Discover Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, a destination that despite not being very popular, has a lot of history and culture to offer. Check out this plan to spend a whole weekend in northern Mexico!
Tamaulipas is one of those states of the Republic that is rarely mentioned in the tourist field. With exceptions like Tampico, for example, the rest of the state apparently receives few visitors. Within the scarce diffusion mentioned, a very unique case is the state capital, Ciudad Victoria, which is rarely mentioned except for political-administrative or academic reasons. But the capital of Tamaulipas is not only a student and commercial city, but also preserves places and corners worth visiting.
FRIDAY
To start your tour of the capital of Tamaulipas before the sun sets, hurry to register at a hotel near the center of the city, because from here you can more quickly access some of its most important tourist attractions, such as old Plaza de Armas better known as Hidalgo Square, which has undergone various transformations, both in the design of its gardens and in its many kiosks that have adorned it. The current Kiosk was built in 1992.
Now go to the other end of the square, where the Basilica of Our Lady of Refuge, which from 1870 was the seat of the bishopric of Tamaulipas and on October 26, 1895 it was consecrated as a cathedral. Its construction was completed in 1920, although in 1962 the cathedral headquarters was transferred to the parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1990, Pope John Paul II granted it the title of basilica.
SATURDAY
After a light breakfast you can go out to know more about Victoria City, touring some of the buildings you didn't visit the night before, like the Federal Building, built in modern style, from the second half of the 20th century.
Continuing along Matamoros street and behind the Federal Building you will discover the House of Arts, located in an old mansion declared Cultural Heritage of Ciudad Victoria. Dance, choir, piano courses are offered there, as well as poetry and literature workshops. It belongs to the Tamaulipeco Institute of Fine Arts and was inaugurated in September 1962.
A few blocks from there is the Museum of Archeology, Anthropology and History of Tamaulipas, a must-see site if you want to know and learn a little about the history of Tamaulipas, since there are exhibited vestiges and testimonies of the historical, social and cultural evolution of the entity.
Around noon you can visit the new Plaza de Armas, where you will find the Central Pharmacy, a building that still preserves the original furniture of the first apothecary in Ciudad Victoria, from the early 20th century, as well as many bottles with their scientific names and the so-called “apothecary eyes”. There you can also buy herbs, ointments, candles, remedies and specialized books on herbalism.
Continuing along Calle Hidalgo you will reach a square where you will find three different examples of Tamaulipas architectural design: the Sacred Heart Parish, the government palace, in an art deco style, majestic in size, and the Tamaulipas Cultural Center, of eclectic architecture, built in 1986 in concrete and glass.
On the corner of Calle Hidalgo (old Calle Real) and Alameda del 17 (Madero) you will find the city Hall, a beautiful neoclassical mansion built at the end of the 19th century by the engineer Manuel Bosh y Miraflores, which in the early years of the 20th century served as the official residence of the federal government.
Three blocks ahead, on the same sidewalk, you will find another of the symbols of the city: the Ejidal Bank, created in 1935 during the Agrarian reform. The building is a magnificent example of the Californian colonial style, decorated with quarry and tezontle and finished off the entire length with pyramidal battlements. It boasts three proportionally symmetrical doors topped by neoclassical balconies flanked by rose window windows.
At dusk, we recommend you take a walk through the Tamaulipas Siglo XXI Cultural and Recreational ParkAlso a scientific and sports complex where the planetarium stands out, with its fifteen meter diameter dome. Right there there is an open-air theater, with capacity for more than 1,500 spectators, where concerts and plays are offered.
SUNDAY
On this day we recommend you to know the Shrine of Guadalupe, on top of the Loma del Muerto, since from there you will have one of the best views of Ciudad Victoria. Around this hill you will know one of the colonies that still maintains its distinctive Californian colonial architecture.
To conclude, do not miss the opportunity to know the Tamatán Recreational Park, located on the exit to Tula and San Luis Potosí. This is a recreational site with lush gardens and areas, where the only zoo in the region with specimens of the entity is located. In its facilities there is also the Ex Hacienda Tamatán, built at the end of the 19th century and which currently houses the Escuela Tecnológica Agropecuaria.
TIPS
-In Ciudad Victoria there are other sites that are also of great interest. In Calle 17 corner with Rosales is the Peasant's House, building built between 1929 and 1930. Its main attraction is the facade, resolved in a corner with the octagonal entrance, in Art Deco style, very fashionable at the beginning of the 20th century.
-Between the streets of Allende and 22a, is the Former Vicentino Asylum, erected at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries to house an asylum dedicated to helpless elderly and orphaned children. Today it is fully restored and is known as the Vicentino Cultural Space, since it houses the offices of the Tamaulipeco Institute for Culture and the Arts, as well as the state INAH.
HOW TO GET
Ciudad Victoria is located 235 kilometers northwest of the port of Tampico; 322 kilometers southwest of Matamoros and 291 southeast of Monterrey. From Tampico, the access route is through Highway No. 80 and at Fortín Agrario, continue along Highway No. 81. From Matamoros, take Highway 180 and 101, and from Monterrey, Highway No. 85
Ciudad Victoria has an international airport located on the road to Tampico, as well as a bus terminal in Prolongación de Berriozabal Fracc. Commercial 2000 No. 2304.
