Andre and Wendy: Puebla

Puebla – Walking tour

19,000 steps

Today we started the day with a free walking tour. This trip we have been successful with these tours, there have never been too many people, and we have had great guides that gave us lots of information. Today there was a couple from Toronto, and 2 women from Germany along with us. It is pretty easy to find your way around this city of around 1.8 million people in the touristy centro area as the streets and avenues run in numbers instead of names. It is not to difficult to get unlost.

We started the tour at the Cathedral. It is interesting as it is one of the only cathedrals that is not in the main square, it is beside the main square. Original plans were for 5 towers, but finished product has 2 bell towers, but only one of the towers actually has bells in it.

While waiting for the tour to start we went to McDonald for an ice cream, mostly because we saw it from the outside and it is a beautiful old building with 3 floors with a patio up top that overlooks the main square, couldn't resist that.

We visited some churches along the way. Rosario Chapel was very impressive with so much gold.

We stopped in at a traditional sweets store for some sampling. Will go again later and get some.

Visited a Talavera Pottery shop that makes the pottery out back. We were taught how to tell if it is the real thing or not, we will see if we can spot it as I want to buy a new spoon rest at some point while we are here. Talavera originates in Spain, but the craft was brought over and is famous in Puebla.

A very nice artists lane with a few people painting today. There are little “studios” that people have set up with their paintings, some are painting outside and some are painting inside their little studios. I bet this is a very busy spot on weekends, very artsy, people come to sit and read, paint, and a nice outdoor coffee spot.

We saw the outside of Casa de Alfenique which has lots of decorations outside. The story is that a woman was proposed to and she wouldn't accept the proposal unless a house was built to look like sugar candy. It is a beautiful mansion that is now a museum which we visited later in the afternoon after the tour.

We also went to visit the oldest Latin American library, from 1646. This was opened in 1646 and a stipulation was made that it was for everyone to use, not just the educated or religious. Our guide is quite disgusted that it was originally it was intended for everyone, but now it is a museum and you must pay to enter. We visited later in the afternoon, the smells of the books and wood are amazing. It is not very big, but impressive. I did not have any ID with me so couldn't get the senior rate, tomorrow I am traveling with my drivers license for sure. The library is on the top floor of an old building, and there is a nice courtyard on the bottom floor that had what looked like a high school band practicing for a concert. We stayed and watched for a while, so many good memories for me.

On our own we went back to visit La Pasita, which is a famous bar that makes its Pasita liquor from raisins. They serve it in a little shot glass with a toothpick with goat cheese on it. You take a little bite of your cheese, then a sip of your drink, and repeat, it was quite good.

Supper tonight is at a spot that our guide recommended for their Mole and Chiles en Nogada, 2 dishes that Puebla is famous for. Both were good, but I'm not sure that we would order either again. I have had mole before, and this one was very chocolaty. Chiles Nogada was a stuffed pepper with a sauce and pomegranate seeds on top.

After supper we walked into a church we were passing by and happened upon mass. There were only 3 people attending mass, in this huge church. We decided to stay and 1 other tourist couple came in as well. We usually always attend a service when we are away in another country, about the only thing we recognized was the lords prayer and passing the peace. It was a beautiful church and a nice 20 minute break from walking.

Back to our apartment for a rest up and then off to explore a couple of streets at night. There are some walking streets only, but all the shops were closing up as we were going around. It is a beautiful full moon tonight and it is very clear, a man with a telescope set up let me look through at the moon. No tip jar out, just a nice guy.

Back at the apartment now, loving that we have a nice soft bed, hoping for a good nights sleep. It is a big difference having a soft bed and no noise at all.