Puebla

We only had one day in Puebla, but we fitted loads in. The best thing to do is to wander randomly looking at the beautiful colonial buildings and tile work. Here are a few other things we did:

- visited the ruins of the church of San Francisco
- visited the massive cathedral (it reminded us of the ones in Granada in Spain and Cusco in Peru)
- listened to live music at cafes on the Zocalo (main square)
- tasted mole poblano (very rich, a bit sickly actually)
- visited the ex-convent of Santa Rosa. We had a fascinating guided tour of the museum and visited the kitchen where mole poblano was first made!
- visited the victorian arcade
- visited the artist's quarter and bought some ceramics
- walked along the street lined with shops catering for festivals and parties
- visited the amazing and beautiful old library in the cultural centre
- bought some famous "dulces" (sweets)

Here is a picture of one of the main shopping streets (5 de Mayo). More pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jomynard/Puebla

La Purificadora

We have stayed in hundreds of hotels over the years, but I don't think we have ever stayed in a "design hotel". The hotels in Puebla were quite reasonable, so we decided to stay somewhere really flash. We chose La Purificadora because it looked so different. It features in loads of design books and magazines and has apparently hosted televised events such as beauty padgents in Mexico. I couldn't wait to see it. (Hotel website: http://www.designhotels.com/lapurificadora)

It's basically a converted 19th century water bottling factory, tastefully restored/renovated using many of the original materials. It must have been really fun to design and it was a really fun place to stay. My favourite features were:

- the open air lobby with fire places (see picture below)
- the mixture of monochrome/neutral materials and bright purple fabric
- the glass floors
- the glass-sided swimming pool and roof bar
- the onyx shower room

More pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jomynard/LaPurificadora