Pueblos Mágicos, what an amazing way to break in the new year with the Travelling Brush.  We had a small group of artists for this very unique art trip to of some of my favourite places in Mexico.  Our group arrived January 3rd, starting our tour in this amazing Capital, if you have never been to Mexico City, there is a heap of cool things to see and do including some world class museums.

Our first day included a visit to Museo de Soumaya in Palanco.  This was my first time to this gallery and it far exceeded my expectations.  It is not just a beautiful building designed by Aldonso Miranda; this private collection of 66,000+ pieces of work is as diverse as it is spell-bindin,  featuring an enormous collection of Rodin’s work amongst other notable European like Degas, Renoir and a plethora of amazing latin American artist.   We spent the afternoon painting and exploring Palanco including my two favourite must stops Turic Tacos  and Amorino Gelato … must stops for me when in Mexico City.

I could never take guest to Mexico without showing off my of  favourite neighbourhood of Coyoacán for a visit to Frieda Kahlo’ Gallery and of course Chilli Rellano in the central market.  Just to make this day even more special, we spent the next few hours drifting along the old canals of ancient Mexico. Xochimilco was a lake where the Aztecs started building manmade Chinampas (floating rafts) for agricultural purposes, when a raft sunk the farmers tied another raft to the same location, continuing that cycle and now the once “Floating Gardens of Xochimilco sit firmly attached to the bottom of the lake leaving this amazing canal system behind.

Our final day in Mexico City was spent exploring and painting in the Historic Centre in and around the Zocolo and of course a visit to Palacio de Bella Artes to view the Magnificent Diego Rivera Murals.  I have hardly mentioned the amazing street food and restaurants of Mexico City but but I will leave that for another post. 

Pueblos Mágicos. 

Our first stop along our tour of Magical towns was a short road trip to Taxco the silver centre of Mexico.  Loads of in interesting Silver shops, boutique hotels, charming bars and restaurants, there is a painting to be made here on ever corner.  The charming white buildings of this hilltop Peublo his highlight by the Cathedral, Santa Prisca, one of Mexico’s most beautiful and striking pieces of baroque architectural achievements. 

Just a few hours east from Taxco in the State of Puebla is the rather large but equally charming Colonial City of Puebla, featuring eye dropping architecture, and an amazing culinary centre in Mexico. The busy centre has is charming and in spite of being quite a large city, it maintains itsPueblo Magico charm. Not far from the City Centre on top of ancient permits sits the Cathedral of  of inglesia de Nuesta Denora de lost Remedios in the Pueblo Magico of Chulula.