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  I should have made more photos of food as I tried other Mexican specialities too, but anyhow, this is the selection I have. This dish at the Mercado de Sabores in Puebla was my favourite: 4 tacos filled with chicken and covered with 4 mole sauces of different types. I like green mole the most and the black mole the least, but they are all quite interesting and tasty. None of them is spicy hot, they all have some sweetness and some of them are a bit sour as well plus has other strong flavours.

  An overview of the main areas of interest in Mexico City. 1. Historic Center; 2. Avenida Paseo de la Reforma; 3. Zona Rosa, Roma Norte and La Condesa; 4. Polanco; 5. Chapultepec; 6. Avenida Insurgentes Sur; 7. Coyoacán; 8. Basílica de Guadalupe. 

Mexicans love animals... 

  Most tourists visit two of them, Torre Latinoamericana and Chapultepec Castle, but let me suggest another three viewpoints which offer amazing vistas of Mexico City. Following you can see the location map and photos of the panoramic views from each. 

  Avenida Insurgentes is the longest thoroughfares cutting across Mexico City, with a length of almost 30 km. Its southern stretch is lined with many skyscrapers, including the World Trade Center which offers stunning views of Mexico City . I started my long walk at the Barranca del Muerto metro station, on Avenida Revolución, which is not far from the southern end of Avenida Insurgentes. It is where the business district begins, finishing further north almost at Roma. It is a nice part of the city, yet, apart from a few expats and businessmen working in this area, you don`t see any foreign faces. 

  Located around and south of the central part of  Avenida Paseo de la Reforma , Zona Rosa, Roma Norte and La Condesa are lively green neighbourhoods with many trendy cafés, bars and restaurants, where you hear English as much as Spanish and where a croissant costs as much as in Paris. Zona Rosa is right in the shadows of the skyscrapers and it is the main gay-friendly hub. Glorieta de los Insurgentes, a circular place with a street market, marks the border, south of it lies Roma Norte. Further south and to the east, reaching as far as Chapultepec Park , is La Condesa. 

  A long walk along the sea shore from the historic Veracruz port area all the way to the last beach in Boca del Rio, checking out every place. See the beaches on map and also in images. Photos may not be the best, but good enough to give you a visual idea of all the beaches in the greater Veracruz city.

  Veracruz city, or Heroica Veracruz, is a historic port with many old buildings in different state. Many are abandoned and falling apart, and the place has a bit of a run-down feeling. It still has its appeal and character. South of the historic centre is the newer part of the city, and to the very south, in the "mouth of a river", is colourful and green Boca del Rio with a more suburban feeling. It is actually an independent city but de facto part of greater Vercruz. There is a long coast line with many beaches, although they are not that stunning. They are pleasant enough though, and some are quite crowded, others are almost deserted. The beaches of Veracruz are featured in another post, here you find pictures of the city and some of the coastal boardwalk, the Malecón, and finally Boca del Rio.

  If you visit the  Anthropology Museum of Xalapa , and after all this is the main reason to visit Xalapa in the first place, you could walk back to the centre through Macuiltépec Ecological Park and climb up to the viewpoint. One of the gates of the park is fairly close to the museum, and from another you can descend to Mercado Adolfo Ruiz Cortines, and from there the centre is a bit more. The day I visited it was cloudy, and the peak of Mexico`s highest mountain, Pico de Orizaba, remained hidden. The view nevertheless was really beautiful.

