As I mentioned in the previous post, we only had one afternoon, evening, and the next morning in Campeche, Mexico, but we managed to make the most of it and got a lot of walking in. This city we knew nothing about before arriving really did charm us with the beautiful cobblestone streets, colorful colonial facades, and handsome architecture. Here are some of the sights from our walks around town during our short visit. Stay tuned! Next we'll head to walking/bike path along the Gulf of Mexico on Campeche's west side.
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This morning we were off to our next destination, Campeche, in the like-named Campeche state of Mexico. We chose to stay there on the way to Palenque to visit the ruins mostly to break up the trip into manageable-length bus segments, not because we had any burning desire to visit the city. And that was too bad, as it turned out to be a really, really nice place, and we only had one night to enjoy it. (We would later have another night there on our return trip, but we hadn't planned that all out at the time.) Larry, our host at La Casa Lorenzo, gave us a ride to the ADO bus terminal in Merida as he was heading downtown to a hardware store that morning. The ride was helpful as we knew we had a fairly long walk to the hotel from the Campeche ADO station, and the less we have to walk with our heavy packs, the better. On this leg of the trip we noticed how similar the Mexican highways look to US interstates in places, right down to the blue service signs. We had great seats right in the front of the bus, so Barry was able to get some good shots out the window. We really enjoyed being able to see where we were going. And there is the little matter of traffic stops. These exist when leaving one state and entering another, and sometimes at other places in between. The buses always seemed to get sent right through, but there were indeed police with machine guns at the stops. Entering Campeche town... And here we are at the bus station. I went ahead and bought our tickets for the next day. One thing we found is that very few if any of the ADO employees spoke any English, but I had figured out in advance how to order tickets (boletos) in Spanish. And they had me type in our names so there would be no confusion or spelling errors. We had a long (approximately 2 mile) walk from the bus station to Campeche centro, where our hotel was. It was a hot day and rather windy, so I had to hold onto my hat! Below is a large store we saw in several cities in Mexico. Turns out they are affiliated with Wal-Mart. Also note the VW Beetle nearby, not in very good shape. By the way, a reader informed me after a previous mention of the ubiquitous "Bugs" in Mexico that there was actually one last remaining VW Beetle manufacturing plant in Mexico. However, this article indicates that production stopped there in 2003. Still, they were produced in Mexico for much longer than elsewhere, so there's no wonder we saw so many! Several segments of the wall around the centro historico portion of the city remain -- I believe this is the longest portion. We had to walk a ways to the east to find a way to cut through the wall into centro. Once on the other side of the wall, I wondered if we had suddenly entered Disneyland! Campeche centro was so colorful, clean, and tidy, it almost didn't look real. Apparently the government has really put a lot of time and effort into restoration and beautifying the colonial buildings, at least the facades. I loved all the pretty colors! Since our hotel was still quite a bit farther, almost all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, we stopped off for a late lunch. More on that in the food post, but in the meantime, I liked this photo Barry took of our packs. Yes, we traveled with just this for sixteen days! We did have to wash out a few things, of course -- thus is the beauty of quick-dry clothing. We finally located our hotel, and it was absolutely charming. Although I had booked it based on Tripadvisor reviews, I couldn't remember what it looked like so was delighted to see how lovely it was. One of my very favorite colors too! Here are some inside views. So incredibly pretty! Stay tuned for much more from Campeche!
On Sunday around lunchtime, we were walking around downtown Merida where a variety of outdoor food vendors cluster to serve the shoppers and walkers. I wasn't very hungry but was hoping to find some Sopa de Lima (Lime Soup), a classic Yucatecan soup I'd heard so much about. Although the booth we stopped at said they had it to lure us in, they didn't actually, though they had some other kind of chicken soup. Realizing it was probably too hot for soup anyway, I settled for a cooling Horchata (a traditional rice beverage) to drink, and Barry got a panucho. Since we had such a light lunch, we decided to eat dinner early and tried one of our Tripadvisor picks, Amaro. Since we were eating so early, we had the place to ourselves. I started with a michelada, another specialty drink in Mexico, and Barry had one of their special cilantro/habanero margaritas. We also ordered some guacamole, chips, and salsa to whet our appetite as we perused the menu. I still had Sopa de Lima on the brain, and we'd planned to go for sorbet after dinner, so I decided to have a light soup dinner. Barry had a chicken dish. After our relatively light meal, we strolled back up to the Paseo de Montejo for some sorbet. We'd eyed this place the night before but had chosen fancy desserts at Hennessey's. We neglected to get a photo of the breakfast Larry prepared for us on Sunday morning, but it was very good -- fresh fruit, granola, yogurt and toast. On Monday, the day we were hitting the road again for our next destination, we asked for a hearty breakfast (but sans meat) since we'd be eating only snacks for lunch. Before heading to the bus station to be on our way, Barry was determined to stop at the French pastry shop, Cafe Creme, very close to where we were staying. A Frenchman owns and operates it, so it is authentic and lovely. We figured we'd pick up a couple treats for the bus ride, since we wouldn't be having lunch. After meeting the owner and getting a few free sample tastes, we picked our poisons. It was all so delicious we could hardly go wrong with any choices. Stay tuned as we travel from Merida to our next destination, Campeche!
