Swashbuckling buccaneers. From about 1540, when the expanding Spanish empire reached the shores of Mexico, Campeche became a trading port. Built at the site of an important Mayan town, Campeche soon became as vibrant a port along the Spanish colonial route as Havana (Cuba) and Cartagena (Colombia).
A bit too vibrant, in fact. By 1650 the traffic of luxury goods, imports from Europe (chandeliers from Austria, marble from Italy), and exports to Europe (gold, silver and hardwoods) had reached such a high level that no reasonably savvy pirate could avoid the temptation to attack and ransack the city. And so they did. Over and over again.
Finally, one such murderous siege led to the killing of so many (one third of the city’s population) and the pillaging of the town’s grand mansions was so extensive that the Spanish government funded the construction of a protective wall around the town. This wall effectively ended decades of vulnerability to pirate attacks.
From these heady days of piracy and great wealth, there remains an architectural jewel of a town, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the historic center of today’s Campeche.
It is very much an anomaly of tourism patterns that the colorful Colonial town of Campeche is mostly by-passed by international visitors to the region. Tourists head to the other side of the Yucatan peninsula and seldom make the effort to get to Campeche.
Our first impression of Campeche is of walking in a pastel palette of soft pleasing tones.
Deep yellow ochre gives off a glow in the soft early morning light. Many of the central cobblestone streets are pedestrian only and as you can see we have the place to ourselves (for a few hours of discovery each morning.) Pastel green, sunflower yellow, burgundy and whte against a bright blue sky. Many of the houses are well preserved and one story high, often with internal courtyards and gardens behind walls.To many this place might feel deserted, but for us, it feels tranquil and every walk feels surreal. (In addition it is perfect for social distancing in the current context of Covid.) We could not get enough of these colors and streets and were tempted to stay longer….How often does one see a pink house? With French blue shutters and front door?Are we walking inside a painting?If you know us, you know we love color. This town is made for us…Remindful of Granada, Nicaragua, Cartagena, Colombia and Trinidad, Cuba.There are few people in the central streets and yet the lone guitarist plays on…Sage green and terracotta wallsq. These two showing a little wear and tear.And a grander double story wine colored hotel hotel graces a corner.A dramatic navy blue house trimmed with bright white breaks the pattern of patels.Blue skies with white clouds, creamy white walls with pale and cerulean blue accents.Framed in blue.Sage green house with unusually ornate plaster frieze detailing.Turquoise walls against a bright blue sky. Esco has full freedom in these streets.This deep sunflower yellow creates a vibrant glow in the street.Camouflaged in Campeche
Restaurants opening up slowly on the main pedestrian street.We score a huge high ceilinged hotel room on a rooftop with a grand view of the corner cathedral, which gets lit up at night.
Second leg of our road trip takes us from Palenque in Chiapas to Campeche in the state of Campeche.
The “art gallery on wheels” has a perfect colorful backdrop to show of ITS colors.
We were tempted to stay here for a couple of weeks. And we might well have if we did not have two home exchanges waiting for us further along our route. After all, Campeche is on the coast, is peaceful and has us charmed. We imagine ourselves with our sketchbooks and paintbrushes spending our days enjoying the colors and the architecture. But, the road and the imagined delights ahead pull us forward and onward.
Beautiful colors, made for the 3 of you. 4, counting the car! I wonder if the extreme solitude was a function of Covid and what itβs been like there in past years. Did people come out at night? Were they friendly?
For sure the pandemic has had its impact, however the economy of Campeche is built on the discovery of nearby oil fields which continues to pump revenue into the region. When we asked locals about tourist traffic they told us that they do get Mexican tourists but very few international ones. Most international visitors to this region head to Cancun, Tulum, which draw the big numbers. Too bad because this Colonial town is a pure gem.
People came out around five in the afternoon after the heat of the day and populated the street side bars and then the restaurants as well. But it never got to the point of “crowded”.
