Guadalupe

UK/Mexico City: Depart from your airport to Mexico City; flight duration approximately 9 hours from London Heathrow airport; it varies from other airports. Upon arrival transfer to the hotel.

Guadalupe Shrine, Xochimilco floating gardens and University City. Drive to the Basilica de Guadalupe, Latin America’s most revered religious shrine. It is here where the Virgin of Guadalupe is said to have appeared before Juan Diego in 1531, and an image of her was miraculously emblazoned on his cloak. We will have time to explore the New Basilica de Guadalupe (the Old Basilica, built in 1700, is slowly sinking) and to see Juan Diego’s cloak. We will then visit the beautiful floating gardens of Xochimilco, in the south of the city. On the way we make a stop at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Latin America’s largest university, recently declared a World Heritage Site. We arrive at the floating gardens of Xochimilco, which were once connected to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) by a causeway, and where the Aztecs grew much of their food. We will navigate the canals on board a typical ‘trajinera’, a flower-decked punt, and will discover how Aztec life was before the conquest.

Full-day Tulpetlac and Teotihuacan pyramids Today we visit the town of Tulpetlac and its church built where Juan Diego was born. We then drive to the archaeological site of Teotihuacan, located 50km northeast of Mexico City. Teotihuacan is one of the most impressive cities of the ancient world, held sacred by the Aztecs. We will explore its temples, palaces and pyramids, including the Quetzalpapalotl Palace Complex, the Temple of the Feathered Conches, the Pyramid of the Moon, and the immense Pyramid of the Sun, ranked among the biggest in the world. Time for lunch before returning to Mexico City.

Mexico City tour, Churches and Anthropology museum
We will explore magnificent Mexico City, built on top of the ruins of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. Our first stop is the Zocalo (main square), one of the biggest public squares in the world. We will visit the Catedral Metropolitana – the biggest church in Latin America, and the Palacio Nacional – which hosts Diego Rivera’s murals depicting the history of México. Your tour continues as you visit the Plaza of Santo Domingo. This plaza contains two Holy places that are architecturally exquisite; the Church of Santo Domingo, the first church built by the Dominicans in 1576, and the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, the first Rosary Shrine in Mexico. You will also visit “La Enseñanza” Church, the Temple of San Felipe Neri “La Profesa” and Church of San Francisco. We then drive along the famous boulevard Paseo de la Reforma, built during the short-lived reign of Emperor Maximilian to connect the main square and his castle in Chapultepec. Our last stop is the Museum of Anthropology, where we will have some time to explore the treasures of the Aztec culture.

To Puebla Cholula archaeological site and Tonantzintla (private service) We will drive to the World Heritage Site of Puebla, located 130km southeast of Mexico City. On the way we will make a stop in Tonantzintla, where we visit its exuberant church. Under its dome, the surface is covered with colourful stucco with saints, flowers, fruits, birds and more – a great example of indigenous artisanship applied to Christian themes. We continue to Cholula, where we will visit the Great Pyramid of Cholula, its remains measuring 450m along each side of the base and 65m high, making it larger in volume than Egypt’s pyramid of Cheops. Now overgrown and topped by a church, it is difficult to recognise this once magnificent pyramid. We arrive in Puebla in time for lunch. Mexico’s national dish, the ‘mole poblano’, originated here! We will explore the colonial centre, lined with churches and colonial mansions, many adorned with the beautiful hand-painted Talavera tiles for which Puebla is famous.

Day 6: Tlaxcala: San Miguel del Milagro, Sanctuary of Ocotlán and San Francisco church. Today we drive to Tlaxcala, upon arrival you will visit the Shrine of San Miguel Del Milagro, where St. Michael the Archangel appeared to Diego Lazaro in 1631. We visit the Grotto with its healing waters. You will have the opportunity to view these miraculous sites, as well as bring an empty bottle to collect the miraculous water. After viewing this exquisite site, you will enjoy lunch followed by a transfer to our next stop, the Church of St. Francisco.

Taxco Today we visit the old silver-mining town of Taxco, located 160km southwest of Mexico City. In the 1930s Taxco was declared a national colonial monument, ensuring the preservation of the beautiful mansions built by the city’s early silver barons. Halfway to Taxco we will make a stop in Cuernavaca, one of Mexico’s oldest cities, We continue to Taxco, where our first stop will be a silver shop where we will learn everything about the silver mining process. The Spaniards were drawn to the area in 1522 by Aztec tales of rich mineral deposits, and the subsequent silver boom lasted until the 19th century. We will walk through the town, clinging to a steep hillside, its narrow, cobblestone streets twisting and turning between colonial buildings and opening onto pretty plazas. We will visit the church of Santa Prisca, a treasure of baroque architecture.

Mass will be arranged if posible before we depart to the airport for our flight back to London. Day 9: Arrive back in London.