Mexico City (aka CDMX - Ciudad de Mexico)

Mark has already written about our arrival in the city so I won't say anymore here, however, the drivers are crazy. As a pedestrian you need to have eyes in the back of your head as traffic comes at you from all directions, even if you have the right of way at a crossing. The best thing we saw was at the huge roundabout around the Angel of Independence. If traffic wants to turn left, instead of going all the way around the roundabout and taking the last exit as would be the norm, it pulls into the inside lane facing oncoming traffic! Only in Mexico.

Mexico's capital city is both the oldest and one of only two founded by indigenous natives. It was originally built on an island by the Aztecs in 1325 and was known as Tenochtitlan. It was almost completely destroyed by the Spanish in 1521 and rebuilt. Even though the Spanish preserved the basic layout of Tenochtitlan, they built Catholic churches over the old Aztec Temples and claimed the imperial palaces for themselves. The Metropolitan Cathedral is a perfect example.

The archaeological site next to the cathedral 

The city (renamed 'Mexico' because the Spanish found the word easier to pronounce) was built on what was Lake Texcoco and drainage started in the 17th century as it is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes and has no natural drainage outlet. None of the lake water remains, however, the city sits on the lake bed's heavily saturated clay which is collapsing and since the beginning of the 20th century, the city has sunk by as much as 9m (30ft) in places.

We walked most of the city and were a little footsore after our week here, but it meant we were able to explore the many open areas, monuments and churches.

There was an exhibition of Salvador Dali's work in one of the courtyards. Here are just a couple of photos of his work on display

The Latin-America Tower (Torre Latinoamericana) at a height of 188m (597ft) and 44 stories is widely recognised as an engineering landmark as it was the world's first tall building built on active seismic land and withstood the 1985 earthquake of 8.1 magnitude without damage. 

To the north of the city is the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The old Basilica is officially known as the Templo Expiatorio a Cristo Rey and was begun in 1695 and completed in 1709.

The old Basilica was sinking so a new one was built next to it between 1974 and 1976 and can hold up to 10,000 people  

That's it for the capital. Next we head to Cholula to see the Great Pyramid, Puebla City then back down to the coast for some time on the beach in Acapulco.