Cyndi’s Little Tour Guide to Guanajuato a.k.a Why Guanajuato is so Cool

Hey gang- you have no idea how excited I am to have friends and family visit this wonderful place so I’ll finally have someone to talk to about how cool it is. Well, when you read this you may start to understand how excited I am. I just hope that it lives up to your expectations and my memories of the place! Here’s a list of the things that stood out to me during my summer there.

Must see/do:

• Hang out in one of the restaurants/cafes in el Jardin de la Union,”el jardin”, and experience the laid-back Guanajuato lifestyle (and of course enjoy some cervezas!). Apparently our hotel is right on el jardin.
• Take a walking tour to see the following (all of these are so close to el Jardin) :

• Teatro Juarez – a beautiful theater that faces el Jardin.
• Universidad de Guanajuato – nothing particular to see inside, but just check out the unique architecture and see where Cyndi went to school!
• El Callejon del Beso – because this particular callejone (narrow street or alleyway) is so narrow and two balconies almost touch, there’s a legend to go along with it. You’ll probably hear many versions while there, but basically something along the lines of this – two lovers would lean over their balconies and kiss…sometimes there’s a Romeo and Juliet spin… their parents didn’t like each other or something like that.
• The Basilica – there are many beautiful churches here and it’s sort of fun to pop in a few of them that grab your attention. This is one of the larger churches in the center of the city.

If you have time:

Obviously you’d kill yourself if you tried to do all of this in a short weekend but I thought I’d summarize these to help you decide which ones you might want to check out.

• Go on a “Callejoneada” – an evening walking tour with musicians/singing. Oh yeah and people carry these wine flask thingies around on the tour (I told ya you’d like this city!). We need to find out the schedule when we arrive.
• Diego Rivera Museum – This is the famous muralist that was married to the even more famous painter, Frida Kahlo. Well he was born in Gto. and they turned his home into a museum.
• Museo de las Momias (Mummy museum) – It’s sort of one those things you only need to see once, but you almost have to see it. It’s probably the most famous thing about Gto.
• Cervantes museum – For some reason the people of Gto. have a fascination with Cervantes, the dude who wrote Don Quixote, and there’s a giant festival in October every year that sort of sounds like a smaller-scale mardi gras. Anyway, this museum isn’t far from el jardin if you feel like stopping by.
• Alhondiga de Granaditas – Lots of history here – more stuff about the beginning of the Mexican revolution. It’s kind of a boring building from what I remember, but it probably represents to the Mexicans what the Alamo represents to us Texans.
• La Mina de Valenciana – This is the silver mine on the outskirts of the city that once brought great wealth to the area. There’s also a church up there that the original mine owner built for his daughter to get married in (and supposedly he had a gold pathway made for her to walk on from their home to the church).
• Ex-Hacienda San Gabriel de Barrera – I’ve never seen much about this in the tourist books but I thought it was pretty cool. It’s a restored hacienda – beautiful home, beautiful gardens, and a tiny little chapel with an awesome altar made of gold. If I remember right it’s not far from the mummy museum so you can do them back to back.
• Mercado Hidalgo – If you’re into shopping, this is a typical Mexican market sorta like the ones in border towns (except this one’s in a really cool building). Some junk but lots of cool stuff too. Worth a stroll through.
• Cristo Rey – This is a really awesome gigantic statue of Jesus (sort of like the famous one in Brazil) – looks like a huge cross from the city. It’s pretty cool but a bit of a drive so it can consume a lot of your day.

Hope this is helpful!

[ed. note: we'll add to and expand on this list, as time permits. If you'd like to send it your own GTO stories, we'd be happy to publish it]

If you’re looking for a good detailed map of Guanajuato, look no further. Download this PDF. It’s a great resource that can really help you get around town, or plan out your routes before you go, if you’re into that sort of thing.

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