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Mexico City · Mysteries & legends

Legends of Colonial Mexico: Tiles, Witches and Hidden Bones

Colonial Mexico City told its own story through legends: pacts with the devil, divine punishments and miracles that 19th-century chroniclers wrote down. This route follows them street by street and, at every stop, separates what tradition says from what the documents show. It ends in front of a very real mystery: the hiding place of Cortés's remains.

  • 5 stops
  • 2.1 km
  • 1 h 45 min
  • Free
Start with GPS Read about this stop 1
Corner of the House of Tiles, its façade covered in blue and white tiles

The route

Stop by stop

  1. 1 House of Tiles (Casa de los Azulejos)A palace clad in ceramic, a son who wanted to prove his father wrong and a real murder on the staircase.
  2. 2 Palace of the InquisitionThe seat of the Holy Office, with its diagonal doorway, and the prisoner who, legend says, escaped on a ship she drew.
  3. 3 Metropolitan CathedralA church sinking into a lake and a dark Christ that, tradition says, absorbed a poison.
  4. 4 Calle de Don Juan Manuel"What time is it?" "Eleven." "Lucky you, to know the hour of your death": colonial Mexico's darkest legend.
  5. 5 Hospital and Church of Jesús NazarenoThe hospital Cortés founded holds his bones, hidden in 1823 and found again in 1946.

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Start with GPS

Guide mode

Walk it with GPS.

Open guide mode on your phone: you’ll see your position and the distance to each stop, and we’ll let you know when you arrive. Then read or listen.

Start with GPS

  1. Turn on your location

  2. Walk to the spot

  3. Check the photo and listen

What you’ll discover

Legends of Colonial Mexico: Tiles, Witches and Hidden Bones

Legends with an address

The House of Tiles, the Inquisition's prison and Don Juan Manuel's street: every legend has its façade.

Tradition versus record

At each stop we tell you what is known for certain and what belongs to popular memory.

A secret from 1823

The conquistador's bones, hidden after independence and found again in 1946 thanks to a forgotten affidavit.

Keep exploring

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