Gess Where Travels: Road Trip Around Queretaro

I managed to find a tour that had a bit of English to take me outside of Queretaro. Tours have been interesting as they are mostly transportation and not a lot of information. None the less, my day was enjoyable with a group of 5 and of course the 2 couples spoke only Spanish. My driver/guide did speak English and I got the information I needed.

As we left the city it was abundantly clear how dry it is here - looks almost desert like in places and dust on anything that is sitting. It has been several months since the last rain!

Along the road there were several large tented restaurants that were absolutely packed - it was Sunday and everyone seemed to be out for a lunch.

Our first stop was for cheese and wine tasting- yes wine at 10:30 on a Sunday morning. We tasted 14 different cheeses which were all delicious, 2 wines which were pretty sweet and finished with a crema cafe Mezcal.

One of Mexican tour friends

From there we continued to the town centre of Tequisquiapan. This is one of the pueblo mágico or Magic towns around Mexico. The church is absolutely beautiful from the outside but no entrance this day. And of course the main square was very inviting, full of people and surrounded by restaurants and lots of shopping.

Gabby, one of the Mexican ladies decided my first stand up picture was not good enough so….

I’m not sure but the bull seems to have some significance in this town. There was an art exhibition focused on the bull as well as many statues around town.

This piece has a price tag of 25000 pesos

This area is the start of the wine and cheese route and there were cheese and wine shops all over. Mexican wines are quite expensive as were the cheeses from the shops but I did have to buy a bit of cheese to take with me to the beach!

On to wine country. There are many wineries in the area but we were taken to the Freixenet Mexico winery best known for its sparkling wines. We toured the facility which took us underground 25 metres and then finished with a glass of sparkling rose. The tour was entirely in Spanish and I am a long way from understanding that much Spanish but the glass of wine at the end was great.

Next it was off to see the see the huge rock monolith, La Pena in the magic town of Bernal. It stands 433 metres high of sheer rock. Even at a distance one could spot the people climbing it - no thanks!

The town itself is very hilly and would definitely be a challenge to stay in. Fortunately the main square was pretty flat. The church was so colourful as was the square which was packed and you guessed it surrounded by shops with a twist - many bakeries. The pan de queso or cheese bread is a speciality here.

I had reached my limited of shopping and walking so attempted to find a quiet place to have a refreshment and just people watch. This was not an easy task as it was party time. Finally successful with a semi quiet spot. It was quiet until a vehicle drove by. I am convinced the afternoon activity is drive around this spot and see who can play their music the loudest! It was people watching at its best. One of my favourites was the lovely woman on the horse wearing orange plastic high heeled shoes!