Roma Norte y La Condesa

On Thursday Brenda and I did a self-guided walking tour through the area we’re staying in, Roma Norte, and the neighborhood next to us, La Condesa.

Condesa is most definitely upscale and was, during the ‘40s and ‘50s, home to Mexico’s biggest movie stars. There are more trees here than anywhere else in Mexico City, dozens of fine dining establishments, including some that are vegan, and countless beautiful Art Deco buildings.

We started our tour at Plaza Rio de Janeiro, which contains a lovely fountain graced with a replica of Michelangelo’s David. There were several people sitting on park benches in the warm sunshine and taking in the tranquility of the place.

We then moved on to Casa Lamm, which truly was the highlight of the tour. Built in the early 20th century, the architecture es heavily influenced by European, especially French trends of the late 19th and early 20th century. It now houses a fine arts school, fine dining restaurant, and has three separate art galleries that we browsed through. One of the artists used song lyrics, repeated over and over as a backdrop to the abstract work painted over them. He was very clearly a Beatles fan as the majority of his pieces included Lennon and McCartney lyrics.

We strolled down Álvaro Obregón Avenue, popping into shops and spots that caught our eye and broke for a terrific lunch at La Pitahaya Vegana restaurant before continuing to amble down the Center of Amsterdam Avenue, which once served as the route of the city’s horse track.

During our wandering we noticed the Drunkendog craft beer pub that offered no less than thirty six beers on tap and probably double that many in bottles. We returned at the end of our tour to sooth our parched throats and try a few of their offerings.

To wrap up our day, we walked a few blocks to Por Siempre Vegana 2 where we had a meal to die for that was unfortunately sullied by the worst server in all of Mexico. The food, however was so good that we will be returning one day soon to try more of their offerings, but we’ll be sure to be seated in a different section.Read more