Olas Altas and the Hotel Belmar

I've showed you a bit of the old central part of Mazatlan but there's another interesting area along Olas Altas.  This is the road that goes along the beach up to the light house (the second highest lighthouse on a hill in the world, we're told, smaller only than Gibralter).  The bay curves along there and the road is named for the high waves.  See the photo from my last entry.

What's interesting about this part of town is that it is the old tourist zone.  Many of the hotels were built in the 1940s when tourism was very different from what it is now and some of these relics are still functioning. 

The one that I find most interesting is the Hotel Belmar.  To walk into its lobby is to enter a different world. It's tiled with many different kinds of glazed tiles, with arches and fountains.  It feels like you're in Havana and you'll bump into Hemmingway just around the corner.

These old rocking chairs look like they're waiting for some old Spanish men to sit down and contemplate the sea.

The Belmar's looking kind of seedy now, but I think it could be lovely with a little work.  We like to drift along the tiled sidewalk here and pop into one of the oceanside restaurants for a cooling drink--and feel that we're living in a different time.