Catholic and historical tour in Mexico II

Tuesday morning. Breakfast. Departure from the hotel. We leave Mexico City for Querétaro.

In the city of Querétaro, a world cultural heritage site, we will visit the Aqueduct, the former convent of the Cross and the Historic Center.

You will be able to visit the Casa de la Corregidora, which is a Historic Monument building in the center of Santiago de Querétaro built in the 18th century. Since 1981 it has been the Government Palace of Querétaro, seat of the Executive Branch of the State of Querétaro, Mexico.

Breakfast. Departure from the hotel. Departure to Dolores Hidalgo, where we will visit the Parish of Our Lady of Sorrows, the place where the priest Don Miguel Hidalgo gave the famous cry of: Long live religion!, Long live our most holy mother of Guadalupe!, Long live America! and Down with bad government! known in history as the "cry of Dolores" and which started the Mexican War of Independence in 1810. We will also visit the house museum of this national hero.

Dolores Hidalgo is also the birthplace of the famous composer José Alfredo Jiménez.

Free morning to enjoy this beautiful city. At the indicated time, transfer to the bus terminal to board the business class bus to Mexico City (ticket included). Arrival in Mexico City at the northern bus terminal.

Reception and accommodation in Mexico City.

Public passenger transportation: 4h
Accommodation: Hotel.
Meals included: Breakfast

Breakfast. On this morning you will visit the Zócalo of Mexico City, declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, the National Palace, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Aztec Main Temple, the Paseo de la Reforma, Chapultepec Forest and the Zona Rosa.

Special attention will be paid to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Its imposing building is a monument to Mexico's colonial past and is considered the most important example of viceregal architecture in America.

The impressive complex, inspired by Spanish cathedrals, has its foundations on what was the Templo Mayor of the ancient city of Tenochtitlán, whose remains you can also see on one side of the Metropolitan Cathedral.

Private transportation with driver and guide: 3h
Transportation on foot: 3h
Accommodation: Hotel.
Meals included: Breakfast

Breakfast. In the morning you will visit the Plaza de las 3 culturas, where the architecture of pre-Hispanic Mexico, the colonial period and the contemporary period all come together in one place.

The Plaza de las 3 culturas is located on what was the city of Tlatelolco, the main pre-Hispanic market that supplied the Mexican population with all the products that could be imagined at that time. Its size, order and diversity of merchandise caught the attention of conquerors and chroniclers, who left evidence in their works of the complex network of commercial relations that were carried out daily at the Tlatelolco market.

You will be able to see the dominant presence of the Church of Santiago Tlatelolco, a Catholic parish whose construction began shortly after the fall of Tenochtitlán, in 1521. Without a doubt, the Spanish chose the place for its clear ceremonial and ritual importance for the people of Tlatelolco. The church is made from recycled remains of the surrounding destroyed temples.

Next, you will visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The site is visited by around 20 million people a year, and is only surpassed in popularity by St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

The old building of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which began construction in 1695, began to show severe deterioration over time, due to the instability and subsidence of the ground on which it is built. Thus, after 267 years, it had to close its doors and give way to the new building.

Breakfast. Departure from the hotel. We leave Mexico City for Puebla. Along the way we will stop to visit two beautiful churches that represent Mexican baroque and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedies in San Andrés Cholula.

The church of Santa María Tonantzintla is the only temple in Mexico where the Franciscans, who evangelized ancient Mexico, allowed indigenous beliefs to be captured in the main dome of the chapel. Tonantzintla means “place of Our Little Mother,” since there was a pyramidal base dedicated to Tonantzin, goddess of fertility and corn.

The Temple of San Francisco de Asís Acatepec, considered a masterpiece of Mexican baroque. Its façade dates back to the 18th century and is covered with ceramic tiles made by master potters specifically for the temple in white and blue for the Virgin Mary, and in green and yellow for Saint Joseph. It was said at that time that the temple was made of porcelain and that it was worthy of being kept under a glass canopy.

We continue our journey and arrive at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedies in San Andrés Cholula, Puebla.

As if reaching the giant Popocatépetl volcano, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedies rises, the Catholic church with domes covered in talavera that the Franciscans built in the 16th century, above the Great Pyramid of Cholula, in San Pedro Cholula, Puebla.

The Great Pyramid of Cholula is one of the largest pyramidal foundations in the world. In the archaeological zone you can visit: the site museum, a tunnel inside the pyramid and two ceremonial courtyards.

Upstairs to the top of the pyramid you will reach the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedies.

In the afternoon we arrive at the historic center of the city of Puebla, where in addition to getting to know the "City of Angels", you can visit some Catholic temples of great beauty and cultural, historical and religious interest.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is the most representative monument of this city. The Cathedral of Puebla was built between the 16th and 17th centuries. Its towers are the highest of all Latin American cathedrals and were not finished until the 18th century. Its interior has been preserved as an example of New Spanish art.

You will visit the Church of Santo Domingo and its Chapel of the Rosary, which was built in the 17th century, between 1650 and 1690, by the religious order of the Dominicans, and is an example of Mexican baroque. It was the first chapel dedicated to the Virgin of the Rosary in all of New Spain.

The Chapel of the Rosary is also known as "the house of gold" because inside you will be surprised by the ornamentation completely covered with gold leaf and precious stones. It is considered "the eighth wonder of the modern world."

After breakfast we will have a tour of the city of Oaxaca.

We begin our tour of the city of Oaxaca at the temple and former convent of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, a monumental architectural complex that is a beautiful example of the Baroque style in Mexico of the Dominican Order. The majestic former convent of Santo Domingo combines beauty and magnitude, it is even larger and more lavish than the Cathedral of Oaxaca, also a Dominican work. Added to its grandeur is the extraordinary beauty of its altarpieces and decorations. The façade of its temple is a large altarpiece in stone, framed by two tall towers, unusual in Oaxaca, since in this seismic zone lower towers were usually built. The magnificence of the temple can be admired in the choir, in the main nave, in its chapels and in the High Altar.

We enter the former convent to visit the Museum of Oaxacan Cultures where Mixtec and Zapotec archaeology and the treasure from Tomb No. 7 of Monte Albán are exhibited.

In this chapel you will find 24 paintings of saints of different sizes and in the upper room we see an oil painting of the Virgin giving a rosary to Santo Domingo, next to it we can see images of San Joaquín and Santa Ana, parents of the Virgin. In the former convent, on the walls of the first courtyard or procession cloister there are remains of fresco paintings, paintings of saints from the 17th century.