Pedro and I had both heard great things about Mexico City. We both had visited many years before but only while passing through. A city of more then 21 million would usually be a deal breaker from the get-go, but we decided to brave the size and we are so glad we did. Try and remove the thoughts of sandy beaches and margaritas from your head and instead think of a major world-class city, but with all the charm of the Mexican people and their beautiful culture. At an elevation of almost 13,000 feet and temperatures that average between 55-64 year round, you are sure to have some pleasant weather to enjoy many outings.
As any major metropolis, the city is made up of many neighborhoods, and we chose to stay in Condesa. A city (by size) in its on right, Condesa is known as the art district and is made up beautiful parks, museums, restaurants, and bars. It is a very walkable area with more great restaurants than you could visit in a month.
One of our morning joys was watching the dog walkers, and the hundreds of dogs in their care, hanging out in the parks each day. Sounds silly, but nothing brings a smile to our faces then to see some happy dogs running and playing or just lounging in the sun, almost like they were on vacation from their rigorous daily routines of protecting their individual homes. 😁
We were lucky enough to have our friends Ted & Olga be visiting Mexico City during part of our stay. Olga’s brother Jack works in the city so we definitely felt like we had some local knowledge and experiences, which is always a special treat when visiting a new city.
One thing we did without Jack’s recommendation (and possibly with a little eye-roll) was to take in a Lucha Libre (professional wresting match). It was GREAT fun (ok, a little cheesy, but fun!) and the passionate chants from the crowd of “Culerooooo” and “Beso Beso” will not soon leave our memories!
We enjoyed a lovely breakfast at a B&B named Casa Comtesse owned by a friend of Jack’s, Thomas Flechel. Thomas’ B&B, and adjoining art gallery Galeria Thomas Flechel, would be a lovely place to stay, great chef, very friendly and helpful staff, and convenient location. We thoroughly enjoyed meeting this fellow world traveler and his partner Alberto (Chino). Thanks guys!
Over the weekend, Jack took us to the beautiful town of Cuernavaca, about an hour and a half outside the city. More to come on that in our next post…
In summary, we would HIGHLY recommend a visit to Mexico City and are certain we barely even scratched the surface on this amazing city.
Original dates: January 18 – 31, 2018