Due to a recommendation we go to San Miguel de Allende. And how this recommendation paid off for us! We find a wonderful Mexican city with a very well and faithfully preserved historic center. And not only that, thanks to great tourist influence – especially from the United States of America – especially the culinary is written large in San Miguel de Allende. Thus, we get our money’s worth more than in any other visited city in Mexico!

Historic city center

Luck is with us and we find a parking lot just outside the historic city center, which meets our requirements for an overnight stay in a city. It is so central that we arrive in about 15 minutes directly on the large main square, the Plaza de Allende, in the middle of the core of the city. The walk takes us past well-preserved, rather older houses in the characteristic Mexican architectural style. The facades are in the colors yellow, orange, red and white and behind each entrance hides its own little world. Sometimes it is a jewelry store with perfectly arranged showcases. At the next entrance, a beautifully landscaped courtyard is hidden behind the small passageway. That’s why we recommend one or more long walks through the historic center of San Miguel de Allende to discover the many hidden treasures.
But even the closed doors have it all, as most of the wooden doors are ornately decorated with carvings.
In addition, there are of course more formal sights such as the church of San Felipe Neri, which is built of pink stone. It dominates the cityscape from afar, as it was built on a small hill and can thus be seen from far away from many corners of the city.

Culinary, Mexican delicacies

Due to the fact that the tourist influence in San Miguel de Allende has been quite large for a long time, many upscale cafes and restaurants have been able to establish themselves. In addition, there is the fact that many expats and especially artists from America have settled here. This of course contributes to the fact that the demand for many great places to unwind is constantly high. So it happens that in the meat-heavy Mexican cuisine we come yet to an authentic taco experience completely without meat. We find a vegetarian restaurant, which accordingly offer the Mexican classics in a meatless version. Wonderful! Finally, without thinking twice, we can order all Mexican dishes to try. We really like that. Not only that, but the sometimes rather bland or unrefined notes of the Mexican food we had tried so far evaporate. We order appetizers and five different tacos right away to really get an all-around view. We feast and come to the conclusion: Well, if the Mexicans only wanted to, they could actually cook really well everywhere.
With this experience, however, we also come to a self-critical insight. Until now, we had inevitably ordered the vegetarian dishes, which are usually very similar. In addition, we naturally omit the mostly strongly spiced meat from dishes that we order in a modified form. And thus, Mexican cuisine loses a large part of its charm – at least for us.

Art galleries in the Fábrica la Aurora

Since San Miguel de Allende has a strong focus on art, we would like to experience it ourselves. Without further ado, we set off to a former textile factory, the Fábrica la Aurora, which today houses countless art galleries. The different galleries offer art in many styles and in different degrees of popularity. There are local artists but also works of art by world greats alike to marvel at. We accidentally packed the small purse this morning and therefore cannot afford any of the artworks. But that doesn’t matter, we enjoy the relaxed and eccentric atmosphere before we continue through our experiences in San Miguel de Allende.

Mercado de Artesanías

For smaller handmade items, the Mercado de Artesanías is a good place to go. We expect the city’s artistic streak to have a strong impact on this market. Unfortunately, that’s not quite the case. There are many potteries which are artistically painted, leather handicrafts as well as many textile products. But somehow the character of the goods is not quite as unique as we had hoped. Many of the stalls offer very similar goods, so now the artistic achievement of each vendor is not fundamentally underlined. In independent boutiques in the city, the art is better placed in the center of attention and convinces us more than at this market. However, it does not tarnish our image of San Miguel de Allende. But one should not exclude the visit of such markets in advance, since the assortment is constantly changing and new market stalls can change the market experience at any time.

Camper Ben also needs a little attention

The rest of the time in San Miguel de Allende we spend with some errands. A whole day goes among other things for the fact that we look for a mechanic for Ben, who can mend the armrest on the driver’s seat. Finally, we find a mechanic with the right tools, we realize that we can’t patch the armrest with new rivets, but have to help ourselves with cable ties, because the anchoring of the armrest is broken. Dumb, but now it holds almost better than before. In addition, we have to oil our steering column regularly since a moment, because it squeaks extremely on the partly very bumpy roads with many speed bumps. Accordingly, we are still looking for a long-lasting oil, which we finally find. With such smaller activities a whole day can be filled in Mexico.

San Miguel de Allende is a real oasis in the Mexican highlands. The city has its own historical character and is very well maintained. Accordingly, we felt comfortable here and were able to get away a little from the shady sides of the sometimes very poor Mexico. However, the attraction for us is still to get to know the other ways of life, customs, cultures and people as authentically as possible. In doing so, San Miguel de Allende accompanied us for a moment and inspired us!