Trip to Guanajuato - Day 4

Day 4 - English walking tour

We found an English-speaking tour guide (Rigo)  who offered to take us on a walking tour for 1 1/2 hours for 100 pesos each.  (about $8 CAD).  We started the tour at 10:30 am and finished at 3 pm! During that time we toured through many streets visiting the Opera House, the home of the revered Mexican artist Diego Revera, and the Grainery Museum along the way.  Rigo explained about the influence of the Jesuits, the Conquistadors and the eventual revolution.

The Opera House (Teatro Juarez):

The construction on this building started in 1872 and was finally completed in 1903!  The facade is crowned by bronze statues of the Greek muses.

The interior of Teatro Jaurez is very elegant. It is the only theatre in the country that has conserved the original furnishings.

looking up at the ceiling and the chandelier

our tour guide Rigo with upper and middle class seating in the background

The lower class were assigned to the top balcony area...called the `chicken wings`

We walked along many of the downtown streets passing various statues along the way.

The walkway on right was the original street in town

This pathway is part of the original Camino Real...Kings Highway, the route to/from Mexico City to ship out the silver and gold and receive supplies. It was only wide enough for horses and donkeys.

The city is very well maintained, with lots of colour. Note the narrow streets and alleys, seldom level, and seldom straight.

A Bed and Breakfast place located in one of the narrow alleys

186 steps up to the entrance to the University. 

 The origin of the university goes back to the Jesuits founding the College of the Holy Trinity in 1732. In 1828 it became property of the state government and was renamed the State College.  In 1945 it received university status.

note the electrical boxes situated in the broken cart in this square!

Kissing Alley

We also visited museum in the Grainery (Alhondiga de Granaditas). The construction of the grainery lasted from 1798 to 1809.  It was used as a fort in 1810. This is a very important landmark in the history of Mexico as this was the site of the start of the revolution of Independence. Here the fabled Pipila wore a large stone on his back and crawled to the huge door to set it alight. The Spanish inside where then overrun by the peasants.

Later in the day we headed to the large Mercado Hildago.  The building was originally built to be a train station but the ground was too uneven in the town to lay tracks so it is now used as a huge indoor market!

Some late evening photos taken from the roof of our hotel:

A peek at the roof of the Teatro Juarez