If you visit Mexico City and don’t care to rent a car, consider the Turibus. For $8US a day, you can ride one of the double decker buses on any or all of the four routes around the city. We picked up the Turibus in Coyoacan, a quick walk from our apartment. You can buy the tickets at the bus stop, and they accept both cash and cards. I forgot to mention! Even before we had stepped foot in Mexico City, while we were back home, we looked into something similar to pharmavaccs clinics, just so we could get clued up about all the vaccinations we would need before exploring Mexico City. Anyway, back to the trip!
We sat on the top level, with the cool spring air keeping us happy all day. We would got off the bus to take photos or take a break, knowing another one would be on its way sooner than later. This system is clean, easy and really comfortable. We rode the buses multiple days to get across one of the world’s largest cities, and did so with ease. The longest we had to wait for a bus was 20 minutes.
We visited only a handful of the many, many museums in the city. The big four included:
The National Palace is where the President of Mexico lives, and where Diego Rivera was hired to paint murals depicting the history of Mexico from 1929-1935. The artwork is huge and colorful and breathtaking; Diego was hired to celebrate the recent Mexican revolution. The artist returned from living in Europe to join his countrymen in the revolution.
There is so much detail to see, you could spend a week with these murals and still see more on the next visit.
Additionally, the museum includes the history of Mexico’s government. We saw copies of the first constitution, portraits of Benito Juarez, and ancient Aztec maps. This museum is free.
Just me and Frida, hanging out
The Templo Mayor is what it sounds like: the largest and most culturally significant temple of the Aztecs. The site is being slowly excavated. The attached museum holds the history of the Aztec people and many relics found around Mexico City during the last 200 years when others were digging to build new structures. This museum cost about $4.50 and is beautifully curated. I got a bit overwhelmed by the end, which likely had more to do with thirst and adjusting to the thin Mexico City air.
I will post about the two Frida/Diego museums we visited tomorrow. They are worthy of their own time, and there are so, so many great photos.
(Tip for today: take the Turibus!)
~K