Around Mexico City: Teotihuacan

Around Mexico City: Teotihuacan

Well our last ruins visit in Mexico prior to fly back to England! Teotihuacan and its pyramids! Ones of the largest in the pre-Columbian Americas...as a city also when Teotihucan was at its zenith during the first half of the 1st Millenium CE. Around 100,000 people was living here, probably under various ethnic groups. The site was made UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

Teotihucan was so the last archeological site we visited and we have not been fully enthousiastic...the pyramids were absolutely massive but the surroundings were too neat, all the paths were on asphalt like "the Avenue of the Dead"...we did not find real charm as other sites in Mexico or some others countries.

- The two main pyramids with on the right, the Pyramid of the Sun and on the left, the Pyramid of the Moon,
- The Pyramid of the Moon, the smallest. We did not like the asphalt all around the monuments. Don't think that during the Aztec time, asphalt was covering their roads!!!
- The Pyramid of the Sun, the second largest pyramid after the Pyramid of Cholula (see older post for Cholula),
- Lee went at the top of the Pyramid of the Sun. Nicely, I stayed at the bottom to take the picture. To tell the truth, this pyramid was too high to climb and I don't like height!!!

Around Mexico City: Pachuca

Around Mexico City: Pachuca

Pachuca, or formerly Pachuca de Soto, is the capital of Hidalgo State. It is situated 1.5hrs North East from Mexico City. The town is a starting point to visit the mines in the nearest mountains.

When we arrived, we went directly to the tourism information to get a map to go to visit a couple of museums and interest points. They gave us the worst map we had had so far!!! Only a couples of main streets with no direction or anything, very disgraceful! And the name of the streets were even not all indicated in the streets! We tried to find the Museum of photography (as Lee likes photography) and the "Casa de Artesania" (handicrafts shop) . Impossible! So we decided to take a city tour (and really we don't like that normally). We visited the town during an hour but there was really not too much interest and when we arrived to the main site, the "Monumento de Cristo Rey" (the Monument of King Christ) which offers nice views of the town, we only stopped for 5 min! Lee hated as he needs time to take pictures. As soon as we came back, we took the bus back to Mexico City!! We did not really find anything special here and probably the fact to not having a nice map makes us feeling that. But I need to correct that as Lee enjoyed the Cornish pasties!!!

- Views of Pachuca from the "Monumento de Christo Rey". As the bus did not leave us enough time to take pictures, I could not go closer to the edge of the hill to get closer pictures!
- I like this picture and specially the different colours of the houses,
- The Reloj Monumental (Monumental Clock) is the central clock tower built in 1904 in the city centre. The bell that chimes in this clock was made by the same company that made the original Liberty Bell and London's famous Big Ben,
- The Monument of Christo Rey is 20m bronze statue of Jesus set atop the summit of the mountain Cerro de Cubilete and is one of the most important religious monuments in all of Mexico. The monument was built in 1950 in place of the smaller original monument which was destroyed during the Mexican Revolution. The statue is said to marks the exact geographical center of Mexico,
- Here we are! The famous Cornish pasty from Pachuca and following Lee, there were fantastic !!! and better than any Gregg's pasties!! So why Cornish pasty in this part of Mexico? Well workers from Cornwall came to work here in Pachuca in the mines and brought with them the pasties which have been accomodated with Mexican taste. There also brought the football! There are still some vestiges of the Cornish architecture. Pachuca is now twinned with a town in Cornwall and both have kept good relationship.

Around Mexico City - Tepoztlan

Around Mexico City: Tepoztlan

South of Mexico City, the town of Tepoztlan is known since 2002 as "Pueblo Magico" and according to the myth, is the birthplace of Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god widely-worshipped in ancient Mexico. It is surrounded by the Tepozteco mountains where a temple ruins can be visited at the top. We went to visit the town to see this pyramid but the energy (and the hot weather) left us at the bottom of the mountains!!! So we stayed in town, walking around the market place, where we found original notebooks (that we bought for family gifts) and around the ex-convento of Dominico de la Natividad. Hippie ambiance here too!!!

- The Tepozteco mountains. Very impressive and we just stayed at the bottom!!!
- The ex-convento of Dominico de la Natividad dating from the mid-16th century is a UNESCO World Heritage. The convento was free to visit and was offering nice views over the mountains,
- Inside the Convento. Many of the walls, especially on the ground floor, have fragments of old paintings in earthen tones on the walls and decorating the arches,
- The door of the entrance of the park surrounding the convento. The fresco is made by symbols of Aztec belief.

