Beauties of Yucatan: picturesque churches of Merida and Campeche City

Hi there my Steemian friends and followers!

I am coming with another episode dedicated to beauties of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, a wonderful place that was my home for almost 2 years. Most of the previous episodes of the series were about natural beauties of Yucatan as I am known to prefer natural places to urban sites but I visited some enchanting cities and villages too while living in this amazing Latin American country.

From the Mexican cities that I had the privilege to visit, Merida and Campeche City were definitely among the most impressive ones. Both Merida and Campeche City are famous for very unique and colorful architecture that has been attracting tourists and photographers from all over the world.

I have already published some articles dedicated to the iconic colorful architecture of these beautiful colonial cities such as this post or this post but today, we will take a closer look at another interesting type of architecture found in Merida and Campeche City and that is the Roman Catholic religious architecture. That is right, both of the cities are home to dozens (if not hundreds) of astonishing churches dating back to centuries ago.

I compiled a little photo collection of some of the beautiful churches that I got to see in Merida and Campeche City so let me now share it with you.

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I hope you enjoyed the little virtual tour around the churches of Merida and Campeche City. All of the above featured photos were taken by me. I would love to tell you more about them but unfortunately, I don´t remember the names or exact locations of the churches so I could´t really find out more about them. Instead, let me tell you at least something about the cities themselves ;)

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Merida

Home to almost 1 million people, Merida is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Yucatan as well as the largest city of the entire Yucatan Peninsula (followed by Cancun). Known for having the largest Mayan community of all major Mexican cities, the Yucatan´s Merida is also famous for being "the largest Merida in the world" as there are several other cities of the same name around the world (for example in Venezuela, Philippines or Spain). During the late 19th century and the early 20th century, the city flourished due to an enormous production of agave and many local businessmen got incredibly rich through selling the agave products. In fact, Merida was even said to have more millionaires than any other city on the planet for some time during this era. Nicknamed La Ciudad Blanca (the White City), Merida was voted the American Capital of Culture in 2000 and 2017.

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Campeche City

Officially known as San Francisco de Campeche, Campeche City is the largest and capital city of the Mexican state of Campeche. Located on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in the southwestern part of the Yucatan Peninsula, the city is currently home to some 220,000 people who refer to themselves as "Campechanos". Founded in 1540 by Spanish colonialists, the city was built on the site of what used to be the ancient Mayan city of Can Pech. A significant part of the old buildings built by the Spaniards in the 16th and 17th century is still well preserved, giving the city its characteristic colonial atmosphere and the unique historic feel. In the 17th and 18th century, Campeche City was frequently attacked by pirates and buccaneers, which is why massive stone fortifications were built in the city. Most of the fortifications is still preserved too, making for some popular tourist landmarks these days.

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Thank you for visiting my blog. If you like posts about #nature, #animals, #ecology, #crypto, #traveling, #photography and discovering secrets and beauties of the #world, feel free to follow me as these are the topics I mostly write about. Have a wonderful day and keep on Steeming! :)