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Valladolid - Shopping

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CarollJesse
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5 out of 5
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Editor Pick

Valladolid

  • July 4, 2007
  • Rated 5 of 5 by wanderluster from Evansville, Indiana
Valladolid

This charming Colonial city, a two-hour drive west of Cancun, makes a good base for visiting Ek Balam ruins to the north or Chichen Itza to the west. Every village centers around a plaza, and Valladolid is no different. A bustling market takes place around the picturesque plaza where couples sit in white cupola benches near fountains and Mayan ladies stroll by in their handmade embroidered huipiles. Across the park-like plaza sits the large baroque de San Servacio church, from 1570, which draws in local people every Sunday.

Valladolid is considered the most Spanish Colonial city in the Yucatan. Now calm, beautiful, and friendly, this "terrific town with a terrible past" has a bloody history. Long ago, Mayans settled here around a sacred cenote known as Zaci. (This cenote still sits in the middle of town and can be visited.) When Spanish invaders arrived in 1543, they brutally assaulted the Mayans. Families were burned alive, women and children hanged by their feet, and beautiful virgins slaughtered. Those that survived fled. But never forgot.

The city was named Valladolid to honor Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain, and Spanish Colonial architecture soon filled the streets. In 1848, a Mayan army formed to retaliate. They attacked their former city, taking vengeance on the descendants of the proud conquistadors. Daughters of Spanish nobles were raped and murdered and spread across grilled windows of the elite class, and homes plundered. Flames of fury spread across the Yucatan, igniting the War of the Castes…

Today locals swear the town is haunted. Don’t be alarmed if you hear mysterious laughter, phantom guitar music and clicking castanets. A convenient and very comfortable place to stay is El Mason del Marques right on the plaza across from the Cathedral. This Colonial hotel still owned by descendants of Spanish nobility was built as the home of a marquis, who apparently got out just in time during the Caste War because the pretty fountains, courtyard, ironwork, and Spanish décor were left intact. Check out www.mesondelmarques.com for more information.

From the plaza, walk down the side streets to browse pastel-colored shops, restaurants and cafes. By car, take scenic ceiba-lined Calle 41A to San Bernardino de Sisal. This mission, built on a thin limestone shelf in 1552, boasts a Gothic ceiling, Colonial retablos, decorated altars, painted niches and sculptures. At the nearby convent are friar cells, a domed stone noria well and sundials.

In the center of town, stop at Zaci cenote to see the original spot where Mayans settled. A short walk takes you around the limestone cavern which surrounds the dark pool of water. A Mexican restaurant sits on the edge of the cenote. A 3 mile drive west of town brings you to twin cenotes, Dzitmup and Samula, which may be the most photogenic of the 2800 cenotes that exist in the Yucatan. Here you’ll descend stairs to enter the dramatic underground world where giant ceiba roots reach the sacred emerald pool illuminated by natural skylights.

From journal Mayan's Glorious Yucatan

Shopping in Valladolia

  • November 22, 2003
  • Rated 5 of 5 by CarollJesse from Surry, New Hampshire
Valladolia is so rural, even though it is the second largest city in the state of Yucatan, that staying in the best hotel in the center of town, I was awakened at dawn by a rooster crowing. Mornings, the Mayan women set up stalls all around the square selling their crafts, especially their beautiful embroidered dresses. There are also many shops around the square and within several blocks of it.

From journal The Real Mexico

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