Santiago de Querétaro 2022 : 2022-02-21 : San Miguel de Allende

Activity
Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total Notes Actions
Sight See San Miguel de Allende $0.00 San Miguel de Allende, a colonial-era city in Mexico’s central highlands, is known for its baroque Spanish architecture, thriving arts scene and cultural festivals. In the city’s historic, cobblestoned center lies the neo-Gothic church Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, whose dramatic pink towers rise above the main plaza, El Jardín. The Templo de San Francisco church nearby has an 18th-century churrigueresque facade.
Sight See Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel To me, this was the most impressive feature of San Miguel, although the whole city was really beautiful. $0.00
Sight See Mercado de Artesanias on Andador Lucas Balderas Andador Lucas Balderas is a narrow walking street lined with vendors, which is the Mercado de Artesanias. I also really enjoyed this. $0.00
Sight See Viewpoint on Salida Real A Querétaro The road into San Miguel from Queretaro takes you down a steep hill into town. There is a great viewpoint along that road, Salida Real A Querétaro, where you can look down on the Centro. $0.00
Meal
Type Name Description Restaurant Cost Notes Actions
Lunch Lunch at La Pamplonada La Pamplonada $0.00 We had lunch at La Pamplonada, which was a great accidental find. Wonderful restaurant - so interesting on the inside. We loved it. Sadly, due to an ID-10-T error with my phone, I lost ALL of my photos of it. Bah! Hate those ID-10-T errors.
Accommodation
Type Name Service Provider Confirmation Location Cost Notes Actions
Bed and Breakfast La Encantada Air BnB Santiago de Querétaro $607.92 Located in the oldest neighborhood of the historic center and next to the Temple of the Cross, emblematic site of Queretaro's history, as well as the viewpoint and famous arches, plazas, bars, and restaurants.

The CANARIAN room is located within "La Encantada “, a 17th-century house in El Barrio más antigua del Centro Histórico, a 5-minute walk from Los Arcos. Nearby you will find bars, restaurants, markets, gyms, shopping and sports malls, history and culture.


Trip Log

Notes Actions
Woke up this morning to ANOTHER notice from AeroMexico that our flight itinerary has changed. When I looked it up, the leg from YVR to YEG was completely gone. Spoke to the customer service agent and he says the WestJet flight isn't "cancelled" but is not "confirmed" (I think probably related to a WestJet strike). His recommendation: Wait a few days and see if the flight gets confirmed.
On the spur of the moment, Brent, Elissa and I decided to head out to San Miguel de Allende today. It seemed like a good thing to do. We had a Plan A and a Plan B. Plan A was to take busses - city bus to the terminal, then regional bus to San Miguel. The city busses were not running efficiently and the regional bus schedule was few and far between, so after waiting at the city bus stop for a while, we gave up and got a taxi. Cesar took us to San Miguel for 600 pesos (plus tip). We got his phone number for future excursions.

We came back with a taxi as well. We could have taken a bus, but the best option was to take one at 4:50PM, and we weren't ready to leave when we had to to get to the bus depot, so with the price of the taxis being so good in relation to the busses (because the taxi costs the same for three people as for one, but the bus is per person), we just grabbed a taxi again. This one was 800 pesos plus tip. On our way into town, our cabbie got pulled over for some reason - we're not sure why. We think maybe it was to check to make sure he was not picking up in Queretaro, which he may not be licensed for.
San Miguel de Allende is a more beautiful and interesting city than Queretaro (not that there's anything wrong with Queretaro, mind you). It also has more restaurant-ey restaurants. The trade-off is that there's WAY more tourists, many of them English-speaking. There are two walking routes for SMDA, and we walked both of them, seeing what we could see. We liked the morning better when it was less busy, but the whole experiences was fantastic.
After we got home from San Miguel de Allende, Brent and I had a beer on the roof to await "Bird-O-Clock", which is the time when the big flocks of black birds fly over. "Bird-O-Clock" usually lasts from about 6:15 to 6:30 in the evening. Tonight there were more flocks, and bigger flocks than usual, and a lot of them flew RIGHT over top of our property, and some of the birds flew just a few feet above our heads. We love this evening ritual!


Photos