Some say mountainous Michoacan is the heart of Mexico.
Patzcuaro- and the nearby capital city Morelia are two of it’s jewels.
THE CASA LEAL is a very old building looking out onto the Plaza grande and was originally constructed in the 1600’s. Family owned for generations and only recently converted to a hotel with many of the original family heirlooms still decorating the building. I highly recommend staying at the hotel if you visit Patzcuaro.
Below-Our elegant room at the Casa Leal
Below the rooftop terrace of our hotel with a restaurant and a Grandview over the plaza.
Below-a delightful painting of the plaza that hangs in the hotel.
…and the view that greets one in the morning exiting the hotel
Below Quiroga stands watch over his town from the centre of the Plaza
Below a restaurant on the Plaza we ate in regularly
Above and below-. The Day of The Dead is a big event every year in Patzcuaro and preparations were being made everywhere. Here each flower is being meticulously cut out of colored paper to hang outside.
Some old photographs of The Day of The Dead taken near Patzcuaro
Above- The Municipal Palace
Below Behind the hotel is The Temple Saguaro started in 1693 and finished some two hundred years later. Thus it is a mixture of styles juxtaposed.
Below In the smaller Plaza is the Ex Temple of San Agustin, which was founded in the 16th century. Today it houses the Gertrudis Bocanegra Library. This library has a mural painted by Juan O’Gorman ( a friend of Digo Rivera) depicting the history of Michoacán.
Below-An intriguing sign hanging above a bar in the main plaza. I expected to see Peter Lorrie and Humphrey Bogart in this Gin joint.
Below- God made wings for the Angels and chocolate for the humans.
Above-The entry to La Tradicion a prize winning restaurant serving authentic Michoacan food for many years. The many prizes cover the walls.
Above the owners of La Tradicion Victoria and Eloy.
Below a Tarascan soup with meat broth and avocados, chilies, soft goat cheese, some crunchy toasted chips and secret hot spices.
Above There are several delightful plazas sprinkled around the town.
Below a floor made from slate with cow spine bones for scraping ones shoes or boots.
The Casa de los Once Patios (House of Eleven Courtyards) was constructed in 1742 for Dominican nuns of the order of Santa Catarina de Sena. They gradually expanded the initial building by buying adjacent houses, which is why the complex once had eleven courtyards, but now that is down to only five.
Below-In the west corridor, the oldest part of the complex, there is a fountain and a Baroque portal leading to a room that had a bathtub with hot and cold running water, a rare luxury at the time.
In the 1960s, the complex was restored and since then has functioned as workshops and stores for local crafts. The workshops include those that make shawls and lacquered items.
The house of the eleven patios.Once a convent now an arts center.
Part One of Patzcuaro is here.