Mexico City

As I travelled through northern Mexico I was told more than once, Mexico City is dangerous. Be careful. Planning to only stay a couple of nights to visit some must-see museums, I was pretty nervous getting off the bus in the evening and jumping in a taxi to the historic centre. But my trepidation was totally unwarranted and Mexico City became one of my all time favourite places. Of course you have to have common sense, and there are certain areas that must be avoided, but there was so much to see and do that I feel like I barely scratched the surface.

I started off exploring the historic centre around my hostel. The historic centre is centered around Zócalo, a 16th Century main plaza, and the Metropolitan Cathedral. This was built on top of the Aztec temple at the centre of the original Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, destroyed by the Spanish in 1521. The ruins of this temple have been excavated and are on display in the heart of the city. Interestingly, Mexico City is sinking because of the weight of the modern structures, but the excavated temples aren't. This has left a bit of an illusion where it appears that the temples are rising out of the ground. These days the Zócalo is full of life with Mexicans living both modern and traditional lives, with the two often intersecting as witchdoctors adorned in feathers perform cleansing rituals in front of the Cathedral. This seems to be a genuine service being provided for the locals and not a tourist spectacle.

The streets surrounding the main plaza are a series of beautiful colonial architecture that has been regenerated by the Mexican government to improve safety and appeal of the city. I would walk these streets for hours and still want to see more, every street had something interesting to see whether it was some cool architecture, an old church, beautiful plazas, some street art, street musicians & dancing, a historic business or a modern cafe. It has to be one of the most beautiful cities I've been in. I also wandered further afield to the more historically affluent areas such as Roma and Condesa that had beautiful old housing, tree lined streets, lively parks, and great cafes, restaurants and bars. One snack that I loved to eat in the heat of Mexico is paletas, ice lollies made mostly from fresh fruit, and sometimes from cream, chocolate, nuts and assorted other ingredients.

I was in Mexico City over Easter so to celebrate I did as the Mexicans do. No, not go to church, but day drinking on a canal boat! But this isn't any canal, it's the UNESCO heritage site of Xochimilco, a 1000 year old system of canals created by a series of manmade islands. As the area has been protected it is now a tranquil green space amongst the chaos of modern Mexico City. Well, tranquil except for on Sundays when people go out on colourful barges drinking and blaring music, with the occasional mariachi band floating by. Yes, more tequila was consumed.

An absolute must-do when in Mexico City is to go and watch a Lucha Libre match. Lucha Libre is a style of wrestling that originated in Mexico City in the early 20th Century. I would describe Lucha Libre as high camp with their dramatic acting and high flying manoeuvres that is similar to, and probably an inspiration for the WWE (or WWF if you're old like me). And of course Lucha Libre is characterised by the colourful masks that the luchadors wear to protect their identity. There were always the "good guys" that the crowd cheered for, and the "baddies" that the crowd booed, the whole fun of watching is joining in with the crowd as the drama unfolds!

On another lazy Sunday I visited the huge La Lagunilla Market where I was severely tempted with an amazing range of clothes, art, and vintage homewares. But with little room in my backpack I made do with some of the amazing street food and refreshing drinks! The rest of my time in Mexico City was spent visiting world class museums such as the fantastic National Museum of Anthropology, The National Museum of Art, and the Museum of Popular Arte. And even though I missed out on the Frida Kahlo Museum because I didn't book tickets far enough in advance, I did manage to see one of her most famous paintings, The Two Fridas in the Museum of Modern Art. I wasn't too disappointed to miss the museum because I will 100% be going back!Läs mer