This was a Saturday and you could feel the kind of energy that people have when they are out and about and doing what they have waited for the weekend to do.  Visiting Mexico wouldn’t be complete without going to the local market, so on our third day in Guanajuato we headed out to Mercado Hidalgo.

Situated on the cusp of what our map referred to as the Historic Distract,  this market is in a large building, quite different from the colonial structures I had been seeing in previous days.  It struck me as someplace I had been before and puzzled me into reading about it afterwards.  It had originally been designed as a train station during the age of steel, iron and glass, with a clock tower above the latticed steel structure. Apparently it was challenging enough that the steel structure was designed by Monsieur Eiffel (of the famous tower).   Completed in 1910, this costly building  stood abandoned until  the President of Mexico at that time, Porferio Diaz, transformed it into a market.  So there it is today, still a busy market.

What I  enjoyed most about our market day were the walks to and from the Hidalgo building.  Right across the street is another beautiful church, The Parish Church of Belen, walls and altars adorned again with old museum worthy paintings and statuary.  We never rushed when visiting the churches.

When we left the church, it was with no particular purpose in mind and with no particular destination other than to point ourselves in the general direction of the hotel.

It was a beautiful day, the air was soft, the temperature spring perfect.  We chanced upon one lovely courtyard after another, a Saturday local crafts market, a patio where we had coffee and crepes, another church, steep winding alleys with uneven textures and lively colors.  Eventually, there was the incline to the Basilica with a competition of bikers going up, down and up again, over and over. All in all, a most beautiful day.