The Awe of Old Mazatlan

Our driver did a good job showing us the sites on that first visit, but we soon learned that the best way to see the old part of the city is on foot. From the Shrimp Bucket it's an easy walk to Plazuela Machado, in the heart of the old city at Carnaval and Constitucion avenues. The plaza is surrounded by charming colonial-style buildings, most of them converted into cafes and restaurants.

One of our favorite dinner spots, Pedro y Lola, is on the plaza; you can eat outdoors or in. Whenever family came to visit, we took them here for dinner, and it got rave reviews, even from my older sister, the culinary maven. We always started with the garlic mushrooms and shrimp ceviche. For the main course? The Pedro and Lola Shrimp, of course, made with a Grand Marnier sauce. If you choose to eat outside, be sure to take a look inside at the paintings by local artists displayed in this 19th century building.

Stop in the Angela Peralta Theater, a stunning 19th century opera house named for Mexico's diva of the day. The 1860s building is ornate Italian style with Mexican accents. As you enter, you'll see a huge open atrium, which was designed to keep theater-goers cool before the days of air-conditioning. The theater has a dramatic history of its own: After an initial failure, it changed hands and was renovated. With its new-found elegance, it attracted Peralta, known as "the Nightingale of Mexico," but she fell ill-some say cholera, others say yellow fever-and died in 1883 without ever performing in the theater that would bear her name. Renovated and restored after damage from hurricanes and humans, the theater today plays an important role in training children in the arts. With nightly music and dance performances, it is also the center of Mazatlan's annual November cultural festival.

Just a few blocks from the theater is the Plaza Repblica, also known as Plaza Revolucion, Mazatlan's oldest square and the center of town. Musicians often entertain on Sunday afternoons. At Christmastime my son and his friends loved to visit the life-size creche in the square, which was inhabited by live rabbits, donkeys and goats. Directly across the street from the plaza is the cathedral, built in 1875, whose blue and gold spires (added in 1935) are a city landmark.