taco's & toucan's travels ~ 2019

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DAY 19

Week 3

PUEBLA DE ZARAGOZA (Puebla, MEX)

Tuesday April 2^nd, 2019

TODAYS MILEAGE – 4 miles / 6 kilometres

TRIP MILEAGE – 14,135 miles / 22,748 kilometres

As we have just the one full day in Puebla de Zaragoza (formally Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza and also known as Puebla de los Ángeles) - simply called Puebla, I decided to forgo visiting the nearby town of 324 churches – Cholula, as well as reportedly Mexico's largest pyramid – Tlachihualtepetl (The Great Pyramid of Cholula).

As much as anyone can form an educated and informed opinion with only 24 hours in any place, I found Puebla to be an easy, safe and interesting place to get around in. It's not hard mistaking the Spanish and Catholic influence as it's visible everywhere in the architecture and churches. The one-way streets, hidden Mercado’s and 'hole-in-the-wall' spots that open out to large courtyard restaurants, guest houses or commercial enterprises made it such a fun place to explore.

Highlight of the day for me was walking around the inside of La Catedral Basílica de Puebla (Puebla Cathedral) and being wowed by the craftsmanship and décor of the building that commenced construction of its 14 lateral chapels and main unusual octagonal altar in November 1575 – its simply stunning in both its grandeur and intimacy.

I also took in the Capilla del Rosario (Chapel of the Rosary), which is attached to the Templo Conventual de Santo Domingo de Guzmán (Temple of Santo Domingo), which apparently boasts 4½ tons of 23 carat gold leaf throughout the chapel. The amount of gold is impressive, but in all honesty, that church is so not in the same class as the Puebla Cathedral.

Lunch was one of those 'stumbled into a hidden spot' deals where I was just looking through the street market doorways, saw a couple of the tour group members and decided to park up for a feed at Mesones Sacristia. To tell you the truth, it turned out to be a great spot for a casual lunch with authentic local cuisine.

I headed off on my own for the rest of the afternoon, with aim of trying to take some shots of a few areas that I’d scoped out earlier.

Tomorrow we’re off to Oaxaca, a 5-6 hour locals bus ride, so you should be able to work out how the evening will go – repacking and recharging electronic devices to reduce boredom.