Queretaro used to be hard to say. Now it rolls of my tongue every time I turn a corner here and exclaim, again, “Oh my gosh! Queretaro (K-ray-tuh-row) is amazing!”
We arrived yesterday and got settled into our Airbnb rental. It is a very modern building set behind one of the many nondescript metal doors that line the narrow streets. Queretaro’s historic downtown has stone-paved streets. Huge ancient wooden doors are everywhere and sometimes they are open to allow you to peek into a walkway which often leads to a beautiful inner courtyard. It sort of gives the streets a bit of mystery as you walk through town.
We went out last night to look around and ended up in a very small alley bar. There were so many options but the Azul Jaguar looked inviting with outdoor tables. The weather was perfect. We sat for a long time unwinding with micheladas and the best burgers we’ve had in a long while.
This morning we walked for hours around the historic downtown. Every block has either a stunning cathedral, a leafy plaza or fun shops with colorful goods.
We sought out brunch at the market. Queretaro has several busy markets and they are very clean. The one we visited had a lot of meat and seafood, all of which looked and smelled really good. After eating some omelets at one of the busy food booths, we also bought fresh figs and chocolate to snack on back at the room.
While walking around town, I was trying to pick out a cathedral to draw. Finally, I decided to give the Templo de Santa Rosa de Viterbo a try. It is very ornate but fun to sketch in my sketchbook. Randall got a coffee and caught up on the daily news so I could take my time. After I finished, we went to look inside the cathedral. It was a surprisingly small chapel but every inch was covered with gold baroque-style decoration. Old paintings covered the walls and ceilings, too.
We were headed back to our room when we saw a very cool motorcycle. The owner came up while we were admiring it and said he just bought it at a local cycle shop. So we extended our walk another mile to take a look at some local bikes called Vento. We didn’t buy one. We asked about renting but they didn’t rent and weren’t sure if any rentals were available somewhere else. We also learned that I don’t know the correct word for “renting.” I may have asked for toast at first.
I’m ok with getting into conversations I don’t quite have enough words for. Maximo was bored anyway, I think, and also admitted his English isn’t great.
We have a hard time picking out which restaurants to try but Señorita Thai was the winner tonight. It was close, the reviews were good and we know we will be eating lots of traditional foods the upcoming days. Our pad Thai and red curry, served to us but the Aussie owner, were delicious. Afterwards, we walked to one of the plazas, sat by a pretty fountain and watched several older couples dancing.
No comments yet.