We took the metro up to Zócalo, one of the largest squares in the world. We hadn't yet seen the Catedral Metropolitana and we were stunned by the view (at left) as we exited the metro from underground. It was an incredible site as the metro station is right in front of the cathedral. The cathedral took 240 years to build, from 1573 to 1813, and was built over a church built by the Spanish conquistadors which was built over the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The layers of history are amazing. |
We were fortunate to be approached by Hugo Garcia, a guide for hire who charged us about $13 for a tour of the cathedral and the National Palace. Hugo is 81 years old and was incredibly knowledgeable. The boys were doing their best to translate the signs in the cathedral for us, but we annoy them when we read every sign we come across in the US, so their patience was wearing thin. It was nice to have someone explain it to us in English and when he discovered the boys spoke Spanish, he would speak to them in Spanish and us in English. He has two boys, one lives in New Jersey and one lives in Calgary, so his English was great.
The cathedral was ornate and massive. There are amazing 17th century paintings, a huge organ, and gold everywhere. It was incredible.
The Zócalo is bordered on the east by the National Palace. It's a beautiful building, but the murals by Diego Rivera are the real draw. He painted them between 1929 and 1935 and they depict México's history. Their detail is astounding. Again, we were fortunate to have Hugo along because there were many details we would have missed on our own.
We visited a couple smaller museums that were on the Zócalo and also saw the ruins of the Templo Mayor, part of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. They didn't start excavating it until 1978 though they knew it was there and had found parts of it. The electric company was digging and found a huge disk, so that sparked enough interest for them to keep going.
We walked our boys tails off today, but they are such good troopers. Hugo complimented us on their behavior and interest in all he was telling us. He gave us his number and said he'd give us a tour anywhere we want to go. We're definitely going to take him up on it!
The Zócalo is bordered on the east by the National Palace. It's a beautiful building, but the murals by Diego Rivera are the real draw. He painted them between 1929 and 1935 and they depict México's history. Their detail is astounding. Again, we were fortunate to have Hugo along because there were many details we would have missed on our own.
We visited a couple smaller museums that were on the Zócalo and also saw the ruins of the Templo Mayor, part of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. They didn't start excavating it until 1978 though they knew it was there and had found parts of it. The electric company was digging and found a huge disk, so that sparked enough interest for them to keep going.
We walked our boys tails off today, but they are such good troopers. Hugo complimented us on their behavior and interest in all he was telling us. He gave us his number and said he'd give us a tour anywhere we want to go. We're definitely going to take him up on it!