From Edzna, we drove to the seaside town of Campeche. Our first goal was to visit the Fort San Miguel. Perched on top of a hill, with a commanding view of the Gulf of Mexico, the Fort at San Miguel was also supposed to have a marvelous little museum filled with Mayan treasures, such as jade masks. When we finally found the Fort (the sign indicating its location was obscured by a leafy tree branch) we learned that the best artifacts in the museum had been moved. The museum was closed - we peered in through the glass windows, and it did not appear that there was much left on display. We walked around on the walls of Fort San Miguel, which has a fine view of the Gulf of Mexico.

We drove into Campeche and checked in at the Hotel Del Mar, right on the shore. The old city center of Campeche was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 because the city has retained its old fortifications, plus the old Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, and the old narrow streets of the original colonial city. All the buildings inside the city walls are brightly painted with pastel colors.

After an early dinner, we checked out the Cathedral and the old city streets. The area within the walls is not too big. Unfortunately, restoration work was ongoing on the balustrades, so we could not climb up onto the walls themselves. The walls circling Campeche reminded me of the walls around Derry, in Ireland, another UNESCO World Heritage site. We walked around until well after the sunset, including a stroll along the path that parallels the beach for most the length of the city. Then we went to bed early.

All the graphic images are my own design, but the textured background is taken from a site, EOS development, that offers non-profit users free use of their graphics. Click below to visit their site.