Merida, Mexico - Day 3

In the morning, we went to the downtown area (known as Centro) for the free guided tour of buildings surrounding the main plaza... The dance performance which we watched last night was in front of these buildings...

Palacio Municipal (Municipal Palace - headquarters of the local government). We went to the Tourist Office located in this building to sign up for the tour...

Still had some time before the tour started so we walked around the Plaza Principal (Main Plaza)...

These people shine your shoes for you... Quite a few of them around the main plaza...

Very cute seats all around the main plaza! Good for conversation as you sit facing each other...

Cathedral de San Ildefonso - one of the oldest cathedral . It was built by several hundreds Mayan labourers during the Spanish rule using stones from destroyed Mayan pyramids. It started construction in 1561 and finished in 1598...

Inside the cathedral...

Casa de Montejo (Montejo's House). Merida was founded by Francisco de Montejo in 1542 this is the house of the Montejo family until 1970s. It is the city's finest—and oldest—example of colonial plateresque architecture, a Spanish architectural style popular in the 16th century. Currently, the building houses a bank.

Inside the building where our guide is telling us about the history of the place...

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (Contemporary Art Museum). It is housed in the former archbishop's palace. We did not enter the building...

The walkway between the Contemporary Art Museum and Cathedral. It showcases exhibits too. This walkway used to be covered and links the Cathedral to the Archbishop palace...

Palacio de Gobierno (houses the state of Yucatán's executive government offices).

Inside the building are murals painted by local artist Fernando Castro Pacheco. The murals depict the history of the Mayans and their interaction with the Spaniards. These 3 murals are known the Staircase Murals. It is very interesting as it shows the Mayan version of the world divided in 5 regions (East, South, West, North and Centre). The left mural shows East, the centre mural shows North (top section), Centre (middle section) and South (bottom section), and West is shown in the right mural...

Lots of murals in this room showing the history of Merida...

This shows Fray Diego de Landa, one of the bishops of Yucatan, burning Mayan books and thus destroying Mayan history. However, it is from his book that people now know about the ancient Mayan civilisation. Luckily he kept records or else everything about the Mayan may have been gone...

After the tour we went to have home made sorbet at El Colon, a shop with a long history...

YH had Zapote sherbet (Chiku fruit sherbet) while I had Creme morisca sherbet (Sherbet made from milk, egg yolks, cinnamon, vanilla, guava paste and a bit of rum). They tasted really nice!! Very cooling and refreshing for a hot day. =)

The restaurant also sold various pastries and we tried meringue (recommended by guide book). But we did not really like it...

Then it was on the bus back to the hotel... The bus ride is much cheaper than taxi as it only cost 6 pesos... A taxi ride will cost around 30 - 40 pesos...

Hotel Presidente Intercontinental Villa Mercedes viewed from our hotel room... We will be moving to that hotel tomorrow...

Lunch was at La Tradicion, a restaurant serving Yucatan food near the hotel and is highly recommended online and in guide books...

Our drinks - I had Horchata, a rice-based drink, and YH had Jamaica, a hibiscus flower drink... Horchata tasted really nice and refreshing!! =)

Some photos of us in the restaurant... The wall beside us were covered with photos of the owner/chef and customers...

Complimentary starters, very nice!

We ordered an appetizer - Papadzules (Egg "tacos" bathed with pumpkin seed sauce and tomatoes) plus a soup - Crema de Chaya (Cream of Chaya)...

Then it was the entrees... YH had Poc Chuc (Mayan/Yucateco version of barbecued pork).

I had Pollo Pibil (Chicken marinated in achiote, sour orange juice, peppercorns, garlic, cumin, salt, and then wrapped in banana leaves and baked).

Tortillas that came with the entrees...

All the food tasted great!! This is a must go restaurant for Yucatan food!! I think I liked the food here the most!! =) We even ordered dessert Crema espanola (Custard dessert). I was too full so we shared a dessert. Tasted great as well!! =)

After lunch we walked a little at the shopping mall below our hotel... This is a shop celling cute souveniers...

Took turns taking photo with the Christmas decorations...

Then YH had to go back to the conference while I relaxed in the hotel room... I waited in the room till YH finished the banquet... Was getting really hungry as the banquet ended late... Finally he came back and we walked the McDonald's near the hotel to get my dinner... We make it a point to visit the McDonald's in all the countries we visited as they are all a little different... Will have some local influence...

My meal. I got the Guacamole Chicken Burger.

The burger, quite nice...

Besides Ketchup they had Jalapeno sauce which tasted quite nice, not very spicy! =p

We did not go anywhere else at night as we wanted to sleep early. We had to wake up real early the next day for our bus ride to Chichen Itza.