And now, having been to both river walks...we think Monterrey is a step up over San Antonio.
Monterrey is a city of about 1.1 million, however the metro area is probably over 4 million. It's a big city. The city was severely damaged by Hurricane Alex in 2010, but now five years (and $4.5 billion) later everything has been repaired, including their fabulous 2.5 km (1.5 mile) long downtown river walk.
A busy modern city.
Chris was heading downtown anyhow, and so we went for the ride with him and he dropped us near the start of the river walk. And, he suggested we go for lunch at Siberiana...a franchise that does tostadas.
Mmmm...yummy tostada and consomme.
We each had a chicken tostada with guacamole and thick cream as well as soup and a cold drink. Total bill including tip was 133 pesos ($10.91 CAD) for the two of us. Stuffed.
Then, we wandered around downtown a bit.
The museum.
Ruth and Cerro de la Silla (Saddleback Mountain).
Modern downtown buildings.
It was a hot afternoon, around 33C (91F). So you'll notice that there aren't many people walking around in any of these pictures. In the middle of a hot afternoon, most people are either in air conditioned cars or air conditioned buildings. Only crazy gringo tourists like us are out walking in the heat.
The plazas and the river walk would be much busier in the evening.
Ruth near the start of the river walk.
Kevin and one of the many fountains.
Monterrey.
While the river walk in San Antonio, Texas is more commercial with patio bars and cafe's, Monterrey's is more gardens and flowers and fountains.
Ruth, trying not to get wet.
Lots of free exercise machines that use your body weight as resistance. These are quite popular in Mexico (we saw them everywhere in South Korea!). It's a shame our governments in Canada and the U.S. don't put more of a priority on this kind of thing. I'd like to get them installed at our park back in Cabri!
I love that building. It's state government offices.
Monterrey is surrounded by beautiful mountains.
More fountains.
River walk tour boat.
You can also take the tour boat to see the entire river walk. It costs 30 pesos ($2.50 CAD) but we like to walk. Sure, it was hot but we took our time and stopped to sit in the shade along the way.
We returned on the opposite side of the river and by the time we got back we still had a few minutes before Chris picked us up so we went and checked out the Monterrey cathedral.
Monterrey cathedral. Nice on the outside, but very plain on the inside.
Chris picked us up and we went back home. Stopped to pick up some steaks and beer along the way and had another fantastic supper. Thanks Chris and Juan!
We had been planning on heading out this morning, but felt we needed one more day to relax. So it will add a bit to our driving schedule over the next four days, but now today is another relax day!
We're going to leave early tomorrow morning, so tomorrow's blog post may be late.
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A good deal on a starter telescope for the budding astronomer...today only...
Looks like Tshirt and shorts weather but you both have jeans on LOL Love the photos...the government bldg looks like a giant cheese grater but beautiful. I have to look on my the map to see where Monterrey is located.
ReplyDeleteMost Mexican people of our age don't wear shorts out in public unless at the beach, and even most of the younger ones we saw were in long pants. When in a different country we like to try to dress the way the locals do. We would have loved to have been in shorts...
DeleteGood to know, yes when in Rome........
DeleteWhat a beautiful city filled with wonderful architecture. Thanks for sharing a lovely piece of Mexico. I too will be grabbing my map.
ReplyDeleteIngrid@ LiveLaughRV.net
It is a beautiful city with neat modern architecture, unfortunately because Monterrey is a "newer" city compared to most in Mexico there aren't nearly as many older historical buildings. I find the mountains surrounding Monterrey help add to it's beauty.
DeleteI have driven thru Monterrey but never stopped, maybe I should have as it looks like quite a nice city
ReplyDeleteWe think you should have too! :-) Maybe you can check it out sometime in the future.
DeleteLovely photos of the city. I love that tall thin office building. Good luck getting the RV onto the street in the morning.
ReplyDeleteThank you Contessa! Chris said that, that long thin building was designed to look like a computer component that you grab from the top like a handle then slide it into place in a large computer, probably and older one. Can't remember what you would call that piece though.
DeleteGot the motorhome out without an issue nice and early this morning.
I think I agree with you. This river walk is much more picturesque.
ReplyDeleteThey are both different but I love the additional room and all the trees and flowers compared to the one in San Antonio and the fact that there aren't as many bistros, cafes and bars along the walkway, makes it much easier to walk through and you don't feel like you are going to fall into the water. ;-)
DeleteThe biggest difference I notice is the water looks clean in the Monterey river walk, in San Antonio it looks like sewer water. That really is a beautiful area. Becki
ReplyDeleteThe one in Monterrey looks like a giant swimming pool and they clean it like one too. They had a small boat and three guys with big hoses vacuuming it. There was also all kinds of gardeners and landscapers out working to keep the lawns, flowers and bushes nicely trim and kept and we didn't see a speck of garbage.