  The Anthropology Museum of Xalapa (Museo de Antropología de Xalapa) is home to one of the best collections of Olmec colossal heads, with the others being the  National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and the open-air La Venta Museum (Parque Museo La Venta) in Villahermosa . Apart from the stone heads, there are other magnificent pieces on display left behind by Olmec and other Mesoamerican cultures. A couple of items that caught my eye are little toys on wheels! The significance of this is that it is widely viewed that wheel wasn`t known in Mesoamerica - but, as it turns out, although not as a means of transport, it was known. Following you can see the exhibition - at least most of it - in photos.  You can see more items in the Museum`s digital collection:  sapp.uv.mx/catalogomax

  Probably most people visit Xalapa because of its  Anthropology Museum which is one of the best in Mexico and which hosts several of the Olmec heads. But beyond the museum, the city itself is quite pretty with a fairly large historic centre, a little lake, and many hills, among them Macuiltépec which is designated as an Ecological Park and has a viewpoint . Xalapa city might be nice, but the weather wasn`t: it rained on the first day and on the second it was still too cloudy to have good views of the surrounding hills and mountains. Anyhow, I had a nice time. 

  If you search for El Tajín, this is the photo that will come up most: the Pyramid of the Niches. It might be the most famous pyramid, but there are many other beautiful structures packed in a small area. The site is actually quite large but most of the ruins are still buried, and some areas that were once open for visitors are now - I assume "because Covid" - closed. (You can see a photo documentation of all areas on this website .) El Tajín is near Papantla and you can visit it independently, there is a colectivo service despite the denial - more information about it in the post  Papantla . Following is a visual presentation of the site that visitors are allowed to see.

  Papantla is one of the Pueblos Mágicos, the "magical towns" of Mexico, and it is indeed very pretty. But the main reason most tourists visit it is either because of the nearby archaeological site  El Tajín , or the annual festival. At festival times, I was told, the town gets jampacked, but I didn`t see any foreign tourists in the two days I stayed there. 

  At its peak, Teotihuacán was the largest city in the Americas and one of the largest in the world. You can still feel its grandeur walking its main street, the Avenue of the Dead, and marvelling at the colossal architecture. You can`t climb any of the pyramids anymore, which would be great, but it is understandable. The site, nevertheless, is stunning. Teotihuacán is located near Mexico City and it is very easy to make a day-trip to it by public bus - a little information about it can be found next. You could also stay in the pretty town of San Juan Teotihuacán for the night - there are a few photos of its centre at the end of the post.

  Situated north of the historic centre of Mexico City, the Basilica of Santa María de Guadalupe is the most visited church in the world after Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. There is an old and a modern basilica, and a few other churches and chapels in the religious complex. From the terraces of the Capilla del Cerrito you have far-reaching beautiful views - it is one of the 5 best viewpoints in Mexico City . The complex is near the Northern Bus Terminal, so it could be visited after returning from Teotihuacán .

  The house far away from Stalin where Leon Trotsky and his family finally settled, but where Stalin`s long arms still managed to reach him.

  The tallest building of Mexico City stands in Coyoacán, but otherwise the neighbourhood consists mainly of one or two-storey buildings. It is a quiet, green, wealthy suburbia where many of the streets are named after European places and which indeed has a European feeling. But unlike trendy and lively  Roma Norte and La Condesa , it has a quieter, more residential atmosphere. There is a central market and street markets around it, a central square with a town house, church, restaurants and cafés, but the rest of Coyoacán is quite sleepy. A few well known people settled here, among them were  Leon Trotsky and Frida Kahlo - their houses now serve as museums. 

Paseo de la Reforma is a wide avenue that runs across Mexico City, with its central stretch between the historic centre and Chapultepec lined with high-rise buildings. It is one of the business areas and it also passes Zona Rosa , famous for its lively atmosphere.

  Located right next to Chapultepec park , Polanco is the richest area in Mexico City, but as far as I am concerned, not the most appealing. On Sundays, as in many Latin American cities, some roads are closed for cars and cyclists and runners take over.

  El Volador was a rite focused on a tree, from which four figures representing birds descended, symbolising the descent from the sky to the earth. This ceremony is still performed by several indigenous groups in the Gulf area. They associate it with a conception of fertility, by interpreting the birds, symbolically linked to the sun, as taking its fertilizing power to the earth. It is performed regularly in front of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, where the following photos were also taken. Authentic ceremonies can be seen at festivals, for example in Papantla.