Not enough interaction with people to determine how friendly, but overall, on our whole ten week trip we found locals to be both friendly and helpful.
You might need to use Campeche as an unknown destination for your Amanda series. We were very happy with this find and now looking back on the trip it was definitely one of the visual highlights for us both.
Glad youβre safe. Love the colors. Do you chose your outfits to match the city? It looks like Mexico may be the go-to spot since so much of the world may not open up for quite a while.
Steve
Nope, I/we do not choose our outfits to match the city haha that’s funny… the opposite. As we walk around we are mindful of opportunities color wise which work well.
Some parts of Mexico have higher rates of Covid. We checked which cities were not in the red zone before we visited them during this trip. But yes, we are seeing an influx of tourists on the coast where we live.
We loved the colors too. Felt so happy walking around and seeing so many different colors. In so many parts of the world, such as the United States for example, the color palette in most cities is so limited. People focus on resale value there I guess and opt for more neutral tones.
So glad you enjoyed Campeche. Not sure whether the pigments are natural or not but that is an interesting point. There appears to be some kind of ordinance in play which allows people to use whatever color they want as long as it is not the color of their immediate neighbor.
I agree with your comparisons to other cities. In spite of my fairly solid familiarity with Mexico, this place was not even on my radar (but now it sure is!). It must have been both very pleasant and a little lonely to have the streets be so empty. I love the portraits of you both (and Esco, of course) in front of those warm, worn walls!
Lex, I am not surprised that Campeche was not on your radar even though you are very familiar with Mexico. We were delighted to come across what clearly is a gem but not one that most people know. Such is the joy of slow travel. We checked the map for stopover stops and then did some research and always when we read about a Colonial city, it piques our interest. This one is definitely a case of, it just doesnβt make sense that more people donβt visit.
We loved the empty streets. Because it is an authentic town, not one set up for visitors, it didnβt bother us that there were no people, it was rather novel and very calming to walk around.
Like that terminology βwarm worn wallsβ.. thanks for the compliment on the photos.
Wow, this is what I think of when I think of historic Mexican towns – the colors, the architecture, the cobblestone streets. Your photos are fantastic because they capture the feel of this town so well, and, without crowds of tourists in every shot, its beauty and peacefulness really shine through. It looks like a movie set! What a great find. I would have wanted to stick around for a while too.
Laura, thanks for the lovely compliments. It does look like something not real and yet it is a functioning historic city center. There were many for sale signs in the windows though, so quite a few of the houses are obviously currently empty.
We loved the peacefulness of the streets combined with the variety of and pleasing colors.
Oh, these colors and empty streets. Perfect for photo shoots for fashion or cars or just about anything. It’s hard to find “just buildings” but it’s quite dramatic. Thanks for posting.
True. It would be a great location for fashion shoots… Walking around the streets had a surreal quality to it, and we really enjoyed the fact that we were the only ones for the most part.
Very reminiscent of Granada, Nicaragua which of course is a Colonial city as well. Same time period. That dog is Esco ~ Josh and Ana rescued him a year ago when they were visiting the coast of Oaxaca and we adopted him a few months later. Or shall we say, he adopted us!
Nice colors. A little spooky too, maybe, what with all those empty streets. It’s almost like in a movie where everyone gets wiped out by a pandemic or something. I suspect it felt more normal once the locals started moving around.
Dave, for us it was not spooky whatsoever… we were enjoying having the streets to ourselves which allowed us to walk in the middle of the road and for our dog too to move about freely. We loved it.
Yeah if only it was just Science fiction and not reality. Not sure the empty streets were entirely due to the pandemic.
We were there in Jan 2017, and yes it was pretty empty. I remember that the regular city outside the old town was busy, and a pretty typical Mexican city, but within the walls where we stayed and wandered it was really quiet.
Your photographs here are brilliant. Definitely a picture-perfect place!
I did not receive this post by its regular email, but got it on the second one that you sent out. Thank you for doing that
Thanks for the compliment Donna. Was such a treat to walk through and enjoy all the architecture and colors.
