A full 400km from the sea, Ciudad Bolívar is the highest navigable point on the Orinoco.  It was an important town in colonial times, a small Manaus, trading the agricultural riches of the Llanos directly with Europe and looking more to foreign capitals than Caracas.

The city was then called Angostura, meaning ‘narrows’, as here the Orinoco is funnelled through a deep channel just a mile wide. The bitters for pink gin were invented here before production moved to Trinidad. A modestly grand cathedral was built, and city streets of fine houses leading down to an evocative waterfront.