I have to admit I had never heard of Puebla until we booked our bus tickets from Mexico City. And we mainly did that because it was cheaper to stop there for a few days than take a direct bus to Oaxaca. Turns out it is full of beautiful and historic places and we’re glad that we did!
We were only here for 3 nights, but according to my phone we managed to walk 25 miles while we were here – mostly due to the fact that we never took the time to figure out the bus system. We did take a few insanely cheap Ubers – $4 for a 30 minute ride is a crazy deal!
We stayed at a hostel near the center of town owned and run by a mother and son. I had one rule for staying at hostels on our trip – I don’t want to share bathrooms – and of course we broke that rule our first hostel. But there was only a couple other people staying there and it honestly wasn’t a problem. I survived!
Cinco de Mayo Tunnels
On our first full day in Puebla we explored the 5 de Mayo tunnels and the areas around the tunnel openings. These tunnels are now a museum named the “Secrets of Puebla”, since they weren’t actually discovered until 2012. We know they were used in the Battle of Puebla during the war between Mexico and France, but they likely date back 500 years.
The tunnel museum is composed of two tunnel systems, the first letting out into the Xanenetla neighborhood. This neighborhood used to be very unsafe and full of crime, until a project in 2009 launched that encouraged locals to create beautiful murals on the buildings. Ever since it has become a very touristy and safe place to visit, so we of course walked around ourselves and saw some awesome art.
The second tunnel exits right below the Loreto Fort Museum, which was the fort where the Battle of Puebla took place on May 5, 1862. We enjoyed the museum, but it was almost exclusively in Spanish so we only half understood what we were looking at (John being the half that understood).
Other City Sites
The Catedral de Puebla is a beautiful and huge church in the center of town. We spent some time inside enjoying the architecture and escaping the heat.
The Biblioteca Palafoxiana is the first and oldest library in the Americas. I nerded out for a while in there while John took a nap back at the hostel.
Cholula, Puebla
About a 30 minute drive from the city center of Puebla is Cholula – yes like the hot sauce. We got going early our last full day to hike to a viewpoint of the two local volcanos. We were told the volcano views are almost always great before 11am, and then they are taken over by fog/smog. We got to the top around 9:30am and had wonderful view!
After our post-hike lunch, we hiked up the Great Pyramid of Cholula known as Tlachihualtepetl. It’s actually the largest pyramid by volume that exists in the world today (shorter but much wider than the Pyramid of Giza). Most of the pyramid ruins are destroyed and buried, and now there is a beautiful church on top that you can hike up to. There is a nice view of Cholula from the top, but we got there after lunch and the volcanos had disappeared into the fog just like we had been told!
The Food
There is a famous street in Puebla called the Calle de Dulces, meaning the sweet street. We obviously checked it out, and picked up one of the famous candies from there called Camotes de Puebla. They are made from sweet potatoes and have essentially mashed potato texture with various flavors. The texture took some getting used to but we’ve both become big fans!
We also tried two of the famous Puebla dishes – the Cemita Poblano and Mole Poblano. Both were great, the mole especially!
It was a quick but eventful stop! To Oaxaca we go.
Christine