The city of Guanajuato

Guanajuato Travel Guide

A woman selling flowers

Guanajuato (1990 pop. 113,580). Capital of the Guanajuato State, with an altitude of 6,583 ft (2,008 m), is a historical and picturesque town of agreeable little plazas, streets lined with stairs and houses of pastel-colored facades and balconies trimmed with iron work, and flower-filled window boxes, located about a five-hour drive northwest of Mexico City. The town is a maze of cobblestone streets and alleys that wind around steep hillsides upon a small ravine, opening into vistas of beautiful churches and small plazas.

Most of these passageways are largely pedestrians only, since modern traffic circumvents the narrow streets underground, in massive stone tunnels and upon the riverbed, past the basements of the core city.

The Basilica Nuestra Señora

A typical mexican courtyard

During centuries, a major mining center, its mines pouring out silver for the Spanish crown, now a government seat and college town. Since 1988, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Guanajuato has no traffic lights or neon signs, creating an extremely enjoyable place to walk, peaceful, yet with plenty of life in the streets, and plenty to see.

Fiestas and celebrations in Guanajuato

TOP

Festival Cervantino, a major international art fiesta on the streets and theaters each October (1th to 17th in 1999). After Miguel de Cervantes, author of "Don Quixote," whose plays are performed by college students on a small and picturesque plaza. -Hot Air Baloon Festival, runs each november. -Alfenique Fair, Last days of October, November 1st and 2nd, at San Fernando Square. Many vendors of almond candies in variated shapes, and traditional skulls labeled on foreheads with proper names. Prizes given to best works. -The Festival de la Presa marks the start of the rainy season, and it officially begins on June 24th.

OTHER FIESTAS No nation on earth is quite as good at enjoying itself as Spain. There are so many fiestas that even if you could attend more than one a day you would not be able to see them all.