MEXICO CITY

I visited Mexico City in 1985 on a group trip focusing on Mexico and Guatemala. We only stopped for one day to visit the city, but we saw the essential things, namely the Zocalo or Constitution Square, one of the largest in the world which contains the Cathedral built by the Spanish conqueror Hernand Cortez around 1520 as the Palacio Nacional, seat of the government. Behind the cathedral you can see the ruins of the Tempio Mayor which was destroyed by the conquistador himself and on which a high Aztec pyramid stood. There are various museums including those of Fine Arts, History, etc... but the most extraordinary is the National Anthropology Museum which is huge and inside the large Chapultepec park. It contains jewels, statues and various objects from the Maya, Aztec, Toltec, Mixtec and Zapotec civilisations, in short all the pre-Columbian civilisations, and you can admire the famous sun stone, 3.60 meters in diameter and weighing 25 tonnes, the vase where the Aztecs placed the heart of the sacrificed, Montezuma's headdress, the mask of the bat god, etc.. Other attractions are the Chapultepec castle, residence of the president until the 1930s, the basilica of Santa Maria de Guadalupe, the Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera museum who were a famous artistic couple and is located in the house where they lived and where she died in 1954, the Mayor temple museum, the Soumaya museum inside a futurist building, the Metropolitan cathedral, Piazza Garibaldi famous for the clubs where mariachis play, musical groups dressed in colorful costumes and enormous sombreros, tequila is drunk with the worm and salt sprinkled on the edge of the glass, the ecological park of churro, a meeting place for artists, intellectuals, artists and hippies, the beautiful Alameda Central park from the time of the Aztecs, the Paseo Elegant de la Reforma with a tall column in the center with an angel on top representing the independence obtained in the compared to Spain. There are two famous markets, de la Merced for culinary specialties and La Lagunilla which on Sundays becomes a flea and antiques market. To see the panorama of the city it is best to go up to the terrace of the Latinoamericano tower which is over 200 meters high and has 44 floors. Two beautiful excursions can be made, the first to Cuernavaca where many citizens escape from the heat and smog of the capital to take refuge in the hills and in the cool which has a beautiful palace where Massimiliano (resident of the famous Miramare castle in Trieste) the brother of Francis of Joseph, emperor of Austria who became emperor of Mexico and was shot by rebels. The palace is enriched by the murals of Diego Rivera, another place to see is Taxco famous for silver, when I visited there was a lively festival with the maypole, Cholula with its pyramid, Puebla with its colors, the site archaeological of Cuicuilco, the streetfood of Chipalcingo, the caves of Cacahuamilca, the Toluca Volcano National Park. ​The other excursion that you must do is to Teotihuacan, the city of dei dei with the enormous stone pyramids of the Sun and the Moon embellished with statues and murals in a vast area inhabited by a mysterious civilization that had its peak around 100 AD. and was abandoned before the arrival of the Aztecs. In short, you are spoiled for choice. Mexican culinary specialties are: tortillas (corn flour wraps), tacos (corn tortillas with salad, bean or meat chilli, crescent-shaped avocado) and nachos (small fried triangles with tortilla dough), the enchilada (tortilla rolled up on itself and seasoned with chili sauce), quesadillas (tortillas filled with cheese), tales (corn dough cooked inside banana leaves to be stuffed with meat or vegetables, fajitas (tortilla filled with chicken meat and beef, peppers and onions), burritos (tortillas rolled and filled with meat cooked with onion, spices and hot sauces served with rice and beans, napales (grilled cactus leaves), ceviche (seafood salad with raw fish marinated in lime with tomatoes and onions), tortas(soft sandwiches with meat, tomatoes, avocado and cheese) etc... In Mexico they drink mescal (agave distillate) and pulque (alcoholic drink produced by the fermentation of agave sap) which has the color of milk, viscous and a rather acidic flavour, and tequila (blue agave distillate)
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