arepas and strong coffee are always at hand. Evenings are warm, and the best views are from the hills above the city after sunset.