Cuerna, as the old Cuauhnáhuac is colloquially called, is an excellent Morelos destination. Go ahead and travel and spend your weekend in Cuernavaca!
From Cuernavaca, Morelos Novo says that "before Acapulco became fashionable for the summer, Cuernavaca was a favorite place where Mexican families built residences"; For his part, Alfonso Reyes called it a "pause of freedom and relaxation / a short distance from a sigh." Go that distance and enjoy the Zempoala lagoons, museums, gardens and more places of Cuernavaca on weekend. Check this Cuernavaca guide that Unknown Mexico has for you and have a pleasant weekend near the DF!
FRIDAY
16:00 Where to eat in Cuernavaca? Our first stopover is in CHICONCUAC, a few kilometers ahead of the city, by the Tepetzingo airport exit; where we cross the road. We come to a traffic light, we turn right until a crossroads where we turn right again and in the first block again to the right. A few meters away is the EL ANDALUZ RESTAURANT, where we will enjoy a tasty banana stuffed with seafood and a refreshing beer.
With such an urgent matter resolved, we returned to the cruise ship and continued straight to the center of town, to begin touring the Cuernavaca attractions and its surroundings. There, an aqueduct crosses the street and enters the HACIENDA DE SANTA CATARINA, where we are welcomed for a brief tour of the restored and elegant facilities in which events are held that offer the privilege of knowing the patios, corridors, gardens and the chapel that are not open to the public. Although founded long before, Santa Catarina had its splendor as a sugarcane farm in the 19th century and today it recovers it as a setting where to go on the weekend to meetings, concerts or parties that fill this farm with music and cover it with fireworks.
18:00 Back on the road, we follow the signs that lead to another of the places for the weekend: Cuautla. Here we visit the HACIENDA DE ATLACOMULCO, better known and with the longest legend. To begin with, its foundation is attributed to Hernán Cortés, who started the cultivation of sugarcane in the state there; then, the fact that the descendants of the conqueror kept the property until the Revolution, going through a period in which it was projected as the most modern mill in the country thanks to the administration of the famous historian Lucas Alamán; To this, add a colonial stage in which its owners, respectful of the restrictions imposed by the Spanish Crown on Indian slave labor, replaced it with that of blacks brought from the other side of the Atlantic. Currently, and after a long process of adaptation and restoration, the hacienda houses an exclusive hotel that has everything necessary for holding conventions and banquets, as well as for the pleasant time we now spend in one of its bars, surrounded by amateurs and friends. bougainvillea, under its four chacuacos.
19:00 We go to the city center, where we have a reservation at the REPOSADO, which although it is a bar also offers accommodation service, and is located behind the cathedral. After leaving the luggage we went for a walk up the street to Comonfort, where the HOUSE OF THE BELLS is located, as we know that photographs are always displayed there. Right now there is quite a hustle and bustle as three exhibitions are opening tomorrow. Despite this, Gabriela kindly takes a moment to tell us that the place is the headquarters of the ACTIVE SCHOOL OF PHOTOGRAPHY, and that the ones that are inaugurated are: a collective of former students, a performance and one with the photos that Ulises Castellanos brought of the last trips to which the Proceso magazine sent him.
20:30 In the ZÓCALO, danzón music is heard. The chairs delimit the rectangle in which a score of couples shake the moth. On Saturdays - they inform me - the dance is at the MORELOTES at six. The Nereidas sounds and elegance unfolds on the improvised track. We all enjoy.
21:00 The MORELOTES, as its name indicates, reminds us of the most illustrious descendant of those imported blacks. It is across the street, looking at the Government Palace, where we advance towards PLAZUELA DEL ZACATE where there are several little bars with tables and outdoor speakers behind which we find substantial singers who remind us that “there is nothing more difficult than living without you ”, or that“ whenever a story is made, they talk about an old man, a child or themselves ”. The night is young, like all those gathered here, so we search what's in Cuernavaca to toast eternal spring.