Thanks for letting us know that you did not receive the blog automatically.. Would you be so kind as to please sign up as a follower again? Perhaps this will help?
I love how I keep discovering new places to visit in Mexico through your posts! Do you still have a home “base” in Oaxaca, or are you on full travel mode at the moment?
The colors of the buildings in Campeche are gorgeous and I love how your colorful clothes contrast so well with them.
Janis, glad to introduce you to new places on your radar for Mexico. Because prior to living here we had only visited Mexico City, Puebla and Puerto Vallarta, everything else is new to us and we are enjoying discovering treasures such as Campeche that are of the tourist radar for the most part.
Yes our home base is on the coast oF Oaxaca. Our road trip lasted ten weeks.
Ahhh we do love color. In buildings and in clothes!
The buildings and their colors are beautiful; I could be happy in a place like that! In a way, the colors remind me of Galveston’s historic district. As homes are being restored there, they’re adopting some of the traditional colors from the rebuild after the storm of 1900, and many of them are pastels.
Of course, I never hear “Campeche” without thinking of the Bay of Campeche. It’s not only a breeding ground for many of our hurricanes, it’s also the place where the Regata de Amigos, , an offshore race covering 610 nautical miles from Galveston to Veracruz, takes place. I have quite a connection to the race; a poem I wrote after the death of Roger Stone during the race was found on my blog by his widow, and a copy of it may still be on the wall in his old study.
Interesting to read about the restoration in Galveston’s historic district and the reuse of pastel colors.
Funny how a name can conjure up so many connections and, or memories for different people depending on context. We enjoyed reading about how the name Campeche has so much meaning for you personally. Love the story about your poem on your blog. We had a similar thing happen when we posted a story about Pondicherry in India and one of our readers showed it to her mother who was in her late eighties and had grown up there. One of the photos in our blog was the photo of the house she grew up in!! Shortly after that, her mom died. Our blog post had given her mom so much pleasure to see her hometown and her actual home in our photos.
Yes, sometimes the dots do all connect in mysterious ways.
For those of us stuck at home, unable to travel, posts like this one are balm for the travel-hungry soul. I just LOVE all the colour, and of course you fit right in with your flowing orange garb. You are just so photogenic!! π
Well we love to provide “balm for the travel hungry soul”. Thanks for such a sweet compliment. Yes the bright colored clothing which I definitely favor, works really well in certain contexts, such as this one.
Oh my Peta, what a gem you found, so lovely with all of the brilliant colours. I love how you seemed to have captured the beautiful light against the buildings & I am not sure if I should credit the photographer (Ben) or the model (you) but you are so naturally photogenic.
Lynn we were very pleased with ourselves for finding this gem! All from a photo I happened upon on instagram.
We had the opposite experience with another place along the way, named Villa Hermosa which had us expecting a beautiful city, which is the direct translation to English. Nothing could have been further from the truth!
Thanks for the lovely compliment. I never have thought of myself as being photogenic so ti must be credit to the photographer and the soft light at the time. Of course the pastel toned background doesn’t hurt either.
Ann we were thrilled to have no one around. It gave us a total feeling of serenity. Even if it was not during the pandemic we would have appreciated that.. however, given the current environment, we enjoyed it even more. NO worries about avoiding contact or crowds.. just free to roam.
How lovely! That is exactly the kind of town we enjoy for wandering and exploring and photographing. How interesting that it’s a UNESCO Heritage site…I recently wrote about our visit to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, which is also a heritage site. Both are colorful towns. π
Your photography is gorgeous and so atmospheric. And the photo of the lone guitarist wearing a mask…that speaks eloquently about these times we’re in. Thanks for sharing the magic of your journey.
Thanks Laurel.. Yes, Campeche is perfect for photography. We had so many photos it was hard to choose. I don’t think one can go wrong by visiting a UNESCO Heritage site, at least in our experience. I look forward to reading you post about Nova Scotia.
