We just came back from another short stay in Europe - woops, it just felt that way! Really it was a five day trip to Merida, the capital of the state of Yucatan. We went with our friends Bob and Lynn from Minnesota. After the four hour bus ride, we had a wild taxi ride weaving in and out of countless buses to Hotel Dolores Alba, a converted Spanish colonial mansion. We our stuff quickly into to our large clean $40 a night rooms and headed out to see some sights. After the Spanish took over this Mayan city named T'Ho, they tore down the many temples there and used the foundations and stone to build churches and official buildings. They also built a wall around the city. Three Moorish style gates to the city still remain. One of them, the Arco de Dragones, is two blocks from our hotel.
Lynn, though vertically challenged in the US, could have played center easily for any Mayan basketball team. She's standing next to the pedestrian entrance in the gate.
We walked about 4 blocks to the main square. The oldest building is the Casa de Montejo built in 1542. Amazingly, direct descendents of Franisco Montejo occupied it for 435 years. It's now a bank/museum. The furnishings are little bit more high end than our plastic dining table and wooden crate shelving. Bob and Lynn are standing in one of the interior courtyards.
Down the street from the main square is a huge theater, Teatro Peon Contreras. We just wandered in to find that it was closed for some restoration work. As happened so often during our stay, a very friendly man who was working as a guard, took us on an unofficial tour. We felt as if we could have been in New York when we saw this theater with a capacity of 1000 people.
The guard also showed us this wonderful open air ballroom that can also accomodate 1000 people.
No comments:
Post a Comment