Walk around Mexico city

I love cities. There is something in the cities that attracts me, and walking around in big cities is one of my favorite things (although I've to recognize that in Singapore I don't do it that much as the temperature is so high!).

Every time I arrive at a new big city I need to make a walk around, in order for me to get a glimpse of the life in the city, the people, the architecture: the spirit of the life. I didn't have the chance to so such thing yet in Mexico city, mostly because I didn't have the opportunity to do it: first weekend was spend with Varun and Ming Hwee in Santa Fe mall and the nascar race, second weekend was spent in Xochimilco and the Teotihuacan pyramids. As Varun left Mexico this morning to go back to Singapore, and Ming Hwee has left the city to enjoy some time in Cancun (he is getting a diving certification), I decided to do my walk today!

The "only" problem is that I had no clue at all where I should go and how to move around in the city (no map!, and no 3g access to get access to Google maps in my phone). I decided to start in the Zócalo, or Plaza de la Constitución, located in the middle of the Centro Histórico of Mexico city. It's one of the biggest squares of the world (for the sake of comparison, this square is 57600 m2, and Lyon's biggest square, Place Bellecour, is a bit bigger, 62400m2). Nowadays a huge screen is installed for Mexicans to see the world cup, so I just visited the Metropolitan Cathedral and walked around, as there were interesting people to observe (some person relieving stress with some herbs, some people dancing in the streets in antique costumes, and a lot of flee markets). Once I view everything in the square, I found a tourism office that gave a small map of the area, so I headed south as there seemed to be some point of interest. Then I headed back north to view the Bellas artes building and walk around the small park.

I stopped to eat something in an Italian restaurant, where I had some Parma ham with cheese and a salad with peach, chicken and nuts, with some sangria and red wine. The food was good, but the portions where way too big for me. Left half of both portions!

After the big lunch I continued walking along the "Paseo de la reforma", as this road is full of very nice architectures and statues and other cultural stuff to see. It even goes through the Chapultepec forest (that I'll pay a visit in the following weekends).

I actually knew roughly the way, remembering where the cab drove me in the morning. After exiting the forest, I saw the "Auditorio Nacional", and from there I was not really sure of the way, but I somehow found my way back to the hotel.

The complete itinerary I actually did today:

View Mexico City walking tour in a larger map

What to say about this walk? Well, it was longer than I expected (Google maps says that my itinerary was 10km worth), and it definitely was a good outing. Contrary to what everyone said to me I didn't feel in danger at any point (although I recognize I would not try to do the walk by night, especially the forest part), and it gave me a good overview of the city (even if it's a very small portion of it). Mexico is like a swarm: a LOT of people around, the streets are crowded (careful with your belongings!) and it's very noisy. But I kind of enjoyed the walk: the architecture is interesting, the flee markets are full of interesting stuff (I'll need to come back there for some shopping), and it's full of different colors, smells, people.

Photos done during the walk: