Guadalajara (I) - City Landmarks, Mexico (January 2024)

Guadalajara is the capital city of the State of Jalisco. It is the third largest city in Mexico, after CDMX and Metro Puebla, with its own city population of 1.5 million and the metropolitan population of 5 million inhabitants. It has one of the largest and busiest airports in Mexico with dozens of direct flights to major cities in the U.S. Within one hour drive from Guadalajara, there is Lake Chapala, the largest in Mexico, where many Americans and Canadians live as expats or retirees. 

The tour included a walking tour of the downtown and a double-decker tour bus tour of the city.

Before the tour began, we had a lunch at a local restaurant and the shrimp cocktail was really good, like a soup.

Guadalajara's downtown is full of landmarks. The most outstanding one is Guadalajara Cathedral. Its size and decorations were quite beautiful. I was able to take the photos from different angles as the sun was setting.

 

In the downtown area, you can find a lot of landmarks, including the following:

Teatro Degollado is another landmark of Guadalajara. It is the home for many music organizations, including Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra, the Folkloric Ballet of University of Guadalajara etc.

Statue of Miguel Hidalgo, a priest who led the independence movement against the Spaniards for Mexico's independence. His name is everywhere in the cities of Mexico.

Guadalajara's downtown also has Rotonda de los Jaliscienses Ilustres. This rotunda is full of statues of Mexican people who are from the State of Jalisco. They all made the State of Jalisco shine.

The following day, we took a double-decker Turi bus for a city tour. 

We passed by various landmarks, including the following:

Glorieta de la Estampida

One of the most beautiful churches in Guadalajara to me is Templo Expiatorio del Santisimo Sacramento. Its architecture is Neo-Classic and both the exterior and the interior were outstanding. 

Also in the downtown Guadalajara were many horse-led or battery-led wagons that carry the passengers for a slow-paced tour of the city.

I saw a truck that was shaped like a Tequila bottle. This truck takes passengers for a Tequila tasting and tour. I will make another blog post on Tequila.

The Colonial Mexico tour that started in Mexico City ended in Guadalajara. It was a large group of 40 tourists, but we made friends with a couple from Tampa FL: Bob and Young Hee. Bob served in Korea long time ago as a Peace Corp volunteer. Young Hee was Bob's piano teacher and they got married for almost 50 years. They were a lovely couple and we agreed to stay in touch.

Although the tour ended, Kristin and I would stay in Guadalajara for three more weeks. - Jeffrey