SATURDAY
9:00 We have breakfast at LA PANCHA, which is in the house that belonged to Abel Quezada, on the banks of the ravine, in the Acapantzingo neighborhood, with the sound of the stream as background music. From there we walked a couple of blocks to start crossing paths with the Cuernavaca gardens. The first were the GARDENS OF MAXIMILIANO, the house that the archduke and failed liberal emperor acquired in 1866 to enjoy the climate, the gardens of Cuernavaca and - according to the gossips - of a certain pretty Indian woman. Currently here is the MUSEUM OF TRADITIONAL AND HERBOLARY MEDICINE GARDEN ETNOBOTÁNICO. Although the construction is modest, it is worth visiting the museum rooms and strolling among fountains admiring flowers and herbs that reveal their secrets.
11:30 We arrived by car at the corner of Plan de Ayala and Teopanzolco. About three blocks from there, in the Vista Hermosa subdivision, we found what the 1996 edition of the Encyclopedia of Mexico lists as an "archaeological site located a short distance from Cuernavaca." Formerly known as EL MOGOTE, TEOPANZOLCO is a ceremonial center in which the structure known as the Great Basamento stands out, characterized by having a double staircase, like the Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlan, which allows its construction to be dated after 1427, year of the conquest of the Tlahuicas by the empire of Itzcóatl. At the top of the basement we find two temples, dedicated to Tláloc and Huitzilopochtli, in which there are still remains of pillars that denote the existence of ceilings made with perishable materials.
12:30 Back in the center we begin our tour of the Cuernavaca museums in the PALACIO DE CORTÉS, current CUAUHNÁHUAC MUSEUM. The building, one of the oldest civil constructions on the continent, similar to that of Colón in Santo Domingo, is in the Renaissance style. Located on the top of the hill that dominated the city, the palace was the residence of the conqueror, prison and headquarters of the federal, municipal and state governments, until in 1974 it became the museum that tells the history of Cuernavaca through the remains of the Tlahuica teocalli, the walls painted by Diego Rivera and a magnificent collection of objects from different eras.
14:00 Following the gaze of the guerrilla priest, we crossed the MORELOS GARDEN among photographs with scenery of southern mountains, wooden horses and Zapatista hats; We continue through the JARDÍN JUÁREZ surrounded by balloons and in the shadow of its English kiosk from the end of the 19th century to reach the GARDEN BORDA which, after a modest entrance, hides a vegetable backwater that goes back to the Colony, when the son of the mining entrepreneur He had terraces, fountains, verandas and an artificial lake built here. Now the site is shared by young couples, families, and a solitary athlete who go to concerts, stage plays, appreciate the plastic work that is exhibited in the gardens and galleries, or simply run, sit, look at each other and are silent. Today the national exhibition-tribute to Manuel Álvarez Bravo, whose recent loss we regret, is here. There is also a restaurant and a bookstore.
16:30 To conclude on this day our tour of museums and galleries, we cross in front of the REVOLUTION GARDEN, which was the garden of the current cathedral and we turn to reach number 4 of Nezahualcóyotl. There is ROBERT BRADY'S HOUSE, converted into a museum where the art collections gathered by this Iowa-born painter are exhibited. Among the paintings that we find here, the famous Self-Portrait with Monkey, which Frida Kahlo painted in 1945, as well as numerous works by Miguel Cobarruvias, Pelegrín Clavé, María Izquierdo, Toledo and Tamayo. But Brady collected not only Mexican paintings, but also North American and European authors, antique furniture, admirable pieces of early African art, and created settings such as the Red Room, decorated with original objects and paintings from India.
17:30 We now visit the CATHEDRAL, built by the Franciscans in the 16th century and which, with the passage of time, was to become a gallery of styles as its chapels were lost in favor of the new temples of the Third Order, of Our Lady of Sorrows and the Virgin of Carmen (in honor of Don Porfirio's wife). Fortunately, the open chapel is preserved and during the bishopric of Sergio Méndez Arceo a valiant and valuable work of rescue and restoration was carried out that returned to the main nave of the Cathedral of Cuernavaca its Franciscan spirit, stripping it of the neoclassical touches that had been added. , which made it possible to recover the murals that tell of the martyrdom in Japan of the first Mexican saint.
