We can hardly believe that we’ve been in Mexico City for two weeks. We are looking forward to returning home and to getting back to our regular routine but we’ve had a great time!
For our last day here, we took the metro to the Ciudadela (citadel) neighborhood in the southwest corner of the historic center of Mexico City. In the park across the street from the market, people were taking salsa dance classes (not shown but fun to watch).
The Ciudadela Market is a traditional Mexican market that specializes in Mexican handcrafts and folk art. It was established just before the 1968 Summer Olympics to promote Mexico’s cultural heritage. There are about 350 vendors, mostly small business owners. The market has an overwhelming selection of handcrafts including clothing, furniture, jewelry, ceramics, rugs, musical instruments and sombreros.
The market is large with several portals or entry points…this is just one. It’s very organized, clean, and vendors are friendly.
- La Ciudadela Market-Mexico City
Nearby, we stopped by a photography gallery in a modernized and reconfigured old building previously called ‘The Citadel’. According to their website, “The Centro de la Imagen (the Center for the Image) is a Mexico City space dedicated just to research, training, analysis, and propagation of photography and photographic images.”
The museum is interesting, thought-provoking and free!
We know that not everyone would be happy here. Here are some things that visitors should know about before they come here:
Due to the size of the city, it takes time to get from one place to another. The metro is well-organized and efficient, but, as is true for any large city, it can be confusing and crowded. Ubers can get stuck in traffic so it can be frustrating getting around town. In general, the metro is the preferred alternative, when it can get you where you want to go.
We can’t drink the water from the taps but our apartment has a filtered water tap which is great so we don’t have to buy bottled water every day.
It’s a noisy city but we requested a quiet room on the interior of the building and it has worked great for us.
The air quality in January varies day by day and hour by hour. Some days our throat feels scratchy by the end of the afternoon.
We are careful with food, eating at popular food stalls and reading restaurant reviews for any potential issues. We talked with our physician before we left home and got a prescription of antibiotics in case we needed them, but we didn’t.
We have been very fortunate to have had good weather, no tummy upsets from spicy foods and a cozy place to stay in Mexico City. Each day has been a new adventure and we have walked many steps to make the most of our time in the city. Still, there are many things we missed. One advantage of travel to Mexico is the relatively short (4-hour flight) and the one-hour time difference. SO, we plan to return! We like cities and this one has many things to see and do!
We keep this blog as a way to remember where we’ve been and are happy to share it. If you’ve been following along, we appreciate that you are interested! Thank you!
Adios until next time!
Sharon and Larry