Jenn's Passage

Mexico City seems to be the “it” place to travel recently. The incredible street art, old colonial architecture, happening night life, and delectable tacos all make the city a must see in Mexico. The city is massive, with more people than New York City, all set in a high basin surrounded by mountains. Our first night in town, we hit up a taco bar and ate our fill of tacos and mojitos. The next day we took a walking tour of our surrounding neighborhoods of Zona Rosa and Zona Contessa, both of which have tons of restaurants and cafes, bars, and clubs. We happened to stay one street over from the “gay district” where rainbow flags adorn each establishment and rainbow crosswalks are on each corner.

After our walking tour, we headed to the Centro Historico by metro for a measly five pesos. We strolled the many streets of the historic district and admired the beautiful architecture in the Plaza de la Constitucion. The plaza was originally the main ceremonial center in the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. Our first stop was the Catedral Metropolitana de la Ciudad de Mexico, or the Metropolitan Cathedral. It was built in 1573 and is the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico. The elaborate south façade of the tabernacle highlights the Baroque style of the cathedral. There was some sort of festival going on outside the cathedral with dancing and ornate costumes.

Afterwards, we visited the National Palace which is the seat of the federal executive of Mexico. Much of the building materials date back to the original structure from Moctezuma II. The highlight was definitely the Diego Rivera murals that line the second floor of the patio central. Each fresco depicts a story of Mexican history.

The Casa de los Azulejos is also known as the House of Tiles. It was built in the 18^th century by the Count del Valle de Orizaba family. It is covered with the Puebla state blue and white tiles, reminiscent of Porto.

The Palacio Postal was the first post office in Mexico City built in 1907 and designed by Italian architect Adamo Boari. The Palacio de Belles Artes, or Palace of Fine Arts, is located right across the street from the Palacio Postal.

The biggest disappointment of Mexico City was missing out on the Frida Kahlo Museum. Tickets were sold out the day before we were there so we were unable to see her magnificent work. We did visit the neighborhood of the museum and revisited photographs of her self-portraits.