And for people who live in charming Campeche this is their normal. Interestingly there is of course a whole Campeche which is not part of the historic center but more like a regular small city on the coast.
I’m such a fan of these pastel colored facades throughout cities in Mexico. They send me into my happy place whenever I walk among them or and they did the same as I wandered with you through your photographs. Hoping this finds you safe and well.
It’s interesting because while we have seen colored houses in other places such as Granada Nicaragua where we lived for six years and Cartagena in Colombia, for Mexico this was new for us. Yes to individual pastel colored houses, but not street after street. Definitely made us feel happy walking amongst those colors.
I want to jump through my screen and wander the colorful streets of Campeche. I immediately thought of Bo Kapp in Cape Town or Burano near Venice. all the better that Campeche is off the tourist trail. It looks blissful.
Interesting how these colorful towns resonate and are remindful of other colorful places. Yes Bo Kaap is definitely one of them. We have never been to Burano, will have to put that on our list if we ever get back to Venice.
Why international tourists don’t go to Campeche is quite frankly a mystery. Makes no sense except for perhaps the fact that there are so many other lures in the region. But still….
What a wonderful post about Campeche. Although your stay was short, it sounded like you got take in quite a bit of the coastal town. The days of piracy and wealth do seem like a long time ago and so agree that this is a jewel of a town, such a gem find. Stunning how it is adorn with bright colours all round. It really does look quiet there and agree, ideal for social distancing but you also have to wonder where are all the locals. Lovely view from the hotel room and that cathedral sight is such a treat. Thanks for sharing, Peta and Ben. Always love seeing your ample travel shots taken so candidly π
Thanks Mabel for your feedback and thoughts on our post. We so enjoyed that view of the church both in the day and at night and also having the rooftop to ourselves to lie under the stars at night and to do yoga at the end of the day.
We did wonder where all the locals were, but outside of the historic center there is a normal city just like any other bustling Mexico city engaging in commerce, etc.
I had read previously that Campeche is a bit off the well-trodden tourist path. I hope it remains that way. We had planned on going in 2018 but a health issue had us cancel.Your street photos are magnificent, and the ones of Peta posing at the doorway could go on the cover of Conde Nast! Gorgeous!
Conde Nast! Wow, thanks for the terrific compliment. On the cover no less! Hahah, how fun that would be. I do hope you get to reschedule your trip to Campeche as I know you both will really enjoy it.
Street after street of pastel coloured houses β it does look like a movie set. Aside from the walls around the old city, did you encounter other remnants from the pirate era?
Jude, yes, in Campeche, but outside of the walled city, we visited a small fort which was geographically located at a strategic point on a hill, that allowed its handful of canons to fire in the direction of incoming pirates!
Beautiful colors, made for the 3 of you. 4, counting the car! I wonder if the extreme solitude was a function of Covid and what itβs been like there in past years. Did people come out at night? Were they friendly?
For sure the pandemic has had its impact, however the economy of Campeche is built on the discovery of nearby oil fields which continues to pump revenue into the region. When we asked locals about tourist traffic they told us that they do get Mexican tourists but very few international ones. Most international visitors to this region head to Cancun, Tulum, which draw the big numbers. Too bad because this Colonial town is a pure gem.
People came out around five in the afternoon after the heat of the day and populated the street side bars and then the restaurants as well. But it never got to the point of “crowded”.
Not enough interaction with people to determine how friendly, but overall, on our whole ten week trip we found locals to be both friendly and helpful.
Pete
This place is picture book perfect. It does look like you have the place to yourself. What a great find!
You might need to use Campeche as an unknown destination for your Amanda series. We were very happy with this find and now looking back on the trip it was definitely one of the visual highlights for us both.
Peta
A great idea! Although she has been to New Mexico, she has not yet been to Mexico. (Surprising how many people think it is the same place!!)
Glad youβre safe. Love the colors. Do you chose your outfits to match the city? It looks like Mexico may be the go-to spot since so much of the world may not open up for quite a while.
