Day Six 1/31/26 (Saturday) Merida

We had a lazy morning. – coffee in bed, shower, amazing breakfast in the hotel. Then we decided to explore the neighborhood of Garcia Gineres and Avenida Colon. García Ginerés is one of Mérida’s oldest neighborhoods outside the downtown core. We started from Parque de las Americas, famous for its Deco Maya fountain, amphitheater, Jose Martí library, and Children’s park. We also saw the Fatima Church in art deco style with beautiful stained glass windows. Then we walked down Avenida Colon admiring the grands casonas (most from the 1920s), some beautifully renovated, some being renovated and a few still in the state of decay.

When we got tired of walking, we took an Uber to Plaza Grande  and started looking for a place for lunch nearby. On the little map the hotel gave us, we found a fish restaurant called El Marlin Azul and decided to go there. We almost missed it because it turned out to be a hole-in-the-wall tiny place and it was full of people, all Spanish-speaking. We managed to get a small table and had a ceviche plate (Bo) and marlin (Al). Both were excellent. Then we had ice-cream at pasteleria Colon in Plaza Grande and walked back to the hotel along Calle 59.

 

The plan for the evening was to meet Phil and Noa at a very fancy restaurant in one of the huge mansions on Avenida Montejo for drinks at 7:30 pm and have dinner there or somewhere else. We took an Uber there and climbed up two sets of steep stairs to the second balcony where Phil and Noa were already enjoying their cocktails. After we all had our drinks and took in the view and the atmosphere, Noa suggested we go to for a Lebanese dinner. She knew about a very simple Lebanese restaurant (La Terraza de Tila https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g150811-d12159084-Reviews-La_Terraza_de_Tila-Merida_Yucatan_Peninsula.html ) about a block away – not fancy, but with great food. It was exactly that – plastic tables and chairs, no ambiance, but food was sooooo good. We ordered about 7-10 different dishes and gobbled them up. Merida has a large Lebanese population, and also a very large Cuban population as well as some Koreans, Europeans (even Polish) and many Americans and even more Canadians. The total population of the city is about 1.5 million.

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