Leon, the 4th largest city by population in Mexico, is a provincial town in Guanajuato, known for its leather and shoe industry. It only got on our radar when John's cousin from Aguascalientes mentioned in passing that he sometimes flies into the Leon airport. That was a good enough reason for us to give it a look, and Leon did not disappoint.
The city center has an eclectic architecture from different periods, beautiful squares popular with every kind of people, cultural ventunes all over the place, and pedestrian streets teeming with activities. There is even underground parking, so with the modern world! No wonder Leon was the first city in Mexico to implement a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit).
We stayed for 4 nights at the art deco Hotel Leon, completed in 1938. The interior is more than awesome!
Plaza Principal.
We ate 2 terrific vegan lunches at Govinda's.
More city center 20th century architecture.
Monunental Stone Mural across from the Cathedral
The former prison is now the Museum of the Identities which "holds the collective memory of the local activities that reaffirm the concept of what it is to be from León" says the offical website.
Sun-Ling buys avocados at Mercado Estrella (first below) and a view down the street in front of Mercado Estrella (second).
The Fuente de los Leones illuminated at night.
The Palacio Municipal at night.
The Cathedral at night.
Our nearest BRT station at night.
The Parroquia de (Parish Church of) San Sebastian = amazing!
A Postal Delivery Moto parked in the lobby of the Post Office.
Exhibition of oil paintings by local artist Oliver Esquivel (top level).
Loading shoe leather near Mercado Republica.
El Templo Expiatorio exterior and interior. The last stained glass shot below is a "map" of Centro Leon.
View of pedestrian plaza and Templo Expiatorio from an overpass.
Monumental sculpture in homage to San Sebastian, the patron Saint of Leon, at the Museo De Arte E Historia De Guanajuato.
Bonus: Gulf Gas Station.
Sun-Ling and John have been traveling the earth since 2008 while blogging, eating vegetarian and vegan, and riding public transportation. We love uphill day hikes, 20th-century architecture, Roman ruins, all bodies of water, local markets, shopping for groceries, aqueducts, miradors, trip planning, blablacar, and more.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Most Recent Post
Uzbekistan: Bukhara
Bukhara was a major city on the Silk Road. It had been the capital of various dynasties. Many of the buildings we see today originated duri...
Most Popular Posts of Last 30 Days
-
Tashkent, Uzbekistan is our entry into Central Asia. The Silk Road had been a destination for us for decades. Besides the usual concerns for...
-
Last week we hauled our canoe and tent over to Merchants Millpond State Park and enjoyed some very fine camping and paddling. One day we p...
-
Khiva is really the first stop on our upstream tour of the Silk Road. An important post on the Silk Road, Khiva was razed and rebuilt many t...
-
From TashKent, we took a flight west to Nukus, located in Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan. Nukus itself is a city establi...
-
Bukhara was a major city on the Silk Road. It had been the capital of various dynasties. Many of the buildings we see today originated duri...
-
The day before Easter we took the regional FSE train from Martina Franca to Bari, the 2nd largest city in southern Italy (after Naples) with...
-
We spent some extra time in Tashkent, because we wanted to catch the Persian New Year, Nowruz , in Tashkent, known as Spring Equinox to the ...
1 comment:
The art deco is very impressive. I love that the former prison was turned into a museum. What a great use of the infrastructure!
Post a Comment