Arrived in Mexico city at 7.30am only a little over time after 17 hours on the road. We got some sleep but were woken a few times at stops during the night. The last stop before Mexico City I got out to stretch the legs and realised we were back up in the mountains. Quite a lot colder than the Caribbean coast.

First view of Mexico City was as we came over a mountain ridge around 6am and the city was a carpet of lights on the valley floor going as far as the eye could see with the occasional dark islands of hills. As the sun rose and we continued through the endless suburbs with the morning rush hour it looked somewhat less pretty.

Arrived at the massive long-distance bus depot at 7.30am and walked a short distance to the Subway/Metro station. Purchased tickets to the station we needed to get off at for our accomodation (7 stops on one line, then change to another line for another couple of stations..)
and went down to the platforms.

Now I've seen footage of people in Japan being pushed onto crowded rush hour trains with poles. This was a bit like that but without the poles or attendants or any kind of cultural politeness. There were mobs of people waiting in groups along the platform and every few minutes a train would pull up already packed to overflowing and a few people would force their way onto the train. We waited in one of the groups thinking perhaps a less crowded train would come by but after being pushed and shoved and jostled for a while we walked back to the street and took a taxi.

We booked into the Hostel Moneda near the city centre. Quite a nice bar/terrace on the roof with a good view of the city skyline. We were lucky that we were able to book in as soon as we arrived at 8.15am and even had time to have breakfast (included with the room) on the terrace. At 10am we met a guide called Alejandro in the lobby and he took a group of us for a walking tour around the city.



First stop was next to the Massive Cathedral where we saw the ruins of what was the main temple/pyramid in the ancient city of the Aztecs. These had only been discovered in the '70s when some electrical cables were being buiried for one of the buildings built on top of it! Seems incredible that the Spanish simply destroyed all these Aztec buildings and the new city was built over them.

Next was the Plaza de la Constitucion which we were told is the third largest public square in the world after Tianamen in Beijing and Red in Moscow.

Next was a visit to the national Museum which was the old palace and quite a grand building. We walked around the courtyards and our guide explained the meanings of some amazing murals painted along the second story.




We then went inside the Cathedral which is one of the biggest I have seen. It was build over a period of 300 years so is an odd mix of styles but quite massive inside. Large enough that it has a front and back altar. Two pipe organs and a dozen worship altars of the sides to different saints.

The tour then took us through the restaurant district and we visited a bakery which had the most over-the-top cakes for sale as well as lots of yummy pastries and things which we purchased some of.

We ended nearby outside the Opera House which was made from Italian Marble and looked amazing. Across the road from it was the Post Office which was built to be the most beautiful post office in the world. The person running Mexico when these were built is the reason for the Mexican Revolution as the masses weren't too happy he was spending so much public money while they were living in poverty.



Post Office exterior and interior.