Showing posts with label Mexico-San Miguel de Allende. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mexico-San Miguel de Allende. Show all posts

April 3, 2013

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico: Best Western Hotel Monteverde Express; hotel review

courtyard at Best Western Hotel Monteverde Express in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Best Western Hotel Monteverde Express 

Volanteros #2, Zona Centro, 5 blks. from main plaza, (800) 543-0099.  4 stars.  30 rooms.  Continental breakfast. 

Partially built in the 16th century by Spanish nobility, the hacienda-style Best Western Hotel Monteverde Express retains colonial flavor with its large courtyard garden featuring a four-century-old fountain.  It is fortified from the main street by a high wall and moat-like ditch.  The cozy breakfast room has a brick barrel ceiling with white beams and red tile floors.  Breakfast or lunch in the courtyard can be pleasant.  My suite had four double beds!, one tiny bathroom with a shower/tub and toilet “closet” separated by two perilous steps from a vanity/sink in the room.  Housekeeping was immaculate.  My spacious room overlooked the street, so I know that dogs bark relentlessly some nights, and a far-away rooster announces dawn.


More things to do in San Miguel de Allende.


image courtesy of hotel website 

February 7, 2011

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico: San Miguel Shoe store; things to do

San Miguel Shoe store  

Calzada de la Luz #48, 01-415-154-47-02.

Martha Muniz at San Miguel Shoe store in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Martha Muniz at San Miguel Shoe store in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico


For the treacherous, cobblestone streets found here and throughout Mexico, the thick elastic-strapped sandals designed by Martha Muniz are de rigueur. In addition to having sticky soles that grip the cobblestones and sidewalks, they are very comfortable, inexpensive (start at about $25), and even attractive. They come in many colors and several heel heights, but if your foot is larger than U.S. 8 1/2 they will be almost impossible to find here. But fortunately they are also sold at high end shops in the U.S. and on the internet, though it is much more fun to buy them, and wear them, at the source. They make the perfect souvenir.   Martha--the designer and shopkeeper here--is usually made up for prime time and wearing a monotone outfit--Paris Hilton pink, navy blue, black--she is definitely part of the show.



More things to do in San Miguel de Allende.


image c2011 Carole Terwilliger Meyers 

October 24, 2009

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico: Bugambilia; restaurant review

Bugambilia 

Hidalgo 42, Centro, 415-152-0127. Open daily.

Established in 1945, Bugambilia is the town’s first, and oldest, restaurant. And it is one of the few that still serves authentic Mexican dishes. I enjoyed lunch here last week in an atmospheric central courtyard dining area with heavy furniture and colorful flowers galore. A delicious tortilla soup (sopa Azteca) got my taste buds ready for a spectacular seasonal dish, Chiles en Nogada--a poblano chile filled with a beef-nut-almond mix and topped with a creamy sauce sprinkled with pomegranate seeds. It features the colors of the Mexican flag and is fabuloso. I'd make the trip again just to eat this dish one more time. All this, and live music nightly. Ole!


Get the recipe.

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More things to do in San Miguel de Allende.


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