DeleteThe downtown river walk is so beautiful. Monterrey is gorgeous. What a wonderful experience.
ReplyDeleteWe have now been into Monterrey twice over the years and each time it has been a wonderful experience. Next time we come here we want to hike up Saddleback Mountain! :-)
DeleteWhat a wonderful day you had and love the river walk too.
ReplyDeleteLunch looked very tasty too.
Lunch was delicious and filling. We needed that walk just to wear it off.
DeleteThanks Ruth and Kevin, you did our city proud and we are so happy you are here at our house.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris but it wasn't hard to do Monterrey proud. They have done a lovely job making the city a great place to live and visit.
DeleteWe had a super with you both and can't thank you enough for you wonderful hospitality. Thanks again!
I don't think you can compare the river walks when they are so different!
ReplyDeleteYou are right they are both very different but we liked Monterrey's better. It was much easier for walking along rather than having to try and worm your way around all the crowds and the bistros, cafes and bars that take up a lot of the walking area.
DeleteWho know Monterrey was so beautiful? I sure didn't! I also did not know that you don't see adults in shorts. Good to know.
ReplyDeleteMonterrey is a very modern city and they work hard at keeping it clean. Can't wait to visit again and see some more of it.
DeleteAbout the only time we see adults in shorts is in some of the touristy places by the coasts. You might see women or younger girls wearing shorts in the really hot areas but not too many men do.
No otra personas....weird. I know it was hot out......but.....
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, there were other people around we were just lucky enough not to get them in the pictures. It would be a totally different story though if we were walking here in the evening. It was a work day and the middle of a very HOT afternoon.
DeleteWe have a few of those exercise machine circuits in some parks around here. They are always very busy! But a great workout when you are outside on a nice day!
ReplyDeleteWell, we certainly hope that more of the parks throughtout Canada can get these installed. We would love to have some at park in Cabri! ;-)
DeleteLooks like a great city to visit. If one didn't have friends to park their RV at, is there any RV park nearby to stay at?
ReplyDeleteThere is a campground just a little further south from where we were staying with Chris and Juan called Bahía Escondida Hotel and Resort, it is pretty pricey and we aren't really sure how nice it is. I believe it used to be an old KOA campground. GPS coordinates are 25.41406N - 100.12444W. Also you can always find places that you could dry camp at if you were to ask the owners of businesses with large parking lots like balnearios (water parks). From this campground you can take a bus into Monterrey or if you have a toad then you could always drive in yourself.
DeleteHuge hurricane heading towards you. 200 mph winds, Worst hurricane ever recorded.
ReplyDeleteYup, good thing they're on the move today and not dillydallying til Sunday. Fortunately they'll be heading due south while the former hurricane quickly weakens and tracks mostly north, well to their west.
DeleteI hope it doesn't wash out the roads or mud slides through the area they will be traveling. We got tons of rain in AZ, NV from the last hurricane....I heard CA had mud slides.
DeleteWe are keeping close tabs on the hurricane and the amount of rain but as Dugg says we should be OK as we are going to be south of it but that of course will depend on the winds and how they push the storm.
DeleteRita, we will be watching the amount of rain before deciding if it is safe to drive or not, that would be our only concern, definitely don't need to have any roads washed away but again it looks like we are far enough south that we should have no worries.
Where is everybody? Looks like a ghost town!
ReplyDeleteI notice that too.
DeleteThey said in the post that it was mid-day heat keeping the locals inside!
DeleteIt is a week day and in the middle of the afternoon, a very HOT afternoon so everyone is hiding away. There were definitely some people out and about enjoying the riverwalk but we managed to get pictures without people in them. It would definitely be a different story if we were to do the same walk in the evening.
DeleteI am not sure where you are headed next but likely you will want to stay away from the coast area near PV - a long way from Monteray now but likely inland will receive tons of rain from the hurricane that is about to hit.
ReplyDeleteWe aren't anywhere near the west coast and we should be far enough south now from where they think the storm will pass as it heads towards the Gulf of Mexico and Texas. At worst we will see some rain but it looks like we may even miss out on that or at least only receive a small amount. We are keeping a close watch though and will determine tomorrow morning if we should move on or stay put. Thanks for the concern Cheapchick.
DeleteWhat a beautiful city. I hope the hurricane isn't heading your way.
ReplyDeleteIt is a beautiful city and one we hope to see again on another visit.
DeleteNo it looks like we should be south of it and we are almost on the other side of Mexico from it so we should be good but we will still keep a close watch on the weather.