Having already visited San Diego, Las Vegas and San Francisco, Mexico City was the 4th stop on our 4 week trip to California and Mexico.
Our flight arrived into Mexico City about 8pm, and we took a taxi straight to our hotel, Downtown Mexico, a very cool design hotel situated in the heart of the 'Centro Historico' district. The hotel is housed within the grand, colonial 17th century 'Palacio de los Condes de Miravelle', and there are several excellent restaurants and a number of interesting and unique shops on site as well. After checking in, we headed to Padrinos, a restaurant within the complex, where we shared some very tasty tacos and tostadas. We then explored the rest of the building, and came across Botica, a mezcal and tequila bar, and thought we should give it a try. We started off with a Mexican beer, then our friendly and helpful waitress made suggestions and recommendations, and served us several shots of tequila and mezcal, along with a huge lump of local cheese!
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| Padrinos Restaurant | |
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| Botica - mezcal and tequila bar |
Day 1
On our first day, we headed out on foot to explore the 'Centro Historico' area. The hotel was just a couple of blocks from the Plaza de la Constitution, or Zocalo as it is more commonly known, and this was our first stop. One of the worlds largest city squares, it is home to a number of prominent buildings and sites, including the 'Palacio Nacional', 'Cathedral Metropolitana', and the 'Templo Mayor'. There were also preparations underway for some sort of festival or event, and there was a book market in progress. After a bit of a wander round, we made our way to the Templo Mayor, in the north east corner of the square. This recently discovered and excavated ruin was once an Aztec temple, and it is thought that the Aztecs believed that this spot was the centre of the universe. After looking around the ruin, we headed inside, to the Museo del Templo Mayor, which houses artefacts from the site, and gives a good overview of the Aztec civilisation.
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| Templo Mayor |
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| Museo del Templo Mayor |
After a quick beer and lunch stop at a taqueria, we headed west along '16 de Septiembre', to the 'Museo de Arte Popular'. Housed in a 1920's art deco building, this interesting museum showcases contemporary crafts, folk art and traditions from all over Mexico, and there's a very good quality gift shop on the ground floor.
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| Museo de Arte Popular |
We then had a stroll through 'Alameda Central' park, and the admired the exterior of the 'Palacio de Belles Artes' concert hall and art centre, before having a look at the 'Palacio Postal' (postal museum) and the 'Casa de Azulejos' (House of Tiles).
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| Palacio de Belles Artes | Casa de Azulejos |
After a couple of pre-dinner drinks in the hotels rooftop bar, we headed up to the Plaza Garibaldi, where the city's mariachi bands gather to 'serenade' those who are willing to pay for a tune. The plaza is also home to the 'Museo del Tequila y el Mezcal', where we had some drinks and snacks in the terrace bar overlooking the plaza.
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| Plaza Garibaldi and Museo del Mescal y el Tequila |
Day 2
For our second day, we had booked on the 2 ½ hour downtown segway tour, with Greenway We had never ridden a segway before, and it seemed like a fun way of seeing the city. We started off outside the Hotel Krystal Grand Reforma, where we were given instructions on how to ride the segway, and a little time to practice. Once we were comfortable, we headed up to the 'Plaza de la Republica', and the 'Monumento a la Revolucion'. We passed by the 'El Caballito' sculpture, and then headed back to the Centro Historico area, for the main part of the tour. This actually covered a number of the sights we had seen the previous day, but our guide was knowledgable and shared lots of information on places of interest, and gave tips and suggestions for our time in Mexico City.
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| Monumento a la Revolucion | El Caballito |
We were the only two on the tour, and we finished up earlier than expected, so we were given the option of riding the segways back to their office. This gave us a chance to see another part of town, including the sights along the 'Paseo de la Reforma' and we ultimately had two tours for the price of one.
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| Paseo de la Reforma | El Angel - Monumento a la Independencia |
After dropping off the segways, we had a bite to eat, and then headed south to explore the 'Roma', 'Condesa' and 'Zona Rosa' districts.
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| Streets around Condesa and Roma |
We stumbled across the 'Mercado Roma', which was an awesome gourmet food market, with cafes, stalls, a bar, and a rather interesting gents toilet!
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| Mercado Roma |
We stayed in this part of town for the evening and for dinner, before heading back to the hotel for an early night.
Day 3
For our final day, we had booked a couple of tours through the 'Ceetiz' booking website, and both tours were operated locally by 'Amigo Tours'. Our first trip was a hot air balloon ride over the Pyramids of Teotihuacan, combined with a guided ground tour of this important archeological site. Then in the evening, we were being taken to see 'Lucha Libre' - masked Mexican wrestling!
We were picked up from our hotel and driven out to the launch site, about an hour out of the city. We arrived as the balloon was being inflated, and after a quick coffee and a safety briefing, we were soon being ushered into the basket. Once airborne our path was dictated by the wind, and whilst we didn't pass directly over the pyramids, we still had good views of the site. The flight lasted a little under an hour. It was an awesome experience; relaxing and tranquil whilst at the same time being quite exhilarating. It came to a rather unexpected end when we 'crash landed' in the grounds of a high school, and were suddenly surrounded by inquisitive and amused teenage school kids!
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| Balloon flight over Teotihuacan pyramids |
Once we had been 'rescued' by the support vehicle, we were taken back to the launch site for a celebratory glass of fizz. We were then driven back to Teotihuacan, where we were given a guided tour of the site. Our guide was knowledgeable and explained in depth about the history, construction and significance of the site. We saw the main areas of interest, including the Pyramid of the Moon, and the worlds 3rd largest pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun, which we were able to climb.
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| Teotihuacan - City of the Gods |
Unfortunately, there was still a large part of the site that we didn't get to see - it would have been nice to have had another hour or so to explore at our leisure, but instead we were taken to a nearby souvenir shop for the obligatory sales pitch, and adjoining restaurant for lunch. Following lunch, we we transported back to our hotel. All up, the tour was great, and I got to tick another thing off my bucket list!
A few hours later, we were met at the hotel by our guide for the evening, who walked us a few hundred metres down the road to Amigo Hostel, the starting point of the nights entertainment. Here we received an introduction to Lucha Libre, where our host explained a bit about the 'rules', and gave instructions on what we needed to shout. We were also served several shots of tequila, which we were told was to get us in the mood!
After a fairly short drive, we arrived at Arena Mexico, one of the main wrestling arenas in the city. We were given the chance to buy our own souvenir masks (we declined), and then we were shown to our seats. It was a Tuesday night, and the arena didn't seem very full, but there was still a good atmosphere, and the 'show' was certainly entertaining. We did get a bit confused over who the good guys and bad guys were, and I'm sure half the time we were shouting the wrong thing, but it didn't seem to matter. We had lots of fun, and it was great to experience one of Mexico's favourite pastimes.
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| Lucha Libre |
The following morning we took a flight down to Merida, on the Yucatan Peninsular, for the next leg of our trip.