European mansions
Green-gold fortunes.
amanderson2 — CC BY 2.0 · eileenmak — CC BY 4.0 · Isabel A01706197 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · eileenmak — CC BY 4.0
Mérida's most beautiful avenue, in the capital of Yucatán state: a broad, tree-shaded boulevard dotted with roundabouts and statues, laid out after the French boulevards in the late 19th century. It is named after Francisco de Montejo, the Spanish conquistador who founded the city in 1542. It is lined with grand mansions built by Yucatán's wealthy when the henequen trade boomed; the plant's fibre was made into rope, and it was called «green gold». The mansions came in assorted European styles, with columns, balconies and gardens, and some are now museums, restaurants and banks. The best time to walk it is late in the day, when the heat eases, or on Sunday morning, when part of it closes to cars for cyclists and walkers. Among its landmarks are the huge Monument to the Fatherland, carved with scenes from Mexican history, and the Palacio Cantón, now an anthropology museum. Mérida is a calm and relatively safe city, hot for most of the year, so winter is the best time to visit. You can hire a horse carriage to tour the avenue and the historic centre.
Green-gold fortunes.
History in stone.
For walkers and bikes.
Runs north from the Santa Ana quarter in central Mérida, about 6 km
Late in the day when the heat eases, or on Sunday morning when part of it closes to cars. Winter is best, as Mérida is hot most of the year.