Travel Postcard: 48 hours in Monterrey, Mexico

By Walker Simon

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters Life!) - Ringed by soaring mountains, Monterrey in northern Mexico offers breathtaking scenery, museums and a vibrant nightlife which are being discovered as it sheds outworn industrial trappings.

Dominated by the Cerro de la Silla mountain, Monterrey is a city of nearly 4 million people, barely 100 miles from Texas. Tourists heading south for colonial flavor have long bypassed the city with its towering smokestacks.

But the city hopes to change that and recently turned a steel mill into a park with half a dozen new museums and a river walk.

FRIDAY

6 p.m. - Monterrey''s cuisine is identified with cabrito, or roasted baby goat. Cabrito is so emblematic of the city that prizes in the local film festival offer a silver statuette of a kid goat, its equivalent to an Oscar.

The dish is slow-cooked over mesquite coals. Try El Gran Pastor (8333 3108, 8333 3391), El Rey del Cabrito (8345 3232) and La Escondida (8348-9816).

8 p.m. - For a city view, head to the central Obispado, a hill capped by a former bishop''s palace with an intricate baroque facade. The city sprawls below, framed by mountains soaring over a mile from the valley floor. Nearby, a giant Mexican flag flaps, a nationalist reminder of the Mexican-American war. In 1846, U.S. troops seized Obispado as a strategic outpost.

10 p.m. - The club and bar scene is downtown at Barrio Antiguo, or Old Quarter, full of adobe and brick houses of the 1890s. A youth magnet, its narrow streets crawl with weekend revelers until dawn. Try the Old West-style 1800 bar in the Gran Hotel Ancira (www.hotel-ancira.com) and the Cafe Iguana bar for the latest alternative rock bands (www.cafeiguana.com.mx).

Monterrey is a burgeoning music industry center, featuring genres from Latin American fusion to indie rock. Check out the Monterrey version of Colombia''s "cumbia" music. It fuses traditional cumbia with rock, polka and rap. The movie "Babel" used Monterrey cumbia on its soundtrack. The local film "Cumbia Callera" won a top prize in May at Moscow''s international film festival.

SATURDAY

9 a.m. - Order a local breakfast specialty, eggs with machacado, which is very aromatic smoked shredded beef.

10 a.m. - Put on walking shoes to visit Chipinque, a plateau 2,500 feet up in a forested mountain with staggering views. Taxis and free buses are available. Walk one mile on a car-free level road from Chipinque to the "Boca del Aire," or "Mouth of Air" for a view of a separate valley.

11 a.m. - Munch on local specialty candy known as glorias or "glories." Made from slow-boiled milk which includes nuts, mixed at times with vanilla and cinnamon.

1 p.m. - Lunch at Chipinque''s "El Mirador" restaurant with its traditional Mexican buffet and take in the spectacular views of the city below. (http://www.chipinque.org.mx/webchipinque/portada/index3i.htm)

2 p.m - The way back takes you to the wealthy San Pedro district, ranked as Mexico''s richest municipality. Head to Tikal, a top-notch folk art store, visited by U.S. First Lady Laura Bush and former President Bill Clinton. It includes art from Huichol Indians and "alebrijes," imaginary colored carved animals.(http://www.tikal.com.mx/en/)  Continued...