Mexico 2018 - Puebla 1

On this year's visit to Mexico City I got a bee in my bonnet to take an excursion to the city of Puebla a couple of hours south of Mexico City by bus.  

Puebla is the fourth largest city in Mexico, capital of the state of Puebla and is known for it's rich colonial history and cuisine.  I'd been to Puebla briefly on one of my first trips to Mexico and wanted to have a more in-depth look.  Puebla was founded in the early 16th century and became an important trade route for the Spanish  between Veracruz on the east coast and Mexico City.  Another notable piece of  Puebla history is the May 5, 1862 victory over the French forces then occupying Mexico. Now "Cinco de Mayo" is celebrated pretty much everywhere in the west though, in terms of Mexican revolutionary history, it was pretty insignificant and the French did come back and defeat the Mexican forces and remained until they were ultimately driven from Mexico. 

Puebla is noted for it's colonial architecture and the extensive use of Talavera tile on buildings.  

From Puebla you can also see (when the air is clear enough) most of Mexico's highest mountains, the volcanoes

  La Malinche, 4461m,

 

Popocatépetl, 5426m, 

 Iztaccíhuatl, 5286m and Pico de Orizaba, Mexico's highest mountain and 3rd highest in the North America at 5636m.  Unfortunately the air quality was poor on my visit and only La Malinche and Popocatépetl were dimly visible.