Once the sun goes down, Merida, Mexico definitely does not roll up the sidewalks. After dark, people are out and about, walking, shopping, dining, and the city lights are very pretty -- especially at Christmas time, when even more lights than usual decorate la noche (the night). On Saturday night as we were strolling around after dinner, we were lucky enough to happen upon the area at the south end of the Paseo de Montejo all lit up and filled with vendors selling food, jewelry, leather items, clothing, and other things. In addition, there was a musical stage performance set up in the park area. All the singing was in Spanish, but the costumes and voices were charming. Quite a large crowd was sitting and watching the performance. The huge Christmas tree in the same area was all lit up. More night scenes from around town... The beautiful Merida Cathedral at night... Stay tuned for Part 2 of Merida food...and then we travel to our next Mexican city!
Another interesting place we visited in the Merida, Mexico centro historico was the Palacio de Gobierno (Government Palace), right downtown. This was on the recommendation of our bed and breakfast host, Larry, and it was spectacular. It is absolutely free to enter and consists of sizable painted murals depicting the history of Merida. From the second floor, the view of the Merida Cathedral out the windows was as amazing as the murals. A couple more murals...I found the description of this one more interesting than the battle scenes. Leaving the museum, right outside is the stunning Merida Cathedral. It was pretty much impossible to get it all in a frame since we don't have a wide-angle lens. It was built in 1598 -- hard to imagine! Here are a couple of other pretty churches from around the city. And finally, a smattering of the colonial houses and residential streets we loved so much as we walked around town. And finally, here's the hotel we almost stayed in until I decided on La Casa Lorenzo at the last minute. It's called the Hotel Medio Munda, and we just happened upon it while walking. Absolutely darling! Please stay tuned for Merida at night!
Merida, in the Yucatan state of Mexico, is a historic city with so much to see. We spent our three days in the city walking until our feet were tired, taking in the interesting sights, local color, and architecture all around us. Here's a sampling.... We knew we were not in Belize any more when we saw this store! I must admit, we did take advantage of the lower prices on toothpaste and a couple of other small things, but we were traveling so light we couldn't buy much. The sidewalks downtown were very busy and slow to negotiate. It was a couple of Saturdays before Christmas, so everyone was out shopping til they dropped. I think all we bought was our Panama hats. One thing we started noticing all over Mexico was the number of Volkswagen Beetles. They were everywhere! This is the car I learned to drive in, so I have always had a special affinity for them, and it was fun to see so many of them during our travels. I am not sure what the deal is with VWs and Mexico, but they sure are here in droves! Some beautifully restored, others not; in all colors of the rainbow. We'd often count three or four in close proximity. So here's the first of a few VW Beetle photos we'll share, and there will be more as the blog entries continue. I'm feeling a Merida FOOD post coming up next, so STAY TUNED!
Merida, in the Yucatan state of Mexico, has an awful lot to recommend it: the beautiful architecture, the great restaurants, the cultural activities, and the many parks being among its attractions. And in the winter, the weather is absolutely beautiful. However, one of the Merida traditions we were most excited about was the Bici-Ruta or bicycle route. This occurs every Sunday morning, when a long stretch of streets, including the Paseo de Montejo, are closed off to motor vehicle traffic, allowing cyclists and pedestrians to take over and cruise up and down more easily. We were absolutely delighted that our visit would allow us to participate in this fun event since we had a full Sunday in the city. We rented two cruiser bikes right on the Paseo (between Calle 45 and 47) and joined the other cyclists on the street. The hourly cost was just $40 MX (approximately $3.20 US) for the two bikes -- a deal. There were some really interesting human-powered vehicles among the more conventional bicycles. Near the north end of the route was El Monumento a la Bandera, the Monument to the Flag. He made me pose at the monument too. Looking at these photos now, I can't get over how blue the sky was! It was a perfect day for a bike ride. Although in most of the photos it appears that there weren't many others on the routes, at times we ran into real bottlenecks of meandering cyclists, children on tiny bikes, dog walkers, and people who had obviously not ridden a bike since their own childhood, so we did have to pay attention and stay on our toes. There were also several places with traffic circles and motor vehicle crossings, so we'd have to stop and leave in a bunch. Still, it was great fun, and our hats are off to the many volunteers who direct traffic and help out on this event. It is all the more impressive when you consider that that they do this every single week, year-round. In the US, something like this would happen once a year at best. You have to love a city that holds cyclists and pedestrians in high enough regard to make this a weekly event.
