On the Way…….

I took this photo last September, while on a cycling trip with my husband.  It was our first day on bicycles in years and years.  The route we chose was just a little more than our fifty-something bodies were quite ready for – for the first time “back in the saddle”, anyway.  This hand-made sign, on the Trans Canada Trail, between Charlottetown and Mt Stewart, Prince Edward Island popped up just in time to encourage us as we were beginning to struggle.

The photo was originally posted back in September as part of another post, but I thought it was perfect for this week’s challenge…… I often think of it with a giggle.

Weekly Photo Challenge – On the Way

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Something Broken

Some ceramic bits from Canada de la Virgen, a pre-Columbian site 16 km outside of San Miguel de Allende.  According to our guide, so many pieces were found and without the manpower to attempt to re-assemble them, they are placed here in a “pottery garden”.  The garden is laid out in a plan that was based on a design found on one of the pieces.

Weekly Photo Challenge – Something Broken

Thursday Doors: The Doors Of San Miguel de Allende

In the historic centre of San Miguel de Allende, there are an estimated two thousand doors. Many, many of them are made of hand hewn wood, painted.  They are all so different, and all so beautiful.  Behind those doors are about two thousand courtyards – so intriguing!!  I didn’t take a photo of each of them…. but here are a few:

This is linked to Thursday Doors Norm 2.0

A Look at San Miguel de Allende

Earlier this month we escaped the last of the snow (yes indeed, there were still bits of snow around here, in the shadows, on May 1!!) and headed to Mexico on a long anticipated holiday.  Come along…. I’ll show you some of the sights of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico:

This view of Hernandez Macias is a typical streetscape.  But to be fair, SMA is so picturesque, there is a photo at every step.

A look over the roof-tops toward the city centre.

Settled by the Spanish in the early 16th century, the name San Miguel refers to the founder, Father Juan de San Miguel.  I’ve heard that the parish church, La Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel,  is one of the most photographed churches in Mexico. One thing is for sure, you can see the spires from almost anywhere in town.

Another pretty street.  All the streets in SMA are cobblestone, which can’t be easy on the cars…. or anyone in heels.

A hacienda turned boutique hotel.

A pedestrian space adjacent to the Plaza Allende, or el Jardin.

Another cobblestoned street.  This one in the neighbourhood of San Antonio, which is where we stayed.  And here is a look at the bell towers of the church of San Antonio in the evening:

San Miguel de Allende played a significant part in the struggle for Mexican Independence.  By the beginning of the 20th century, the town was waning and in danger of becoming a ghost town.  It was sort of “re-discovered” by foreign artists, who moved in and can be credited for it’s renaissance as an arts-based community and probably for it’s preservation. San Miguel was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008.  Apparently, about 30 percent of the population is now ex-pat Canadian and Americans. They say, the clear, bright light attracts artists as well as the Baroque/Neoclassical colonial architecture.  But frankly, I think the perfect climate also has something to do with it.  And the food……

Nature’s Forces….

 

Although I’m glad I took this photo, I didn’t need it to recall the scene.  The photo was taken from our borrowed car, from a bridge on the outskirts of Ludlow, England way back in 2007.  We were there on a house exchange holiday (which was marvellous, by the way), and had arrived in the town just after some major flooding had caused this damage.  The bridge we were on was also being reinforced, as you can see.  

But this image is absolutely seared onto my memory.  The (literal) suspension of a moment in time……… When I read the theme for this week’s photo challenge, I immediately thought of this.

The Forces of Nature, indeed.   Perhaps the house was built a tad too close to the waterway?

Intricate

A beautiful piece in the Fabrica la Aurora, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Weekly Photo Challenge – Intricate