Temple and Former Convent of Saint Michael and Historic Centre of Puebla
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
147 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 21
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 147 km round trip from Huejotzingo - roughly 2 h 21 in the saddle. The stops in between: Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C, Historic Centre of Puebla and back through Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Temple and Former Convent of Saint Michael
Behind a crenellated wall in the middle of Huejotzingo lies one of the earliest Christian buildings in the Americas: the Franciscan convent of San Miguel Arcángel, built in the decades after the Spanish conquest on the lower slopes of the volcanoes west of Puebla. The friars arrived here within a few years of the fall of Tenochtitlan, and the church, convent and walled atrium they raised are a textbook example of how the missionaries worked, with great open courtyards where crowds of indigenous converts could gather for teaching and mass. Huejotzingo is part of the UNESCO site of the Earliest Sixteenth-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatépetl, listed in 1994.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Temple and Former Convent of Saint Michael is where the day begins. Next is Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C.
2. Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C
Tlaxcala has an unusual place in Mexican history, because its people were the main allies of Hernán Cortés in the conquest of the Aztec empire. The Tlaxcalans had resisted Aztec expansion for years, and when the Spanish arrived in 1519 they chose to fight with them rather than against them. In return, they received privileges, and the Franciscan friars who arrived soon after chose Tlaxcala as their first base on the mainland. The monastery and its church, begun in the sixteenth century, still stand above the town, a plain, massive building with a fine wooden ceiling in Moorish style.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C comes up about 40 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic Centre of Puebla.
3. Historic Centre of Puebla
Puebla was founded in 1531 as a Spanish city from the start, laid out on a grid between the volcanoes and the road from Veracruz to Mexico City, and it grew into one of the richest towns of New Spain. Its historic centre is a World Heritage site, and walking through it you see why: dozens of churches, palaces and mansions, many covered in the hand-painted Talavera tiles for which the city is still famous. The cathedral, with its two tall towers, dominates the main square, and a few blocks away the Rosary Chapel of the church of Santo Domingo is a dazzling space of gilded stucco and carved angels that has to be seen to be believed.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Temple and Former Convent of Saint Michael. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Temple and Former Convent of Saint Michael to Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C
Temple and Former Convent of Saint Michael → Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C to Historic Centre of Puebla
Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C → Historic Centre of Puebla is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of Puebla to back through Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C
Historic Centre of Puebla → back through Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C to Temple and Former Convent of Saint Michael
back through Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C → Temple and Former Convent of Saint Michael is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.