Merida, we ♥ you! Please stay tuned for more from this fine city. One of our favorite things about visiting a new city is trying out new-to-us restaurants. Merida has a reputation for having great food, and we weren't disappointed. Our first night in the city, we were too tired from our travel day and lots of walking for most of the day to do much for dinner. We decided to walk around the corner from La Casa Lorenzo to a pizza place Larry recommended and bring home a pie to eat in his bar area, which we'd have all to ourselves, since we were the only guests at the bed and breakfast. This vegetarian pizza did not disappoint. Of course Barry got my olives, and I got his mushrooms. Yum! The next morning, Larry said that he would either serve us breakfast (included in our room rate) or take us to a very authentic Mexican place to eat, Wayane. Always up for something novel, of course we chose the latter, and it didn't disappoint. Our juices -- Barry had chaya/pineapple (the green one), and Larry and I ended up with tamarindo, though we thought we ordered mandarin orange -- must have been our Spanish! No matter, it was delicious. As with our juice orders, there were some misunderstandings with my food order. I though I'd ordered three different egg tacos (with various add-ins), but ended up with only one egg and two meat (chicken and pork). They were delicious but way more food than I really needed. Larry successfully got three egg tacos. Despite the small ordering snafus, this place was a really fun experience, and the food was great. If we hadn't been staying at Larry's, we would never have known about it, and it was a bit of a drive in his car, so we wouldn't have gotten to enjoy this authentic breakfast. Thanks Larry! For lunch we tried a place we'd read about on Tripadvisor, Chaya Maya, recommended for authentic Yucateca food. It is downtown and super popular with locals and visitors as well. The waiters spoke almost no English, and the menus were in Spanish as well, making it an interesting experience, but we did just fine. We started with a cold cervasa and complimentary chips and sauces. Yummy. We both tried the Turkey Panuchos, a traditional Yucatecan dish. They were really colorful and tasted great. An interesting thing; there was a woman making tortillas on one side of the restaurant. Very cool! After eating two very authentic Mexican meals, we decided to do something completely different for dinner. On Larry's recommendation, we strolled down the Paseo de Montejo and ate at an Irish pub/restaurant, Hennessey's. And even stranger, we ordered pasta! And it was actually very good! It was a light chicken and veggie pasta, leaving us room for a yummy dessert. We shared two different (and very lovely) desserts, cheesecake and chocolate terrine. They tasted as good as they looked! Please stay tuned for much more from Merida!
Unfortunately, the elegant Palacio Cantón, which houses the Regional Museum of the Yucatan, was closed for renovation. It was the gem of the Paseo to our eyes. At the south end of the Paseo was this entry to a hotel and restaurant, and park area decorated festively for Christmas. We had fun playing around and taking some photos here. Another very cool Paseo happening occurs each and every Sunday morning, where the street is closed off to motorists and open to cyclists and pedestrians. But we'll save that for another post. Stay tuned!
In yesterday's post we'd just arrived at our bed and breakfast for the next three nights, La Casa Lorenzo. It's a beautiful colonial home in Merida's Centro district, in the St. Ana neighborhood. I have been fascinated by the colonial architecture of Merida since seeing a couple of episodes of House Hunters International. While plain at the street-side, the wonders that often lurk behind the doors can be breathtaking, so I was excited to be staying in one of these beautiful homes. Larry, the host and owner, recently bought and remodeled the home into a bed and breakfast, adding lovely guest rooms furnished in antiques and with colorful Mexican tiles. Our room was charming and comfortable, and we happened to be the only guests staying for the three nights we were there, so it was really quiet and private -- perfect. There's an outdoor bar/kitchen area for guests' use with a fridge, microwave, and sink. Larry made and served us a welcome margarita that was very welcome indeed! He also provided maps and lots of good information on places to see, things to do, and good restaurants to try during our visit to Merida. Very helpful! The enclosed courtyard is perfectly private and has plants, a couple of fruit trees, a seating area, and a great little pool. I did go in once, but it was pretty chilly this time of year. Our room, room 5, was the closest to the bar and courtyard area. Depending on the number of guests there at the time, this might be a noisier room, but since we had the place to ourselves, it was just fine. Heading back into Larry's part of the home, here's his personal dining room. I love the pasta floor tiles in here -- wish I'd thought to have Barry take a close-up. Here's Larry's well-equipped kitchen... and the parlour with amazingly high ceilings, lovely pasta tiles, and a computer for use by guests. The simple exterior belies what lies behind the doors... See, I told you I made it into the pool, not much deeper than this, though! Heading out to eat one night -- we bought these Panama hats in Merida. Being a little silly... Stay tuned for much more on the beautiful and fascinating city of Merida as we venture outside of Casa Lorenzo!
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