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After a very nice breakfast at the hotel we took a cab to Uriarte Talavera, one of the most highly regarded Talavera factories in a region full of Talavera factories. In our eagerness to
see Uriarte, we arrived there half an hour before they opened to the public so we took the time for a stroll around that neighborhood and were struck by the grandeur of the architecture and design in the old part of the city. Virtually every building including offices, shops, residences and grand churches were covered with Talavera tiles, which in addition to being colorful and beautiful are reported to stand up better to weather and add greater stability than typical building façade covers.
Once the grand front door at Uriarte Talavera was opened, we visited the gallery space and gift shop while we waited to begin a tour of the work space. We were grouped with 4-5 other visitors from the US and Mexico for our tour led by an English speaking guide.
We saw a very a good demonstration of the multiple steps involved in taking raw clay and pigments from their natural state to the colorful intricate handmade works of art good enough to carry the Uriarte Talavera name. And if the works are not good enough; there is a separate room where seconds are destroyed.
Everywhere you look in Puebla you will see Talavera pottery for sale; much of it from retail showrooms for their own factory, which are usually located outside of the city. Hotel Casa Reyna had lovely pieces all over the hotel and several nice showrooms displaying works made at sister company Talavera de la Reyna located on the way to Cholula. The pieces at both the hotel and Uriarte were some of the finest quality but also among the most expensive that we saw.
After our Uriarte Talavera tour we took a cab back to the Zocolo for an orientation look-around, a cold drink and some people watching. From there we navigated our way on foot to the famous Parian Market but found most of what we saw was typical tourist stuff. We did buy a set of 3 shot-sized Talavera cups and wondered about the lead content.
We also noticed quite a few of the old buildings in that area of the city were shrouded in scaffolding being used in restoration of damage from the most recent earth quakes.
We had plans for a nice dinner that night so we had a light lunch at The Italian Coffee Company close by the hotel. This is a chain we’ve eaten at before in other cities in Mexico and we found the food to be decent but not great; just about what we expected.
That night we got our first experience at one of the perks of staying at Hotel Casa Reyna. When we inquired at the front desk about calling a taxi for us, the desk clerk asked if we might prefer a free ride in one of the Hotel’s cars; paying only a tip to the driver.
So we slid into the back seat of an Audi S6 Sedan with a V-10 engine and held on as our driver (who a minute before had been our doorman) did his best Mario Andretti impersonation flying through city streets on our way to El Mural. It was a lot more fun than squeezing into the back seat of a Nissan Tsuru (in a typical taxi.)
El Mural is a lovely space with formal service and as might be expected, large murals on the walls and in the garden. I had a thinly sliced rib eye plate that was basically a very upscale fajita. My wife got the 5 mole sampler that she loved saving just enough room for her favorite Mexican dessert: Pan de Elote. We both enjoyed our meals and would have been happy to go back on our next visit to Puebla.