I repeated my parking trick from San Miguel de Allende, and left my car this time at an even bigger mall on the ring road of Morelia in the direction of Patzcuaro. This mall (Plaza de Morelia) has a couple of American franchise restaurants, and I ate a good salad at one of them for lunch.

Morelia is a large city, and the WHS area stretches a long way across town. There are two central areas to check out. The first center is the Cathedral area. I was the only tourist around, and people did look a little bemused when I took my camera out of my bag. There are some fine facades around here, and arcades that came right out of Spain. Worth a peek inside is the Colegio de San Nicolas de Hidalgo, formerly one of the most prestigious schools of colonial Mexico.

From that area, I walked to the second center which lies near the Aqueduct. The Aqueduct is… an aqueduct, what more is to say. In front of it stands the also very underwhelming Tarascas Fountain. The city is very busy with cars (as all Mexican cities are), and they speed past the fountain and the aqueduct.

I left the best for last: the Santuario de Guadelupe looks like a bland parish church from the outside. The interior is spectacular: bright pink and light blue, it looks more like a Hindu temple. It also has 4 huge paintings on how the Spanish converted the poor indigenous Mexicans.