Day 5 - Driving tour to Delores Hildago and San Miguel de Allende
We booked into our hotel for an additional night at the same nightly rate as the special package deal.
Rigo offered us this driving tour for a total cost of $3000 pesos for the 8 of us!
Our first stop was Museo Exhacienda San Gabriel de Barrera. Built at the end of the 17th century, this was the grand hacienda of
Captain Gabriel de Barrera, whose family was descended from the first
Conde de Rul of the famous La Valenciana mine. Opened as a museum in
1979, the hacienda, with its opulent period European furnishings,
provides an insight into the lives of the wealthy of the time
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| the Roman garden |
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| a stained glass window seen from the cactus garden looking back at the wall of the Roman garden |
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| one of the themed gardens |
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| a calla lily in one of the 17 gardens |
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| a view of the estate home |
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| note the archway between the 2 rooms -- it might have been 5' tall! |
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| The other side of the arch |
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| Queen Elizabeth slept in this room on her last visit to the Guanajuato area |
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| a window on the stairway to the second floor |
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| dining room |
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| The Music Room: Looking to the left is the ladies' seating area |
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| Looking to the right is the mens' seating area in the Music Room |
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| more gardens! |
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| grass growing in the domed roof of the estate home! |
Our next stop was at Santa Rosa to visit a ceramic facility. Santa Rosa is located part way along the highway from Guanajuato to San Miguel de Allende. There were 6
artists hand painting beautiful scenes with hummingbirds, butterflies,
flowers, grape vines. The ceramics were fired 2 times before the glaze
was added and fired once more.
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| lots of pottery in the process |
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| this bathroom sink has not been glazed yet |
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| the kiln is seen at the back of the factory |
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| a finished product on display outside |
While we were allowed to take photos in the workshop, none were allowed inside the store/warehouse which was packed with all sorts of ceramic items. The photo above was taken just outside the front door of the store and is a good example of the artistry these people have. Much more sophisticated than other ceramics in Mexico.
At Delores Hildago, we
stopped for lunch. The city was founded in 1610. It is known as the "cradle of independence" because at this place on September 16th, 1810 Father Miguel Hidalgo called for independence and freedom We visited the historic home and statue of Hildago. The elevation in this
town was 6,480 ft. The current population estimated to be about 55,000.
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| the statue of Father Miguel Hildago |
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| the church of Father Hildago located at the town square |
Our final tour stop of the day with Rigo was at San Miguel de Allende. It was founded in 1542 but was not ranked as a "city" until 1826. San Miguel is situated
at an elevation of 6,200 ft and is another city of very narrow streets.
The current population is about 140,000.
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| San Miguel de Allende viewed from the lookout |
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