We arrived in CDMX, after a 5 hour, pleasant and uneventful, bus ride with friends from Xalapa, Veracruz. Our Airbnb was located in Condesa, one of the trendiest neighborhoods with lots of restaurants, bars and charming shops.
On our first morning, we visited the historic center, or El Centro Historico, which is a UNESCO Heritage site. This amazing part of the city is packed with museums, Spanish colonial buildings, and iconic sights like the Metropolitan Cathedral and the Aztec Templo Mayor.
El Zocalo, also known as Plaza de la Constitution, is the main square in Mexico city. It was the main ceremonial center in the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. To put it simply, this Main Square is “HUGE”!
Metropolitan Cathedral, this enormous Basilica started its construction in 1567, it wasn’t completed until more than two hundred years later, in 1788. The cathedral was built by stones, taken from the destroyed Aztec temple just next door, and can now be visited as a museum.
Templo Mayor (the main temple) was the centerpiece of Tenochtitlan, the ancient Aztec capital, constructed in 1325. The temple was destroyed and replaced by the Metropolitan Cathedral during the Spanish conquest in 1521. The ruins of ancient city lie under the heart of the Historic center.
After wandering around the streets in the Historical center, we visited the Museo Archivo de la Fotografia to check out the current photography exhibitions “Ojos de mujer volando” & Luz Oscura”
One of our friends who is originally from Mexico City, urged us to visit the Banco de Mexico Museum. The stunning Art Deco building, houses the Central Bank of Mexico and its museum. “The history of money” was super interesting, if you happen to have any interest in the way money works and changed over time. It was also quite interactive, and we had a blast designing our own currency with our very own pix on the notes. Fun!
We finished our first day walking in the Alameda central park, chilling a bit in the cooler afternoon air, in one of the oldest parks in the Americas.
On our second day, we walked around the Roma neighborhood and discovered a few local markets, restaurants, shops etc. Art deco buildings, beautiful and colorful houses, along the many tree lined and wide avenues, filled with people walking their pets, bicycling or just strolling about, gave this and other nearby parts of the city a distinct “European vibe’!
We were in the area, so we walked by the very prominent statue of the Angel of Independence, which was built in 1910 commemorating the centennial of the beginning of Mexico’s War of Independence.
We grabbed an Uber, (initially a challenge, to actually find the meet up point, on a busy and well travelled main avenue) and travelled to the charming Coyoacan neighborhood where the Museum of Frida Kahlo is located. Unfortunately, we could not visit the museum as the tickets were sold out during our stay in Mexico City. Now we have another good reason to revisit this amazing city! Instead we visited the Museum of Leon Trotsky where Trotsky and his wife lived during his exile in Mexico. This was a very informative picture laden museum, that was super interesting. After exploring more of this neighborhood locale, we visited the colorful Coyoacan market, where we had their famous and delicious tostadas. (The best and also economic place to eat, so far!) What a day, and what an experience!
Day 3_Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe & Polanco Neigborhood
On our third day, we visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe located at the foot of the Hill of Tepeyac. Lady Guadalupe is needless to say an Icon all over the world, and especially here in Mexico!
The construction of the Old Basilica of Guadalupe was started in 1695, and was completed in 1709. (When you enter the Basilica, you can feel that the floor is not level). According to our uber driver, the church is sinking, under its own weight, and also possibly due to the porous nature of the ground it is built upon.
Another church on the Basilica grounds is the Capilla de Indios or the Indian Chapel – According to tradition, the chapel housed the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe from 1695 to 1709.
Every year millions of pilgrims visit the sanctuary, especially around December 12, the day on which Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated.
After leaving this iconic sanctuary, we travelled to the Polanco neighborhood, and visited the famous Museo Saumaya. The museum has over 60,000+ pieces of art, including a huge collection of Rodin sculptures, and art works of Picasso, Salvador Dali, Miro, Vincent Van Gogh, Matisse, Monet, Camille Claudel etc. In addition to these, there are also many works of Mexican artists such as Diego Rivera. The museum was named after Soumaya Domit, the wife of the founder of the museum Carlos Slim, a famous Mexican business magnate and philanthropist.
