A colonial city of tiled façades two hours east, where mole poblano was invented and Talavera has been fired since 1580.
Puebla de Zaragoza was founded in 1531 as a Spanish city on empty ground — unusually, not on top of an indigenous settlement — to sit on the road between Veracruz and Mexico City.
Its historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best-preserved colonial cities in the Americas.
The tiles
Puebla is built of Talavera — tin-glazed ceramic tile, brought by potters from Talavera de la Reina in Spain in the sixteenth century and adapted here with Chinese, Moorish and indigenous influence.
Whole façades are tiled. The Casa de los Muñecos, the Casa del Alfeñique and the Templo de San Francisco are the show pieces, and the effect across the city is unlike anywhere else in Mexico.
Talavera Poblana has a protected designation of origin and genuine pieces carry certification. The Uriarte workshop, operating since 1824, runs tours.
The buildings
The cathedral, begun 1575, with the tallest towers in Mexico and a dark, sober interior.
Capilla del Rosario in the Templo de Santo Domingo — a chapel of 1690 covered floor to dome in gilded plasterwork and painting, and one of the great Baroque interiors of the Americas. It is genuinely astonishing and it is free.
Biblioteca Palafoxiana, from 1646, the first public library in the Americas, with 45,000 volumes on carved cedar shelving.
Barrio del Artista and the Callejón de los Sapos for antiques.
The food
Puebla is one of the two great regional cuisines of Mexico.
Mole poblano — the dark sauce of chillies, chocolate, nuts and spices, traditionally with turkey. The origin story places it at the Convento de Santa Rosa; the convent kitchen is preserved and open.
Chiles en nogada — a poblano chilli stuffed with picadillo, covered in walnut cream and pomegranate seeds, in the green, white and red of the flag. Seasonal, roughly August and September, when the walnuts and pomegranates are in. If you are here then, eat it.
Cemitas, a sesame-seeded sandwich. Tacos árabes, the Lebanese ancestor of al pastor, on wheat flatbread.
Cinco de Mayo
The Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862, when a smaller Mexican force defeated the French army, was fought here. The forts of Loreto and Guadalupe are open.
The date is a minor holiday in Mexico and a much larger one in the United States, which Mexicans find funny.
Cholula
Fifteen minutes away, and worth adding. The Great Pyramid of Cholula is the largest pyramid by volume in the world — larger than Giza — and looks like a hill because it is overgrown, with a church built on top of it by the Spanish in 1594. Tunnels run into the base.
Practicalities
ADO buses from TAPO every twenty minutes, two hours.
Puebla is at 2,135 metres. Popocatépetl is visible from the city and is an active volcano; ash falls occasionally.
