When I arrived in Zacatecas, it was late at night, around 9:00p.m. As the taxi wound its way through the streets, it passed under a series of arches which I found fascinating. Later on, I learned these arches were part of an old aqueduct system.

Here’s one view of the aqueduct

And one more, so you can get an idea of the scale.

The center of a park, just a short distance away from the aqueduct.

A lovely fountain in the center of the park

Another view from the park with a large church in the distance. As you can see, the stone has a pinkish color to it. It also has multiple patterns in the cut pieces as well. Several of them placed together resemble an abstract painting.

An architectural example of the church, showing the structure, as well as the patterns in the cut stone. Unfortunately, I don’t recall the name of the church..

Some closeup detail at the back of the church, showing the old part in the background, and the newer section in the foreground.

Here’s a closeup of some of that stone. Notice how it resembles an abstract painting. This stone is very popular and is used in a wide variety of buildings all over Zacatecas.

Here’s a short video of the interior of a church

A main claim to fame of Zacatecas are its silver mines. At the height of New Spain (part of Cortez’s regime), Zacatecas was producing 20% of the silver and created many wealthy silver barons here. It’s also possible to take a tour of La Mina El Eden (The Eden Mine), but that’s the subject of another post..

The main staircase inside the Francisco Goitia museum. Photos weren’t allowed of the paintings, so this is all I can show you. As it turned out, much of the museum was undergoing renovation at the time and there wasn’t much to see. This museum is located close to the central park and aqueduct that you’ve seen in earlier images.

This is an inside view of the the Quinto Real, the most exclusive hotel in Zacatecas. Rooms start at $195.00US/night and go up from there. What makes this hotel unique is that is was built on top of an old bullfighting ring.

An inside view of the corridors that pass around the upper part of the bullfighting arena.

Here’s a quick snapshot showing what the bullfighting ring looked like before the hotel was built.

Here’s a short video clip that gives you an idea of the size of this place.

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