City of MERIDA - Capital of Yucatan State

It's 165 km from Vallodolid to Merida  and the ADO bus service runs at regular intervals so no need to prebook

At the midtown departure terminal our cases disappeared into the luggage compartment and  we settled down for the three hour run to Merida.  There was not much to see enroute just endless expanses of more jungle.  An occasional dirt road would go off at right angles from the highway and disappear into the greenery but  there was little sign of life until we reached the outskirts of town.

The final 500 yards of travel in the City had our bus doing hairpin turns into ever smaller,  narrowing roads before reaching its terminal - these drivers know their stuff.

Merida is easily navigated as the streets have numbers only and (apparently!)  it is easier to memorise numbers than it is to recall  sometimes unpronounceable names like Avenida Dzibilchaltun or Calle Yaxcopoil. -  you can always stop and unwind with a wonderful lunch if  things get too confusing!




This section of mid-town Merida streets shows the  'boxed' layout  - the odd number roads run east/west and the even number run north/south - still, we do get lost!  Give me Alexia's GPS system any time....

Now I'm not quite sure how to describe the city - there are the run down streets and derelict housing areas  and some very poor people begging in the streets alongside historic mansions with wonderful architecture, modern roads, restaurants, theatres, museums, an opera house, farmers markets, supermarkets a wild range of hotels and hostelries, and tourists who seem to spend money like water.

It has a population bordering on a million people with a history that goes back to the early 1600's but if you include the Mayan aspect then it takes you to about 2500 BC.

I'm no history scholar and Wikipedia has helped a lot here - all I can say is that we have fallen in love with the City and have tried to absorb as much as possible in the short time we have been here.

A few views from around town:

There are many ways to tour the town to get a good overview of how it is set out and to see some of the historic monuments but nothing beats a slow ride to the soft clip-clop of hooves on these lovely carriage rides.

The emporium on the upper level advertises its products by hanging them over the balcony

Cathedral on the main square in Merida

One of many restored old buildings in the City

OUR HOTEL IN MERIDA - The Dolores Alba

Our room was large and airy and the balcony overlooked the pool - all this for only $510 Pesos/night (about 22 GBP) AND free hot/cold breakfast each morning from a self service buffet. 

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Booking hotels online is always a risk - photographs sometimes don't match reality!  However, turned out we had found a gem with the Dolores Alba Hotel  on Calle 63 - just off the main central square of the city, so really close to anything we might want.



At first sight the entrance to the hotel had us wondering if we had made the right choice - a simple wooden door fronting the street with just 'Hotel' in large red letters to one side.   However, once inside we found a welcoming  inner courtyard with trees, flowers, a large pool surrounded by  tables, chairs, recliners and very helpful staff.



There were tiled floors throughout the hotel - this is the walk way through to a second interior courtyard where the breakfast buffet was served each day - it was so quiet you'd hardly know there was a City outside.



Our Room was on the second floor behind the trees.