Vivacious Veracruz

After leaving Puebla last week, we spent four nights in Veracruz, which is on the Gulf of Mexico. I liked this "people art" spray-painted on walls around the city:

Fishing boats on the beach.

Um, I think this is the Cathedral!

The slightly-tarty Veracruz tourist bus. Note the smiling nun in the back row on top!

Veracruz has a lovely aquarium. I can't remember what this sea creature is called, but it was fascinating.

They also had a beautiful tank of sea nettles!

Veracruz is also home to a fantastic Fort San Juan de Ulúa. Construction on this fort began in the mid-1500s. Wikipedia has a decent entry about the fort.

Veracruz is a very important port in Mexico, with lots of shipping activity, hence the ships and cranes in the background.

Renovations and restoration are ongoing at the fort. I'm thinking they'll soon have to replace the rusty cable holding up this particular section!

Guess who?

Tunnel to infinity.

Stalactites and stalagmites.

I think this is the old lighthouse. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. I'm having another brain fart.

It's the best fort we have ever visited in all our travels.

Amazing. And very old!

In a view from the beach, you can see the Isla de Sacrificios, where human sacrifices were performed in the pre-Hispanic era.

We got a great view of the city when we flew out. The old fort is surrounded by a huge shipping terminal.

There's the fort, circled in orange!

Parts of Romancing the Stone were filmed at the fort, and the version of Romeo & Juliet that starred Clare Danes and Leonard DiCaprio was filmed in Veracruz.

Enjoy!