Susan and I attended a friend’s wedding in this beautiful small town located in the central Mexico highlands. A perfect example of Spanish Baroque Neoclassical colonial architecture, San Miguel de Allende has retained its originality and is a world heritage site. Cobblestone streets and Spanish buildings dating from the 1500’s makes visiting a step back in time. The town’s name comes from Juan de San Miguel a 16th century friar and Ignacio Allende, the martyr of Mexican Independence, who was born in in a house facing San Miguel’s central plaza.
In the beginning of the 20th century the beauty of San Miguel attracted artists who established the Instituto Allende and Escuela de Bellas Artes. After WWII US soldiers came to study on the GI Bill along with foreign retirees, artists, writers and tourists. Today San Miguel has many art galleries and fine restaurants, yet still retains the feel of a small Mexican town. To not mention the kindness, openness, and friendliness of the local people we encountered would be doing a disservice to the real reason that San Miguel is such a great place to visit.
A beautiful small town with a historic past, beautiful architectural, great art galleries, and authentic Mexican cuisines it is located remotely enough that it is a destination for those looking for a tranquil and genuine cultural experience. Susan and I are already thinking about a longer, more relaxed return to this wonderful city.
All images were taken with Fuji X100f with 23mm f2.0 lens in RAW format, processed in Lightroom Classic CC 11.0.1