Steve
Nope, I/we do not choose our outfits to match the city haha that’s funny… the opposite. As we walk around we are mindful of opportunities color wise which work well.
Some parts of Mexico have higher rates of Covid. We checked which cities were not in the red zone before we visited them during this trip. But yes, we are seeing an influx of tourists on the coast where we live.
Peta
Love the variety of colours. Really brings the streetscape to life even if there are no people.
We loved the colors too. Felt so happy walking around and seeing so many different colors. In so many parts of the world, such as the United States for example, the color palette in most cities is so limited. People focus on resale value there I guess and opt for more neutral tones.
Peta
How lovely! I bet those colours come from natural pigments too, by tradition at least. Thanks for the morning stroll:)
So glad you enjoyed Campeche. Not sure whether the pigments are natural or not but that is an interesting point. There appears to be some kind of ordinance in play which allows people to use whatever color they want as long as it is not the color of their immediate neighbor.
Peta
I agree with your comparisons to other cities. In spite of my fairly solid familiarity with Mexico, this place was not even on my radar (but now it sure is!). It must have been both very pleasant and a little lonely to have the streets be so empty. I love the portraits of you both (and Esco, of course) in front of those warm, worn walls!
Lex, I am not surprised that Campeche was not on your radar even though you are very familiar with Mexico. We were delighted to come across what clearly is a gem but not one that most people know. Such is the joy of slow travel. We checked the map for stopover stops and then did some research and always when we read about a Colonial city, it piques our interest. This one is definitely a case of, it just doesnβt make sense that more people donβt visit.
We loved the empty streets. Because it is an authentic town, not one set up for visitors, it didnβt bother us that there were no people, it was rather novel and very calming to walk around.
Like that terminology βwarm worn wallsβ.. thanks for the compliment on the photos.
Peta
Wow, this is what I think of when I think of historic Mexican towns – the colors, the architecture, the cobblestone streets. Your photos are fantastic because they capture the feel of this town so well, and, without crowds of tourists in every shot, its beauty and peacefulness really shine through. It looks like a movie set! What a great find. I would have wanted to stick around for a while too.
Laura, thanks for the lovely compliments. It does look like something not real and yet it is a functioning historic city center. There were many for sale signs in the windows though, so quite a few of the houses are obviously currently empty.
We loved the peacefulness of the streets combined with the variety of and pleasing colors.
Peta
Oh, these colors and empty streets. Perfect for photo shoots for fashion or cars or just about anything. It’s hard to find “just buildings” but it’s quite dramatic. Thanks for posting.
True. It would be a great location for fashion shoots… Walking around the streets had a surreal quality to it, and we really enjoyed the fact that we were the only ones for the most part.
Peta
Makes me reminisce of nica. Love that dog friend you made. Looks like he took a liking to u!
Very reminiscent of Granada, Nicaragua which of course is a Colonial city as well. Same time period. That dog is Esco ~ Josh and Ana rescued him a year ago when they were visiting the coast of Oaxaca and we adopted him a few months later. Or shall we say, he adopted us!
Nice to read you Ella Bella.
Peta
Love the colors….including the sky!
How nice to read you here! The sky was the perfect backdrop for all the colors in the paintbox.
xoxo
Nice colors. A little spooky too, maybe, what with all those empty streets. It’s almost like in a movie where everyone gets wiped out by a pandemic or something. I suspect it felt more normal once the locals started moving around.
Dave, for us it was not spooky whatsoever… we were enjoying having the streets to ourselves which allowed us to walk in the middle of the road and for our dog too to move about freely. We loved it.
Yeah if only it was just Science fiction and not reality. Not sure the empty streets were entirely due to the pandemic.
Peta
We felt exactly the same as you about Campeche. Such a delightful place. Those early morning shots of the streets are gorgeous.
Alison, we are wondering when you visited Campeche and whether it was as empty then as it is now? What was your experience with that…?
Thank you for the compliment on the street photography.
