Visiting Puerto Vallarta - Part 14

Manuel Lepe Mural at the Old City Hall

Manuel Lepe is Puerto Vallarta’s most important and celebrated artist. His fame started in the 1960s when he was named Mexico’s Artist by President Echeverria. His paintings depict an innocent vision of Puerto Vallarta’s children at play in the beautiful surroundings in which they live. His works are so inspiring that Unicef uses his paintings to promote the well-being of children worldwide. In 1984, Lepe died at the height of his career aged just 46. Manuel Lepe’s fabulous mural graces City Hall and is a must-see for all visitors to Puerto Vallarta. The old City Hall building is just across from the north side of the Town Square in Centro. All you need do is enter the building and as you walk upstairs you will see this huge mural displayed.

Naval History Museum

In 2006, the Mexican Navy opened the Naval History Museum. It is in a colonial style building next to Los Arcos on the Malecon. This building was used in the past as the Port Authority office, the Navy Hospital, and last the Navy Headquarters. It has now been remodelled to host historic exhibits and artefacts and has five main exhibition rooms. The Naval History Museum houses permanent collections of photos, maps, documents and paintings. It also displays scale models of forts, scale replicas of both old and modern vessels and topographic scale models of the Mexican Republic and several of its ports. The museum also has other items of interest which are the mainly navigation instruments and charts. If you time your visit right then you can make use of a coffee shop located on the upper floor of the building. It has great panoramic views of the Malecon and Banderas Bay, which makes it a good place to have breakfast or lunch.

EL Faro Lighthouse in Marina Vallarta

Standing 110 foot high, El Faro Lighthouse is Marina Vallarta’s main landmark. At the top is a circular cocktail lounge that is one of the area’s most romantic nightspots. Every evening there is either live music or recorded jazz in the lounge. A visit at sunset is really recommended as you enjoy unparalleled panoramic views over the city of Puerto Vallarta and Banderas Bay. Just make sure that you have eaten before you arrive as other than nuts and popcorn no food is served.

Los Arcos Amphitheatre

The four large stone arches of Los Arcos Amphitheatre are one of the symbols of Puerto Vallarta. They mark this prominent open-air theatre located downtown at the south end of the Malecon. It is directly off the main plaza in front of the Guadalupe Church. All year long Los Arcos Amphitheatre is the setting for free concerts, cultural performances, and other impromptu performances. If it is a large scale event then the city brings out tiered seating to accommodate all the extra spectators that arrive to enjoy the performance.

Continued in part 15.