18:30 On the way to the restaurant, we go through the zócalo again, at the time when "the magpie trills / and the laurel of the birds murmurs." We arrived at Avenida Juárez and entered what was the home of Mario Moreno, which today houses one of the Cuernavaca restaurants more colorful: the GAIA RESTAURANT, with exquisite cuisine and a decoration that includes a mosaic in the pool attributed to Diego Rivera. After some mint lamb ribs, we headed to the OCAMPO THEATER, where a student group offers an acceptable version of Jesus Christ Superstar.
21:30 Taking advantage of the fact that our inn also offers bar service, we ended the day listening to music by Miles Davis in the heat of a dark rum, while we thought what to do on the weekend, well the rest ...
SUNDAY
9:00 Today we have breakfast at LA UNIVERSAL, which is in the zócalo, on a privileged corner that should be for the exclusive use of pedestrians, at least on weekends. However, the place has the charm of an old-fashioned café, with wrought iron railings, cecina from Yecapixtla and fresh orange juice. After which we go through the luggage and set off.
10:30 A little higher than CALVARIO we left the car in the parking lot of the MUSEO DE CUERNAVACA that bears, proud, a plaque commemorating the initiative of the city council led by the current governor to found it, although it does not say what happened to the Zapata Museum that was there. Two years after its inauguration, the museum only occupies one of its three rooms, in which a photographic exhibition is presented. We now see the CHAPITEL DEL CALVARIO, a structure with a square base with a 14 m cupola surmounted by a cross, built in 1532. Turning to the east we find a curious building that houses the tiny MUSEUM OF OLD PHOTOGRAPHY, known as “EL CASTILLITO”.
11:30 By car we go to SALTO DE SAN ANTÓN, crossing the ravine by a bridge also erected by the 2000 Town Hall. When we reach the street where the waterfall goes down we find a colorful invasion of the sidewalks, occupied by a succession of greenhouses and flower and plant stores. Among these is the access that leads us to contemplate the impressive fall of 36 m in height, flanked by a wall of basaltic prisms and a balustrade that goes around the ravine, passing under the waterfall itself. Wrapped in its noise and looking down at the rainbow that is forming and the swallows that seem to play around, we only sadly discover the cartloads of garbage that accumulate behind the waterfall. On the way back, we stop for a moment to have a drink and catch our breath.
13:00 On the way out, along Avenida Emiliano Zapata, we make a stop at the CHURCH OF TLALTENANGO. The polychrome facade of the SANCTUARY OF NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LOS MILAGROS, whose construction was completed in 1730, with the exception of the tower, from the late 19th century, stands out. Next to it is the modest CHAPEL OF SAN JOSÉ and SEÑOR DE LA MISERICORDIA, built in the early 16th century.
14:00 Having taken the free highway to Mexico, we deviated to the height of HUITZILAC and little by little we were surrounded by clouds and mountains, pines and oyameles until we came across the signs that indicate the access to the LAGUNAS DE ZEMPOALA. Following the path that surrounds Zempoala lagoons We arrive at the area where there is a row of inns where mushroom soups, longaniza tacos with nopales, quesadillas and beans are prepared. On one side, horses are rented and people camp, play in the valley, go into the forest or frolic in the stream with the children. Some girls sunbathe, a mother battles with the anaphre and some nephews allege with the uncle that it was not a goal, that he was very high. Now I know where all those who jam the road in the afternoons come from. Regina says I'd better recommend they come here Friday, and she may be right.
How to get to Cuernavaca?
From Mexico City, take Federal Highway number 95, Cuernavaca is 75 km away, in the State of Morelos and is one of the Weekend trips near the DF that you can do.
