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After breakfast at the hotel on our 3rd day in Puebla, we commandeered the Hotel Audi Sedan for the drive to the quaint town of Cholula. We were dropped off in great style at the ticket booth at the base of the Great Pyramid, which is topped by the Spanish church, La Iglesia de los Remedios. In preparation for our trip we had seen iconic photos of the Church with Popocatépetl behind it but it was a bit hazy on our day there and we couldn’t see the volcano.
While it appears to be a hill, The Great Pyramid was constructed by the Aztecs and is considered the largest pyramid in the world. From the ticket booth it is a short walk to an opening at its base that leads to a long narrow passageway tunnel into the archeological zone. There is some light in the tunnel but it is narrow and winding and in some spots requires some stooping and side stepping to get through. While the path is well marked, there are intersections of other arms of the tunnel system leading left, right, up and down and you really don’t know where the end is until you reach it.
Our exit from the tunnel placed us at a plaza with museums, rest rooms, restaurants and shops and a long winding pathway up to the church on the top. After a climb to the top, we retraced our steps back to an exit near the entry for a short walk down the hill to the Cholula Zocalo. At the first corner we passed we saw the station for the light rail to Puebla. On the way to the square, we stopped in at several nice shops hosted by friendly merchants.
It was time for lunch and we had read about an interesting place located near the square so we went in search of Central de Agave. After a couple wrong turns we found it down an alley about a block off the square but it was not open for lunch that day.
So we walked over to the very green main Zocalo, formally named the Plaza de la Concordia. It was neat and well-tended and bordered on all sides by interesting buildings including the beautiful historic Ex-Convento Franciscano de San Gabriel Arcángel.
After a quick look around we picked a table under the colonial colonnade in front of the Hotel Plaza Santa Rosa and a decent but not great lunch. A Club Sandwich for my wife and the Ararchara Plate with flank steak, chilies, grilled onions, guacamole, and black beans for me.
On the cab ride back to Puebla, we passed by quite a few of the 365 (1 for every day of the year) churches that Cholula claims. The ride from Cholula Zocalo to the Puebla Zocalo was $150 MXN.
Once back on the Puebla Zocalo we went to a fascinating exhibit: “Frida Kahlo: Through Nickolas Muray’s Lens” at the Art Gallery of the City Hall of Puebla. Murray was a Hungarian born, New York based photographer who was not only a friend of Frida and Diego Rivera; he ultimately became Frida’s lover. The exhibit featured his beautiful photography and passionate personal letters back and forth between him and Frida.
Since we had been in the city for a few days we found the walk back from the zocalo to our hotel seemed to take a lot less time than the first time we tried it.
We had another excellent dinner at the hotel. Our shared Tuna Escabiche in pickled poblano starter was one of the best things we ate all week. The Chicken in Green mole was my wife’s favorite mole of the entire trip (covering meals in Cozumel, Puebla & Oaxaca). I got a very good chunk of very fresh seared tuna in a Jamaica and poblano sauce and a Oaxaca mezcal.
We had enjoyed our walk around the Barrio del Artista art street and the atmosphere at the Coffee Gallery Amparo from the night before enough and it was so close to the hotel we decided to head in that direction for dessert and a nightcap. Unfortunately the dessert was a bit disappointing and the music not as good as the night before. But it was a friendly place and we would give it another try on a future visit.