{"id":254,"date":"2019-01-22T21:43:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T02:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/22\/discovering-leon-mexico\/"},"modified":"2019-01-22T21:43:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-23T02:43:00","slug":"discovering-leon-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/22\/discovering-leon-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovering Leon, Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/a><\/div>\n

Whoever heard of Leon? Hardly anyone outside of Mexico, I’d wager.<\/p>\n

But when we were thwarted from reaching our destination, Tlaquepaque, by a government crackdown on fuel thieves that dried up all the gas stations, we decided to detour to the closest city on our route, Leon, and explore for a few days instead of worrying about gas. So we booked a tiny, pet-friendly two-bedroom apartment ($213 for a week) and set about researching Leon.<\/p>\n

We knew nothing about this city, but Bob consulted Mr. Google and quickly Bob discovered that Leon is the fourth largest city in Mexico! The hotel we stayed in our first night while we grappled with how to deal with the gas problem, Hotel Soleil Business Class, was in a great location on a major thoroughfare directly across from a park and sports center, and right on the bus line.<\/p>\n

I found a great little description at Trip101.com<\/b><\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\nLe\u00f3n is known as the\u201cshoe capital of the world\u201d and shopping for leather goods is one of the main attractions here. Le\u00f3n has a long history as a center of the leather industry, offering shoes, boots, belts, jackets, and other leather accessories not only in <\/span>Mexico, but around the world. It has first-class services and hotels making it one of the most important cities in Mexico along with Le\u00f3n\u2019s entertainment, restaurants, leisure activities, arts, and recreation. It is also considered one of the most environmentally friendly cities in Mexico and has a high number of cyclists, in part because of integrating a network of bike lanes into the public transportation system. In March 2012 it received an award as \u201cCity Water Champion,\u201d due to great progress it has made in the areas of sanitation, wastewater reuse, and energy cogeneration from biogas.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
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<\/i><\/div>\n
\nWhile much of Le\u00f3n is industrial, it is also a great little authentic Mexican city. There is a nice, large pedestrian area in the center, which comes to life at night with street sellers, music, and Mexican families just enjoying their city. Also, Le\u00f3n is a great place to escape if you\u2019re a budget <\/span>traveler, unless you\u2019re in the market for a lot of leather.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

We discovered Leon has several notable cathedrals, an Arch of Triumph, a grand boulevard (think Champs Elysees, only smaller scale), and a charming historic center.<\/p>\n

\nArch of Triumph<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n
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So after settling ourselves and our cats into our new apartment and taking care of food shopping, we got up the second morning and called an Uber to take us to the Arco Triunfal de la Calzada de los Heroes<\/a> (<\/span>the<\/span> <\/span>Triumphal Arch of the Causeway of Heroes). <\/span><\/span>
\n
<\/span><\/span> The lion on top <\/span><\/span>represents the pride and symbol of the strength of the Leonian people. The leafy grand boulevard runs 500 meters and has bronze statues of eight heroes. We agreed it would be a fabulous place to run.<\/span>
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe Nativity Show<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
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We then walked up the causeway toward the old city and, across the street from the <\/span><\/span>Templo Expiatorio Diocesano del Sagrado Coraz\u00f3n de Jes\u00fas (<\/span>Expiatory Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus<\/span>), we stumbled upon the Muestra Nacimiento, or Nativity Show, a temporary display of Nativity scenes from around the world. Admission was free and it was closing the next day, so we went inside, where we were greeted by a smiling nun. This display was a feast! There were small, large and humongous dioramas from Italy, Spain, Germany, Russia, and all over Mexico. We loved it! Here are a few highlights:<\/span>
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\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wooden carved nativity from Oberammergau, germany<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mexican style<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The lighted sky bedazzled<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\nMartyr’s Square and the Plaza <\/span><\/h3>\n


<\/span>After visiting another amazing cathedral next to Pope Benedict Square, and wandering around the old streets in Centro Historico, we enjoyed take-out tacos and agua tamarinda (orange water; OMG, what a discovery, and the entire meal cost $2) in a shady plaza next to <\/span>Martyr’s Square, the central plaza in the old city. We enjoyed awesome ice cream and wandered on to our next discovery of the day: Mercado Aldama.<\/span>
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\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n


<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

\nMercado Aldama<\/span><\/h3>\n


<\/span> I daresay no other gringo has ever wandered into Mercado Aldama<\/a><\/b>, a massive indoor marketplace in a huge industrial building just beyond the old city. And they are missing out! Everything was for sale in this bustling, authentically Mexican, three-story marketplace, from shoes to clothing to sombreros to every kind of food you could imagine (and some you wouldn’t want to imagine), <\/span><\/span>traditional Mexican clothing, arts and crafts, housewares, utensils, fruits, meats (including intestines, hooves and other animal body parts I found quite unappealing but Mexicans apparently love) and much, much more! I’ll let the pictures tell the story.<\/span><\/span>
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\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Mmm, delicious<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Please don’t eat me! he says<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Baby Jesus come in a variety of sizes,
\nwith long eyelashes as standard equipment<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A kids’ booth<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Countless super-cheap restaurants featured authentic cuisine<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Frida Kahlo shows up on everything<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Love Bridge<\/h3>\n

On the way home, we stopped at the Puente del Amor and secured a lock of love on the bridge. Watch for a future blog about the locks of love we have put in a number of cities and countries!<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whoever heard of Leon? Hardly anyone outside of Mexico, I’d wager. But when we were thwarted from reaching our destination, Tlaquepaque, by a government crackdown on fuel thieves that dried up all the gas stations, we decided to detour to the closest city on our route, Leon, and explore for a few days instead of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Discovering Leon, Mexico”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[69,115,121,4,122,123,5,6,32],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-guanajuato","tag-leon","tag-lock-of-love","tag-mexico","tag-nativity","tag-navidad","tag-travel-blog","tag-travel-blogger","tag-world-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}