Peta
We were there in Jan 2017, and yes it was pretty empty. I remember that the regular city outside the old town was busy, and a pretty typical Mexican city, but within the walls where we stayed and wandered it was really quiet.
Very strange isn’t it? So the emptiness was there before the pandemic. There were lots of houses with for sale signs too when we were there. Tempting…
Your photographs here are brilliant. Definitely a picture-perfect place!
I did not receive this post by its regular email, but got it on the second one that you sent out. Thank you for doing that
Thanks for the compliment Donna. Was such a treat to walk through and enjoy all the architecture and colors.
Thanks for letting us know that you did not receive the blog automatically.. Would you be so kind as to please sign up as a follower again? Perhaps this will help?
Peta
I love how I keep discovering new places to visit in Mexico through your posts! Do you still have a home “base” in Oaxaca, or are you on full travel mode at the moment?
The colors of the buildings in Campeche are gorgeous and I love how your colorful clothes contrast so well with them.
Janis, glad to introduce you to new places on your radar for Mexico. Because prior to living here we had only visited Mexico City, Puebla and Puerto Vallarta, everything else is new to us and we are enjoying discovering treasures such as Campeche that are of the tourist radar for the most part.
Yes our home base is on the coast oF Oaxaca. Our road trip lasted ten weeks.
Ahhh we do love color. In buildings and in clothes!
Peta
The buildings and their colors are beautiful; I could be happy in a place like that! In a way, the colors remind me of Galveston’s historic district. As homes are being restored there, they’re adopting some of the traditional colors from the rebuild after the storm of 1900, and many of them are pastels.
Of course, I never hear “Campeche” without thinking of the Bay of Campeche. It’s not only a breeding ground for many of our hurricanes, it’s also the place where the Regata de Amigos, , an offshore race covering 610 nautical miles from Galveston to Veracruz, takes place. I have quite a connection to the race; a poem I wrote after the death of Roger Stone during the race was found on my blog by his widow, and a copy of it may still be on the wall in his old study.
There’s always a connection!
Interesting to read about the restoration in Galveston’s historic district and the reuse of pastel colors.
Funny how a name can conjure up so many connections and, or memories for different people depending on context. We enjoyed reading about how the name Campeche has so much meaning for you personally. Love the story about your poem on your blog. We had a similar thing happen when we posted a story about Pondicherry in India and one of our readers showed it to her mother who was in her late eighties and had grown up there. One of the photos in our blog was the photo of the house she grew up in!! Shortly after that, her mom died. Our blog post had given her mom so much pleasure to see her hometown and her actual home in our photos.
Yes, sometimes the dots do all connect in mysterious ways.
Peta & Ben
Wonderful!
Thanks Gib. So nice to hear from you and glad you are enjoying the posts on our road trip. More to come!!
xoxo
For those of us stuck at home, unable to travel, posts like this one are balm for the travel-hungry soul. I just LOVE all the colour, and of course you fit right in with your flowing orange garb. You are just so photogenic!! π
Well we love to provide “balm for the travel hungry soul”. Thanks for such a sweet compliment. Yes the bright colored clothing which I definitely favor, works really well in certain contexts, such as this one.
Peta
Oh my Peta, what a gem you found, so lovely with all of the brilliant colours. I love how you seemed to have captured the beautiful light against the buildings & I am not sure if I should credit the photographer (Ben) or the model (you) but you are so naturally photogenic.
Lynn we were very pleased with ourselves for finding this gem! All from a photo I happened upon on instagram.
We had the opposite experience with another place along the way, named Villa Hermosa which had us expecting a beautiful city, which is the direct translation to English. Nothing could have been further from the truth!
Thanks for the lovely compliment. I never have thought of myself as being photogenic so ti must be credit to the photographer and the soft light at the time. Of course the pastel toned background doesn’t hurt either.
Peta
So pretty! And so nice not to have to deal with crowds, especially in times of Covid. I look forward to reading more about your trip!
