Tour to Chichèn Itzà & Valladolid (26.02.2022)

After yesterday's culinary delights, we started the day more leisurely and didn't get in the car until after a shared breakfast around 10:00. We quickly grabbed an Italian espresso from the hotel's cafeteria next door and hit the road again to Chichèn Itzà, about 90 minutes away.

Chichèn Itzà is one of the most impressive, if not the most impressive, Mayan sites in the world. On an area of 1547ha, numerous buildings or ruins of a city can be found that according to experts must have had its heyday between the 8th and 11th centuries AD. The most striking of the many buildings is the Kukulkan Pyramid, which is also adorned with endless souvenirs. The approximately 30-meter-high structure is also called 'El Castillo' and is one of the most photographed buildings in Yucatan. We reached the site around lunchtime and quickly realized, when we saw the parking and entrance facilities, that there are huge crowds of tourists here. Even before the entrance, there are all kinds of souvenir stands, which unfortunately continued throughout the site after paying the quite substantial €25 entrance fee. The entrance area was bustling with people all wishing to take a photo with the pyramid. The combination of many people and extremely hot weather led us to limit our visit time a bit.

The ruins and facilities are of course impressive and show the high development of Mayan culture. The site has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988 and is also one of the 7 modern wonders of the world. As visitors, we can only recommend coming much earlier than we did, in order to avoid some of the tourist crowds and to avoid being in the midday heat. Because around midday, it's really busy here on site. Neither Kathi nor I can remember seeing more people anywhere else than here. A veritable stream of ants moved through the site between the ruins and souvenir stands (which are really everywhere here). Unfortunately, it was also not possible to climb the pyramid here. Allegedly, an American woman stumbled to her death in 2006, and since then the operators have become more cautious.

Sweaty but with plenty of new knowledge, we then drove again on the federal highway (instead of the motorway, because otherwise you would not pass through any villages and have to pay expensive tolls) towards Valladolid. The town of Valladolid has around 50,000 inhabitants and a great flair. It didn't take long for us to be charmed by the charm of this small town. Numerous boutiques, restaurants, and nice alleys make up the city. Strengthened by lunch in a vegetarian restaurant (yes, they really do exist in this country) recommended by the Lonely Planet guidebook, we checked into our boutique hotel for one night (http://casahipil.com/).

In the evening, we strolled through the streets and absorbed some of the atmosphere. The prices are fortunately significantly cheaper or fairer than in other parts of the country. We had expected very little from Valladolid and were proven wrong. For the evening, Kathi found a great restaurant (https://yakunaj-cocina-mexicana.negocio.site/) where we got wonderful nachos, burritos, and tacos in all variations. The restaurant itself has a very nice backyard garden, of which there are many in this region. The end of the day was marked by a margarita in an outdoor bar with salsa music playing and a full house.

The (two) daily twos:

Insight: Chichèn Itzà is one of the seven modern wonders of the world. Impressive what was created with so few possibilities at that time. Here is the complete list: https://www.urlaubsguru.de/reisemagazin/sieben-weltwunder/

Moment of happiness:

Probably the best nachos we have ever eaten were served to us today at dinner in Yakunaj. Shared enjoyment is even more fun.