There is a concrete pyramid in honour of the founders of the National Agricultural Movement on its summit. There is a mausoleum with the body remains of Úrsulo Galván, José Cardel, Carolino Anaya, Manuel Almanza, Manuel Olmos and Salvador González Lagunas inside, all martyrs of the vindicating struggle of the people of the country.
It is located northeast of Xalapa, 5 kilometres away from the City centre.
-Coatepec: A splendid City of colonial reminiscences,
so pretty and so rich, that it is Historic Patrimony of the Nation.
Of provincial airs, its remotest origins are found on the pre-Hispanic
period, when the Totonacas settled on these lands.
Surrounded by exuberant vegetation, Coatepec keeps attractive old colonial houses with high beam roofs, with mud tiles and central patios stuffed with flowers. The Church of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the Municipal Palace are two of its architectonic jewels.
Coatepec (Náhualt word that means "Hill of the Serpent") was founded in 1702, though it would get the City title only in 1886. It is known due to its abundant production of coffee, one of the largest in the country, and to the variety of orchids flourishing on its fields, the same that can be easily spotted at a fabulous greenhouse that travellers cannot fail to visit.
Its craftsmanship is based on coffee plant carvings, and its exquisite gastronomy variety (you must try the acamayas, river prawns with chiplote - a local vegetal - sauce, and the coffee ice cream), are two additional attractions that will make your stay even greater.
It is situated 8 kilometres away from Xalapa.
-Hacienda Museum of El Lencero: Revive the romantic
halo of the XVI century through the relics that decorate its rooms,
objects of great value such as English clocks, chandeliers, Persian
rugs, vessels, silver beds, trunks of dried oak, wardrobes of cherry
tree and other exquisite works that create a fairytale atmosphere.
Its most precious treasures are a canvas of San Francisco of Assisi, a German piano and a singular lock of the XVIII century with the shape of a violin, that despite its age still works as the zealous guardian of the central garden's entrance.
The seat of the Museum was an old hacienda located in a place of greenness on which the silhouettes of the mountains cut the horizon. The main house has 8 rooms and the so-called "corridor of the birds", where the eyes of the visitors will rejoice with a magnificent panorama of the zone, on the second floor is impressive. A real ancient fig tree, silent witness of the 5-century history of the house, survives on its rear patio. The hacienda house was built on a natural terrace, commissioned by Juan Lencero, a soldier of Hernán Cortés' troops, who after getting a royal benefit decided to install an inn for travellers going from Veracruz to Mexico City.
The house has had several uses along its extensive history. The State of Veracruz began profound refurbishing works in 1935, and finally it was conditioned as an old suites museum in 1981.
Magic and captivating, its rooms have inspired universal characters such as Gabriela Mistral, the Chilean poetess awarded the Literature Nobel prize in 1945. She spent long times of calmness and inspiration at El Lencero, and that is why she dedicated it a nostalgic farewell that is for everyone to see on a plaque on exhibition in the hacienda's garden.
El Lencero remains unharmed by the passing of time, and electrical power is yet unknown within its rooms. There is a showy pathway around the house bordered with leafy Hindu laurels, a colonial chapel, the house of the nuns (a reformed parish), and a spring giving life to a small lagoon.
It is situated at the kilometre 10 of the Federal Highway connecting Xalapa with Veracruz.
-Xico: It is a City renowned for its gastronomy,
being the mole xiqueño its emblematic dish (a stew with meat and
chilli sauce and other ingredients), an ambassador of taste that
has gone beyond geographic borders to take over the whole country,
as well as the aromatic coffee produced on its generous fields.
That who visits this land surrounded by cliffs, forests, rivers and numerous cascades, will have the imperative mandate of trying the delicious egg breads (with a tradition of more than 200 years), the mulberry wine, and the proverbial xonequi, a portentous stew of beans dressed with a homonymous aromatic herb.
After having conceited your palate, feel encouraged to walk along the tranquil streets of a City of baroque architecture and with houses of flattened walls and covered with beams. When in the centre, visit the parish of Santa Maria Magdalena and the museum beside it, where more than 300 dresses presented by the faithful to the image of the miraculous Virgin are on exhibition.
Every year, between the 18th and the 23rd of July, the City gets dressed for a feast to pay homage to its patron, Santa Maria Magdalena. During the celebrations there is firecrackers, autochthonous dances, carpets of flowers, horseback rides, cockfights, and the classical xiqueñadas, an event similar to the San Fermines of Pamplona, in Spain.
The name Xico comes from the Náhuatl term xico-chimal-ko, which means "Where there are Honeycombs of Yellow Wax", or "Shield of Bees"; although some etymologists point out that its translation would be "Shield of the Centre".
It is located 19 kilometres away from
Xalapa.
-Naolico: This is a City of Totonaca roots, though
with colonial features, that bewilders travellers with the colourfulness
of its old constructions - painted as though they were splendorous
rainbows - and the skill of its artisans, national prize winners
for their wooden masks. They also handle leather with dexterity.
Its name comes from the Náhuatl term nahui-ollín, which means "The Four Seasons". Moreover, this word was used to name one of the days of the pre-Hispanic calendar.
It is located 32 kilometres away from
Xalapa.
-Cofre del Perote National Park: It is one of
the ten tallest mountains in Mexico with an altitude of 4282 metres,
and it is located on the Eastern Sierra Madre. The people of the
ancient Mesoamerican cultures called it naupa-tecutépetl ("Mountain
that has Four Sides"), due to the peculiar shape of its summit,
which resembles a large box.
Cofre del Perote is an extinct volcano surrounded by dazzling landscapes. Here one can discover great canyons, immense ravines, crystalline cascades and dense forests of oyamel pine trees, cypresses, ilexes and birch trees. A mantle of snow covers the treetops during the winter.
An old legend refers to the origin of its current name. It goes that while travelling to Tenochtitlán, the troops of Hernán Cortés went by the place following a trail from which the volcano could be spotted; the Spaniards were astonished by the trunk (cofre) shape of its summit, very similar to a trunk carried by one of the Spaniards surnamed Perote.
"Look, Perote's trunk", they joked during the march thus unwillingly baptising this National Park, that extends its 11700 hectares across the municipalities of Perote, Xico, Ayahualulco and Acajete.
It is located 43 kilometres away from
Xalapa following
the Federal Highway.