Ann we were thrilled to have no one around. It gave us a total feeling of serenity. Even if it was not during the pandemic we would have appreciated that.. however, given the current environment, we enjoyed it even more. NO worries about avoiding contact or crowds.. just free to roam.
The best is yet to come.
Peta
How lovely! That is exactly the kind of town we enjoy for wandering and exploring and photographing. How interesting that it’s a UNESCO Heritage site…I recently wrote about our visit to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, which is also a heritage site. Both are colorful towns. π
Your photography is gorgeous and so atmospheric. And the photo of the lone guitarist wearing a mask…that speaks eloquently about these times we’re in. Thanks for sharing the magic of your journey.
Thanks Laurel.. Yes, Campeche is perfect for photography. We had so many photos it was hard to choose. I don’t think one can go wrong by visiting a UNESCO Heritage site, at least in our experience. I look forward to reading you post about Nova Scotia.
Thank you for the compliments on the photography.
Peta
Another picturesque look at how others live… the gift of curiosity, an open mind and the desire to travel can lead us down such interesting paths.
Thank you for sharing.
Patti you hit the nail on the head!
And for people who live in charming Campeche this is their normal. Interestingly there is of course a whole Campeche which is not part of the historic center but more like a regular small city on the coast.
Peta & Ben
I’m such a fan of these pastel colored facades throughout cities in Mexico. They send me into my happy place whenever I walk among them or and they did the same as I wandered with you through your photographs. Hoping this finds you safe and well.
It’s interesting because while we have seen colored houses in other places such as Granada Nicaragua where we lived for six years and Cartagena in Colombia, for Mexico this was new for us. Yes to individual pastel colored houses, but not street after street. Definitely made us feel happy walking amongst those colors.
Thank you yes, we are. Hopefully you as well.
Peta
I want to jump through my screen and wander the colorful streets of Campeche. I immediately thought of Bo Kapp in Cape Town or Burano near Venice. all the better that Campeche is off the tourist trail. It looks blissful.
Interesting how these colorful towns resonate and are remindful of other colorful places. Yes Bo Kaap is definitely one of them. We have never been to Burano, will have to put that on our list if we ever get back to Venice.
Why international tourists don’t go to Campeche is quite frankly a mystery. Makes no sense except for perhaps the fact that there are so many other lures in the region. But still….
Peta
What a wonderful post about Campeche. Although your stay was short, it sounded like you got take in quite a bit of the coastal town. The days of piracy and wealth do seem like a long time ago and so agree that this is a jewel of a town, such a gem find. Stunning how it is adorn with bright colours all round. It really does look quiet there and agree, ideal for social distancing but you also have to wonder where are all the locals. Lovely view from the hotel room and that cathedral sight is such a treat. Thanks for sharing, Peta and Ben. Always love seeing your ample travel shots taken so candidly π
Thanks Mabel for your feedback and thoughts on our post. We so enjoyed that view of the church both in the day and at night and also having the rooftop to ourselves to lie under the stars at night and to do yoga at the end of the day.
We did wonder where all the locals were, but outside of the historic center there is a normal city just like any other bustling Mexico city engaging in commerce, etc.
Glad you enjoyed our photography.
Peta
I had read previously that Campeche is a bit off the well-trodden tourist path. I hope it remains that way. We had planned on going in 2018 but a health issue had us cancel.Your street photos are magnificent, and the ones of Peta posing at the doorway could go on the cover of Conde Nast! Gorgeous!
Conde Nast! Wow, thanks for the terrific compliment. On the cover no less! Hahah, how fun that would be. I do hope you get to reschedule your trip to Campeche as I know you both will really enjoy it.
Peta
Street after street of pastel coloured houses β it does look like a movie set. Aside from the walls around the old city, did you encounter other remnants from the pirate era?
Jude
Jude, yes, in Campeche, but outside of the walled city, we visited a small fort which was geographically located at a strategic point on a hill, that allowed its handful of canons to fire in the direction of incoming pirates!
Peta