Monterrey, Mexico (part 2)

The only thing I don’t like about bus trips is you have to get up so early, we had to be on the bus by 8 AM (at least we had a really nice breakfast first).

sun coming up

Bishop’s Palace

This building dates from 18th century and has been a fortress and hospital, it was closed now so we did not see in it. The guide told us about the day of the dead which is Nov 1 for children up to 18 years old and Nov 2 for adults, according to their culture families bring a picnic lunch and put a table cloth on the gravesite and have lunch with their dead relative. Part of the culture is to share with the people around you and this is a celebration not a sad time.


cannons at the palace

Horsetail Falls
We drove to the Cascada Cola de Caballo (Horsetail falls)
Near the town of Santiago, where the roads are very narrow and windy, the driver did an amazing job driving the bus. Sometimes there was only a few inches clearance to buildings and bushes, reminded me of some of the roads in England.

buggy to the falls

Spa
We passed lots of nice, but small adobe style houses that are low cost housing. Then we drove through the country, which is dessert with mostly small homes most made from tin and scraps, with animals like horses, goats, sheep, dogs and chickens in the yards. There were the odd really nice houses. The spa is out in the country and not near anything else. Those who wanted to went into the mineral pool, ones who did not waited in the library. I went in the spa pool but did not find it warm enough so did not spend much time there






sky light for the spa

cactus plant, everyone has been writing on

Monterrey, Mexico (part 1)

We (Linda, Jerry, Ches, & Sharon) took a 2 day bus trip to Monterrey, which is the capital of the state of Nuevo Leon, the 3rd largest city in Mexico, with a population of 3 million people

We stayed at a really nice called Hotel Anica, built in 1919. We had superb meals at the hotel, better than cruise ship meals.

Governor’s Palace
The governor, who is elected by the people, uses the top floor of this building, and the bottom floor is a museum (unfortunately we did not get to see the museum just the outside of the building a some of the inside courtyard)

Stained Glass windows

Riverwalk

We took a boat ride on the riverwalk, which has recently been built. It is just over a mile long and you can go by boat or walk along. There are lots of water features along the way.

In the evening the weather was nice and we went shopping right outside the hotel on Morales street which is a pedestrian only street, with very nice shops

Beautiful dresses in a shop