Mexico City - photos 4

Mexico City: on the corner...

We really enjoyed Mexico City, the city was rich in various architectures, superb buildings and monuments. And also others things which made us enjoying more the city...

- Avenida 5 de Mayo: we liked this atmosphere here, very Paris-like with its building and architecture. Nice taxi in the front of the picture,
- Chinese district: this district was smaller that what we were expected and was composed mainly by restaurants. Lee was happy to be taken in picture in front of this bar!!
- This statue can be admired on the Paseo de la Reforma avenue. Everybody was intrigated by the design of the statue. We stopped for 5 min on the bench in front looking at the reaction of tourists in front of the statue. The blanket which is covering the animal was puzzling people! This blanket was an integral part of the statue and everybody was trying to remove it from the beast!!!
- This building was a couple of streets from the Zocalo and was a little "falling down"!!! And what a good contrast with some of the magnificient buildings around!! That gave a real charm to the city,
- We saw lots of these statues in the streets east and north of the Palacio Nacional. It shows a skeleton wearing bright colour dress. It is representative of Mexico and the "dia de los Muertos" and it is called "catrina", from a etching made by Posada in 1913 called "la calavera catrina". You can find lots of representions of this "catrina" in souvenir shops in various costumes or activities.

Mexico City - photos 3

Mexico City: various buildings

Bosque de Chapultepec (Chapultepec Park)
Chapultepec from Nahuatl language means "grasshopper hill". This is one of the biggest, most beautiful and most visited park in the world. There are lots to do around and museum to visit and there is also a zoo. There are artificial lakes too (see left top picture). On this picture, we can distinguish the high buildings from the Polanco district.

Parque Alameda Central
At the end of the 5th De Mayo Avenue, there is the parque Alameda Central. We walked a couple of times in this park during the day or the night and each time, there were some entertainment and lots of people. Close to the Avenida Juarez, the "Hemiciclo a Benito Juarez" is a marble monument (see picture) built in honor of President Benito Juarez, who is considered to have been the benefactor of America.

Centro bursatil (stock exchange centre) and Avenida "Paseo de la Reforma"
I like this picture of the stock exchange centre with the palm tree in the centre. All along the Avenue "Paseo de la Reforma", there are high tech buildings, posh hotels and ambassies. Half of the way (and it si a very long avenue!), the "Monumento a la Independencia" (Independence column) has became the symbol of Mexico City. Populary known as "El Angel", the monument is a 36m column crowned by the figure if winged victory.The inauguration was made in 1910 to commemorate the Centennial Anniversary of Mexico's Independence and pay homage to its leader whose figures can be seen at the base of the column.

Bellas Artes District
The Palacio de Bellas Artes (fine arts palace) is one the most distinctive buildings of Mexico City. Its construction began in 1904 under the Presidency of Porfirio Diaz and the building was intended to imitate European art, style and customs. It was designed by the Italian Architect Boari, who draw also the "Palacio de Correos" (Post Office building) whose picture can see bottom right. The end of the construction took longer than planned and the building was completed in 1934 with the gardens only completed in 1994! The walls of the Palace are covered with frescoes by Rivera, Orozco...The theatre is used for classical music, opera and dance.

Mexico City - photos 2

Mexico City: Around the Zocalo

The Zocalo is one the biggest square in the world and it is the symbolical centre of the city and the country. It is surrounded by several government buildings and the Cathedral Metropolitana. Unfortunately when we were visiting the city, there was an exposition about science and a huge white tent was covering the Plaza so I could not take any good pictures on the Zocalo!

Palacio Nacional:
The National Palace is the main office of the executive power of the nation. It is a three storey building and some areas can be visited free. Inside the patios, the work of Diego Rivera can be admired, relating the history of Mexico. There is also an important area dedicated to Benito Juarez and the botanical gardens.

Templo Mayor:
The area of the Temple Mayor partially correspondsto the place where the Aztec Empire carried out religious and ceremonials. On the picture the archeological site. Close the museum which is displaying pieces of Aztec Art.

Catedral Metropolitana y Sagrario:
It was the main religious center during the Spanish colonial period, itys architecture combines 5 different styles. It is the biggest church in Latin America, within it, outsatanding pieces of art and a crypt where all the city's bishops are buried. The first picture was taken from the Zocalo. Inside, it was absolutely amazing, clear and bright.