We found a hidden gem – Taxco Mexico!!
Lazily we were watching the movie on the overhead screen and chomping on some potato chips as the bus steered through the green mountainous road. It was Emma Stone starred “The Favourite” but dubbed in Spanish. Even though the outside view was stunning, to my dismay Amrita kept the curtains closed to keep the harsh sun at bay.
We were on our way to Taxco, a lesser known destination on the Mexican tourism map. We definitely had a good time in Mexico City, viewing the stunning Hispanic architecture and prehispanic archaeological ruins and shopping and eating. But at the end of the day it was another commercial and modern day city, a concrete jungle with crowd and traffic. So we were glad that we were going to visit something quaint like Taxco Mexico.
Taxco was a last minute addition to our short trip itinerary. We had seen pictures of it, and it seemed different. Hence we added it to our plan. To speak the truth, we didn’t have great expectations from the place. A couple of interesting pictures and some silver shopping was all we envisioned from it.
Then the bus suddenly came to a halt and few of our fellow sleepy folks stirred up in a bustle. We were at our destination we inferred, though it was not our last stop (there are two Estrella de Oro stops in Taxco). My wife while producing a massive yawn, stretched her arms in slow motion, and then finally opened the curtains.
What we saw outside instantly hit us hard. She was not completely done with her yawning and had to halt midway. I too was utterly stunned. We had never seen a town like this before. White walled houses with red tiles as far as we could see on the sloppy terrain. It felt right out of the scenes of a Disney movie.
The bus started soon and in around five minutes we reached the last stop. This stop was nearer to the town center (Zocalo in Mexico). As we got off the bus maybe we looked a bit confused and overwhelmed, because a nice gentleman approached us and politely told us something in Spanish. “No comprendo Espanol” we were quick to utter. The gentleman smiled and pointed across the road and uttered “Zocalo Zocalo” trying to help us by giving the direction towards the town centre. And once again we were impressed by the friendliness and helpfulness of the Mexican people.
As we indulge in budget travel, we are generally a heavy user of Airbnb due to its affordability and more connected to the place feel and Taxco has a lot to offer for that. As we walked towards our Airbnb navigating through the narrow sloppy alleys while maneuvering clear of the cars driving rushingly but carefully, sharing the constrained space with the pedestrians, we couldn’t help but notice the number of Volkswagen Beetles gushing past us.
I am not kidding, they were everywhere, an invasion! we had realised that Mexico has a moderately high number of Beetles on the street, but that number in Taxco was unnaturally high. A small powerful car like Beetle is no doubt a great fit for the winding narrow streets of Taxco, but their dominance was overwhelming and it was a sight to behold. And let me be very clear, this is not a complaint. Infact as we will witness over the next couple of days, the presence of these beautiful and legendary cars with their bright colors and vintage looks add up to the charm of the already magical town.
Also there are a fleet of white Beetles which are cabs and are lovingly called “Vocho” locally. They are cheap and are quite efficient to expertly manuever through the narrow roads to take you anywhere within Taxco in no time.
As we approached the town centre, the streets became fully cobbled, the houses prettier, and the traffic thicker.
When we reached our place, which was on top of a beautifully decorated restaurant, we were greeted by two very cheerful young ladies who, even though didn’t know a single word of English, tried their best to make us understand the details of the house, mostly with their hand gestures and with big smiles all the time.
The room was small and cozy, though the best feature of the house was the rooftop area. We spent the afternoon enjoying a comforting cup of coffee there on the terrace surrounded by the mesmerizing view, white houses as far as we could see. And it had a stunning display of the Santa Prisca chuch.
To help you plan on what to do in Taxco, we have written a detailed guide which can be found here. In our case, though it may sound lame, we spend most of our time roaming in the alleys around the Zocalo, and we couldn’t do enough of it. Why? Because Taxco is so unique among the places we have seen before. There is serenity at almost every corner of this town. The town itself looks like a fantasy land.
And not to mention the massive inventory of vintage cars the town has accumulated. Infact, we made it a game to click pictures of as many Volkswagen Beetles as possible in different colors.
Towards the evening, being tired after the whole day’s expedition, we found a nice rooftop restaurant near the Zocalo and slipped into a restful and lazy bliss with glasses of Bertha, a local Tequila cocktail, and some really delicious food, as the night rolled in and the town gradually slithered into a sleepy disposition.
We started the next day with an early morning exploration of the alleys again. Taxco streets have a different beauty altogether when it is clear of the traffic.
After a long and comprehensive breakfast, we lazed around a bit sitting on a beautiful colonial style balcony.
Then it was time to check out for the commodity Taxco is most famous for, Silver. Long before it was famous as a tourist destination, Taxco was already well known as the silver town in Mexico. It was founded in the 16th century on and around a silver mine and is always famous not only for its high quality silver output but also for the quality craftsmanship on the silver products.
And where are the silver shops in Taxco? EVERYWHERE!! I am not joking, but the whole town is crammed with them. I mean we knew that Taxco loves silver, but it was at the level of obsession. There were so many options that Amrita hopelessly drowned in an euphoric indecisiveness. Hence, we started our silver shop hopping. And each shop was unique with some exclusive designs to offer. And not to mention their unique decors too!!
We also found that there was a small silver artisans market where individual craftsmen sell their homemade stuff called ” Tianguis Artesanal Sindical”.
We spent almost the whole day engrossed in silver browsing and we were amazed by the level of craftsmanship the town had. In between we took a break and did a quick visit to the Santa Prisca church to witness the magnificent artworks inside the historic building.
The next day, after having some nice hot coffee and breakfast, we bade Taxco goodbye. Our bus was from the same small bus station 10 minutes off the town centre. We had some wonderful time there and our instagram would flood with pictures from this town we were sure. We were sad to leave such a beautiful place, but we were also excited for our next destination. We were off to the historic city of Puebla, via Mexico city.
This was our story from Taxco Mexico and will love to come back here again. We are a roaming couple who likes short trip and budget travel. We generally don’t spend a long time in a particular place. As our blog name suggests, we hop around quite frequently. So if we suit your travel style please subscribe to us or connect with us on social network of your choice.
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