Apaseo el Grande

Apaseo el Grande lies in eastern Guanajuato, halfway between Celaya and Querétaro, and is one of the oldest towns in the state. Its name comes from Apatzeo, a Purépecha word read as place of weasels; in Otomí it was Andehe, by the water, a word still carved in an inscription in the parish church choir. Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza formally settled it as an Indian town in 1538. Until 1957 it was also called Apaseo el Bajo, to tell it apart from neighbouring Apaseo el Alto.

The Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the colonial silver road, ran through town, bringing trade and wool workshops. The parish church of San Juan Bautista, the town's patron, took its present form in 1690. Miguel Hidalgo served briefly as its chief sacristan in 1788, and in November 1810 the 7,000 royalist troops of General Calleja camped here on their way to fight Allende. Later visitors included Benito Juárez, retreating north in 1863, and Emperor Maximilian, who spent a night in the Casa de los Perros in August 1864.

That mansion is the building to see. It went up between 1780 and 1789 for Francisco Antonio Fernández de Herrera, hence its other name, Palacio de Herrera. It has two carved stone façades, lobed arches, corner niches, the double-headed eagle of the House of Austria and the two stone dogs guarding the door that give it its name; inside, some baroque-style wallpaper survives. A few blocks away is the church of the Divina Pastora, known as La Pastorcita, begun by local Indigenous residents in the 18th century and finished around 1824.

Industrial parks now drive the local economy, but the centre still feels like a small town. Stalls around the Jardín Principal sell gorditas and vaquitas, turnovers stuffed with pork rinds, and the Muñozledo cheese shop near the parish church sells provolone, manchego and snacking cheeses. The Andador Galeana, once the Garden of Lovers, is a pedestrian lane of cafés and shops selling hats and charro-style crafts.