Campeche, capital of the state of the same name, is a small city but with big appeal: some great buildings, the best (and cheapest seadfood) I've had anywhere in Mexico, and surprisingly exciting nightlife.
Like all sizable coastal Spanish colonial towns, Campeche used to the get attacked constantly by English and Dutch pirates. So they built a wall around the old center, some of which remains. Today, that wall keeps the quaintness inside and the hideous midcentury sprawl out.
The central plaza is flanked by double storey arcades and is dominated by it's baroque cathedral, which has some crazy structural things going on at it's transcept dome (retrofit, probably).
While the cathedral is not without it's merits, I was more found of the prosaic Yucatan vernacular church, an excellent example of which is found two blocks from the cathedral.
Also very interesting for me was the local contruction technique of arched vaults spanned by slnder wooden beams, a method which served both sacred and profane purposes.
The subtle details of the city should not be missed for it's extravagant use of various colors. For one thing, buildings get taller only at intersections, amplifying the urban experience. Also, the monotony of the architectural detailing is the counterpoint to the variation in the surfaces of color on not some, but EVERY building in the fabric.
Below is a combination of religious architecture and infrastructure I have not seen before: church as lighthouse.
In Campeche, as everywhere along the Gulf Coast of the Yucatan, there are NO waves bigger than a few inches. It's an uncanny site in my expereince, as even the much smaller Great Lakes have formidable waves. It's as though you are on the bank of some immeasurable river. Apparently it is a feature of it's very shallow incline (even hundreds of meters out, the water is barely over the head of a full grown man). This also explains the richness and the easy accessibility of the seafood.
Like all sizable coastal Spanish colonial towns, Campeche used to the get attacked constantly by English and Dutch pirates. So they built a wall around the old center, some of which remains. Today, that wall keeps the quaintness inside and the hideous midcentury sprawl out.
The central plaza is flanked by double storey arcades and is dominated by it's baroque cathedral, which has some crazy structural things going on at it's transcept dome (retrofit, probably).
While the cathedral is not without it's merits, I was more found of the prosaic Yucatan vernacular church, an excellent example of which is found two blocks from the cathedral.
Also very interesting for me was the local contruction technique of arched vaults spanned by slnder wooden beams, a method which served both sacred and profane purposes.
The subtle details of the city should not be missed for it's extravagant use of various colors. For one thing, buildings get taller only at intersections, amplifying the urban experience. Also, the monotony of the architectural detailing is the counterpoint to the variation in the surfaces of color on not some, but EVERY building in the fabric.
Below is a combination of religious architecture and infrastructure I have not seen before: church as lighthouse.
In Campeche, as everywhere along the Gulf Coast of the Yucatan, there are NO waves bigger than a few inches. It's an uncanny site in my expereince, as even the much smaller Great Lakes have formidable waves. It's as though you are on the bank of some immeasurable river. Apparently it is a feature of it's very shallow incline (even hundreds of meters out, the water is barely over the head of a full grown man). This also explains the richness and the easy accessibility of the seafood. 
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