Unique things about Mexico City?

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Mark The Latin Travel Dude

Mexico City is enormous with a population estimated at 21 million people, and I think there must be 21 million great things about the place too!

What makes it unique and special? Well, there's the Aztec heritage of the place for one. The city was established by the Aztecs in the early 14th century and when Hernan Cortes entered the city in 1519 he described a place of stunning beauty and high culture, far eclipsing the greatest cities Europe had to offer at the time.

Cortez then did his best to obliterate the Aztec culture.

You can still see the evidence of it though in some of the city's most fantastic of its over 100 museums. The National Museum of Anthropology is one of the world's most impressive history museums, devoted entirely to Pre-Colombian Mexico. I recommend allowing the better part of a day to see it though because it's big and because it's so good. You'll also want to visit the Templo Mayor, just off the Zocalo. The Templo Mayor was once the principal center of Tenochtitlan --- the Aztec capital city before the Spanish conquest. You can walk around some of the excavated ruins of the old Aztec capital and then tour the impressive exhibits in the museum (they have some VERY cool stuff there...like statues of the Aztec Eagle Warriors, and an entire WALL of human skulls...morbid, sure, but AMAZING!)

The colonial history comes to life up at the top of Chapultepec hill where you can tour Chapultepec Castle (now a National History Museum). The Castle was built by a spanish viceroy, was home of Emperor Maximilian during Mexico's short-lived period of Hapsburg royal rule, and served as a presidential residence for many years. It was also a military training academy for a period and is a site of patriotic significance due to a group of military cadets who threw themselves off the castle's parapets rather than surrender to U.S. army troops who invaded the city during the Mexican-American War.

Arts lovers will find a smorgasbord of arts galleries and some of the best works of contemporary art in the world. The city abounds in magnificent murals from the early 20th century when the Mexican Muralist school was at its heyday, with masterpieces from Diego Rivera, Dr. Atl, Juan O'Gorman, and a host of others. Tour the Frida Kahlo house and see where Kahlo and Rivera lived in sometimes harmony and tour museums like the Dolores Olmeda, the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Rufino Tamayo Museum, the Franz Mayer, and a host of others.

Soooo many unique things to love about Mexico City. I love:
* the tacky looking boats plying the 500-year old canals of Xochimilco
* catching the Ballet Folklorico in the magnifecent theatre of the Palacio de Bellas Artes
* the enormous sprawling UNAM campus
* shopping in San Angel
* Sunday mass in the Catedral Metropolitano
* seeing the matachines dancing outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in early December
* the sprawling and affordable Metro subway system
* eating tacos in sidewalk cafes in Chapultepec Park
* chilly brewskis at the Beer Factory
* elegant dinners at Les Moustaches
* hearing about Leon Trotsky and his unfortunate encounter with an ice axe
* hearing Cafe Tacuba
* chilangas calientes
* Teotihuacan
* .....another 20,999,970 things.

Mexico City RAWKS!

1- UnO -1

You should watch this video
http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=mwbVryvVpE4

In this video you can see:
Catedral & Zocalo (It's the center of the City)
Palacio de Bellas Artes
Torre Latinoamericana (You can see all the city with 50 pesos)
Chapultepec
and Coyoacan (Beautiful colonial architecture, bookstores, cafÃ©s, and clubs.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyoacan

dvcgurl

the unique is the food its good but diffrent
the cutlure mexico ciy has the arts amd musums and the music shopping etc
what makes it special is the people there treat u like family and the piramids

admlmno

Ooh, too many to list!

Tacos al Pastor
Lucha Libre at Arena Mexico
Plaza de tres Culturas
The Cathedral and Zocalo
Teotihuacan - Some of the largest pyramids in the world, and they're not exactly sure who built them!
Piedra del Sol in el Museo de Antropologia
And, of course the Virgin of Guadalupe in the Basilica

Ketorolocko

it's people, and the way they care about foraigners...

Patrick B

Mexico City is a great place, with a lot of bad press.

It has tons to see:
Bella Artes
Zocalo
Museum of Anthropology
National Autonomous University
Centro Histrico
Teotihuacan
First class food, clubs
And more....

Yes, there are areas you should avoid or if you "have" to go(like Tepito), forget your backpack/camera/watch, go dressed down in jeans and a shirt.

Stephanie H

The most special thing is the Catholic Cathedral. It is very significant,historical, and important part of catholic religion. People from all over the world come to see these churches (there's two).
Then there is also a ruins there on the middle of the plaza close one of the church's. They have people come out and perform dances in ancient outfits.

Lone Wanderer

Organized Crime, and Tepito, you can buy anything there!!! Oh and beware where you park your car, and be carefull for people around your car when you get in it. Oh and if anything happens to you, dont call the cops....

worst gas problem in the world.

oh, and cops couldnt care less about anything.

Cyrberus

Worst polluted air on the planet

peggie m

All of the mexicans have left and are now in your city!

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