Just next door is the Museo Jumex, a contemporary art museum, founded by one of the largest juice companies in Mexico, Grupo Jumex. Museo Jumex, a contemporary art museum, contains works from Andy Warhol, Martin Kippenberger, Cy Twombly, and Damien Hirst, and is one of the largest private contemporary art collections in Latin America. We were able to visit the Damien Hirst: To Live Forever (For A While) exhibition.
Day 4_Chapultepec Park and Museum Hopping
On our fourth and final day, we started at the Chapultepec Castle, located in the Chapultepec Park, that spans nearly 1700 acres. This beautiful oasis in the city is an escape into nature, from the daily hustle and bustle of big city life.
The castle and its museum was a place that we could have easily spent an entire day! With Mexican, Spanish, and French History, all interwoven with amazing art work, and breathtaking views of the surrounding city, this is ‘MUST SEE” on anyone’s visit to Mexico City. “Chapultepec Castle, was originally constructed in 1725 on the orders of the Viceroy Bernardo de Gálvez, and was meant to be a large manor house for the Viceroy, who was the commander-in-chief of the Spanish colony, New Spain at that time. During the Mexican War of Independence, the castle was abandoned, and remained in a state of dereliction for several decades.
With the rise of the Second Mexican Empire in 1864 the castle became the official residence of Emperor Maximilian I and his wife Empress Carlota. Maximilian. (Scenes of my child hood TV series of Zorro were going though my mind as we toured the Castle). While holding the title of Emperor of Mexico, Maximillian, was in fact an Austrian prince of the Habsburg dynasty, and was not ethnically Mexican at all. He had been offered the crown by Mexican monarchists, who were mere puppets of the French, and who sought to add Mexico to their empire.”
The castle is now a museum, (also called the National History museum) which was given to Mexican public by Lazaro Cardenas (president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940) in 1939.
After wandering in this beautiful lively park, we began what we referred to as our museum hopping! First we visited Museo Nacional de Antropologia, but only briefly and saved this visit for another time, when we return to CDMX. However, we did squeeze in a brief but very interesting visit to an exhibition called “Imaginar El Fin De Los Tiempos” inside the museum. (Imagine the End of Time).
Our second stop was the Museo Rufino Tamayo, contemporary art museum located in Chapultepec Park, and named after Rufino Tamayo, a Mexican painter from Oaxaca, Mexico.
Our third stop was the Museum of Modern Art, which is also located in Chapultepec Park. MAM is one of the biggest modern art museums in Latin America. The collections include artists many from Mexico. You can see some famous art works of Frida Kahlo, Rufino Tamayo, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, etc.
Enroute to our last ‘scheduled museum’ of the day, we got stuck in Sunday Mexico City Traffic, and so decided to get out a walk the remaining 15 minutes to the Palacio de Bellas Artes! How lucky we were, that we decided to walk, as we discovered another colorful museum, the Museo de Arte Popular, quite by accident! This amazing museum promotes and preserves Mexican folklore, handcrafts and folk art. We were treated to several folkloric dances by different groups regaled in fantastic colorful and traditional costumes. It is located in an old fire house, in the historic center of Mexico City.
And finally, our fifth and the last stop for the day, was famous El Palacio de Bellas Artes – The Palace of Fine Arts – one of the landmarks of the city. Bellas Artes has been called the art cathedral of Mexico. It is the cultural center of performing art events, literature events, and exhibitions. The museum has an extensive collection of 19th and 20th century Mexican art, and also houses several amazing murals of Diego Riviera. It was such a delightful experience to end our museum hopping with this jewel of Mexican Culture and art.
Before heading back to our Airbnb, we stopped for a bite in a restaurant located just opposite the Museum of the Bank of Mexico, in a beautiful historical building called The House of Tiles. The Casa de los Azulejos or Palacio de los Condes del Valle de Orizaba is an 18th-century Baroque palace built by the Count of the Valle de Orizaba family. It is now a restaurant that hosts local and international visitors, and one feels like traveling back in time a bit, when entering this amazing center of history.