We really enjoyed wandering around the City of Campeche. Interestingly, besides Quebec City, it’s the only North American city that still has the old walls and fortifications – bastions and watchtowers built to defend against pirates and buccaneers. Because of the well-preserved nature of these features, it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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| The gate facing the land. |
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| Bell on top of the wall walkway above the sea-facing gate. Looking down the street our hotel is on. |
Our hotel, Casa Don Gustavo, started out as an 18th century colonial mansion and in 2010 was renovated and reopened as a hotel, keeping the historical character and décor, along with antique furniture and artwork from the period. It’s located on a cobblestone pedestrian street with shops and restaurants for about four blocks and many restaurant tables filling the street – with many workers encouraging you to sample their wares and fare.
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| Hotel courtyard at night |
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| Pedestrian / dining street outside our hotel |
Our first stop after checking into the hotel and going for coffee was the main square. Andrew was excited to find an exhibit of insect photos by Levon Biss. He has the book but it was fun to see the photos so enlarged and colorful. The process Biss used to create the images, microsculpture, is incredibly detailed, ~8,000 individual photographs to create each image and about three weeks to shoot, process and retouch.
Personally, I enjoyed seeing the old cathedral that’s also on the main square and walking along the malecon.
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| A building along the main square, lit up at night |
In the mornings, we also took advantage of the coolest part of the day (it's all relative!) to wander along the malecon. I found an outdoor workout area with a pull-up bar so even managed a bit of motivation to get a workout in one morning.
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| Green heron |
The following day, in addition to going back to the insect exhibit so Andrew could examine them further, we went to the Museo de La Arquitectura Maya (first two photos below) and took a taxi to the Fuerte-Museo San Miguel, one of the forts on a high hill that helped to guard the city.
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| The drawbridge into the fort |
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| Inner courtyard of the fort |
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