Depart México City for Puebla

The newspaper headlines this morning shrill: Peña y Trudeau unirán fuerzas frente a Trump ('The President (Mexican) and Trudeau join forces against Trump').

We depart Mexico City for Puebla via Cholula. Puebla is 100 m less altitude than México City at 2150 m but we need to climb to 3000 m first on the way to Cholula. We see one cyclist doing the hard work up through the wooded mountains. Before we get there, we travel the autopista (toll road) which is lined in parts with vendors selling soft drinks, water, snacks, etc.

We stopped at one of the ubiquitous "The Italian Coffee Company" franchises but the coffee did not live up to the name. But it was a good spot to see the two volcanoes - Popcatepetl and Iztaccihuatl. 'Popo' is Mexico's 2nd highest peak (5426 m) and its most active volcano - smoke was puffing out. Iztaccihuatl (5230 m) is nearly always snow-covered.

Going into Cholula is the big VW automobile factory which is the second biggest Volkswagen factory in the world and employs 15,000 workers! Eat your heart out Mr Trump!

Cholula is best known for its archaelogical park: here is Mexico's largest pyramid and also one of the largest (by volume) in the world and the widest ever built - Piramide Tepenapa.

The Spanish built a church on top, the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios. There are over 8 km of tunnels, 300 m of which are open to the public. It was eerie walking through these (slightly bent to avoid bumping one's head!).

In fact we were lucky to get in. When we came into Cholula the place was jam-packed with people, police, security, military perched everywhere (some with sub-machine guns)! Turns out, President Peña was due in town to inaugurate the Puebla-Cholula tourist train and the Regional Museum of Cholula.

We drove on to Puebla which is distinctly Spanish with its dome-shaped roofs of churches and buildings and its cobbled streets; it is very colourful and vibrant - almost Moorish. Our hotel too is colonial-style with internal courtyard overlooked by balconies where the guest rooms are situated.

When the Spanish arrived, they brought with them Talavera (itself a Moor craft), a very strong and hard-wearing ceramic, which was colourfully decorated and used primarily for tiles. Today, Talavera is still manufactured here and the tiles can be found still on many of the buildings in the centro historico.

On one side of the zócalo (main square) is Puebla’s magnificent cathedral (the bell towers are 69 m high); it has an equally spectacular interior.

Equally wonderful is Templo de Santo Domingo with its 17th century architecture and stunning Capilla del Rosario (Rosary Chapel): all gilded plaster and carved stone, with angels and cherubim glistening with gold.

The city is known for one of Mexico’s most notable historic battles, which took place on May 5th 1862, against the French, with an unlikely victory for the Mexican forces.

Also whilst out walking, we happened upon by chance the Museo de Revolución. This pockmarked 19th-century house was the scene of the first battle of the 1910 Revolution - you can still see the bullet holes! Betrayed only two days before a planned uprising against the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, the Serdán family (Aquiles, Máximo, Carmen and Natalia) and 17 others fought 500 soldiers until only Aquiles, their leader, and Carmen were left alive. Aquiles, hidden under the floorboards, might have survived if the damp hadn’t provoked a cough that gave him away. Both were subsequently killed.

Puebla is also famous for its cuisine: some of Mexico’s most popular national dishes, including mole and chile poblano were created in Puebla. One of the most acquired tastes in Mexican food is mole. This sauce is made from dried and ground chile peppers mixed with other spices and ingredients - chocolate is used in making mole poblano (from Puebla) or black mole of Oaxaca. There are many kinds of mole which are usually mixed with meat, rice, chicken, or vegetables. My Friend had mole our 2nd night in Mexico City and I tasted a bit. It is hot/spicy (picante) and not to my liking.

We had a wonderful dinner tonight at a very fine restaurant El Mural de los Poblanos but we both stayed clear of picante food as our stomachs are feeling somewhat wobbly. I had Filete barroco and MF had Pechuga a la parrilla (basically steak and chicken)!

On the way back to our lovely hotel we stopped to buy some dulces (sweets): the tortitas de Santa Clara which are round shortbread-type cookies topped with a sugary pumpkin-seed glaze.

As we passed through the zócalo, we took another look at the cathedral lit up and snuck another quick look inside.