León, Mexico
Guanajuato, Mexico · León
2 places pinned — click any one for its story.
The place
This was a trip to León, in the central-Mexican highlands of Guanajuato, with my martial arts team — not the beaches, but the real working heart of the country. León is Mexico's leather and footwear capital, a big industrial city with a handsome colonial center, plazas, and the twin-towered cathedral basilica.
Central Mexico is where the country's independence began, in the silver towns of Guanajuato just up the road — colonial architecture, highland air, and some of the best food anywhere.
Places I visited
History & facts for each spot — with a “then & now” archival photo where one exists. Every one has its own page; open it for the full write-up and all the photos.
1León
The largest city in Guanajuato state and the leather-and-footwear capital of Mexico, in the central highlands. A colonial core of plazas and the twin-towered Cathedral Basilica anchor a hard-working industrial city.
Full history & photos →Read more on Wikipedia →
The UNESCO-listed colonial silver city nearby — a maze of alleys, tunnels, and pastel houses stacked up a ravine, and the birthplace of Mexico's War of Independence in 1810.
Full history & photos →Read more on Wikipedia →Archival photo: In the Catacombs at Guanajuato. (15688091546) — Wikimedia Commons