Peru's second largest city feels peaceful and genteel. The architecture is beautiful - low buildings of bare white stone or coated in colorful paint, primarily Spanish baroque in style, with local touches - the air is soft and the people are friendly. While there were pre-Incan and Incan settlements here before the Spanish arrived in 1540, there is little trace of them in Arequipa today. As a result, you often feel more like you're in Europe than in the Andes. keep reading