ONE PERFECT DAY Casa Estudio de Diego Rivera; sculpture of a Chevrolet by Betsabee Romera outside Hotel Condesa DF, A city park dotted Condesa (right) Opposite: Angel of Independence with museums, old column (1910) neighbourhoods transformed into hipster havens with quirky design and clothing stores, and Mexico colourful markets selling everything from piñatas to brujeria fetishes... WORDS City Brendan Shanahan Mexico’s sprawling capital invites careful exploration. Built on a temple, which was built on a lake and the blood of human sacrifice, Mexico City is a vast urban sprawl of more than 20 million people, with colonial neighbourhoods, shabby slums and futuristic gated estates for the mega-rich. Knowing where to start can be hard. Its once rundown inner-city barrios of Colonia Condesa and Colonia Roma are now the city’s hippest, boasting boutiques, restaurants and galleries. A day investigating these neighbourhoods is the perfect introduction to a city that one could actually spend a lifetime exploring. which deserve a full day’s exploration. au For something more manageable, Casa . 09:00 10:00 Condesa has its fair share of trendy After breakfast, make your first use of Luis Barragán (12 General Francisco com . cafes and the usual chains, including Mexico City’s excellent and cheap Ramirez, casaluisbarragan.org) is a block Starbucks, but no-one comes to Mexico public transport system. From from the station. A UNESCO World City for a frappuccino. For a traditional Hipódromo, catch the Metrobus two Heritage site, the former home and ndication y Mexican breakfast, head to Restaurante stops north to Insurgentes Metro studio of Mexico’s most important Flor De Lis (21 Huichapan, flordelis.com. station (mexicometro.org). Catch the modernist architect is a masterpiece of bauers / mx) in the Hipódromo area. The same metro five stops west to Tacubaya. Barragán’s style, combining minimalist family has been making tamales here Change to the orange line and go one principles with bold shapes and colours cairns N y since 1926 and the experience shows. stop north to Constituyentes. This inspired by pre-Hispanic Mexico. As well If stewed steak for breakfast isn’t your station is on the border of Bosque de as regular exhibitions and workshops, shar y: y: thing, they also offer great gringo (slang Chapultepec (Chapultepec Forest), a there are serene courtyard gardens. term for foreigner) options such as park that is home to many of the city’s Tours are at set times by appointment chorizo eggs and jamon hot cakes. best and biggest museums, some of only, so call or email ahead. hotograph P 106 QANTAS MARCH 2014 maRCh 2014 QANTAS 107 ONE PERFECT DAY Casa Luis Barragán (right); sombreros at a market stall (below) 11:30 12:30 MORe aT TRAVELINSIDER Exiting Casa Barragán, go a block west Take the metro back to Insurgentes, to the intersection of Avenida exit at Avenida Oaxaca and head south. AT LARGE: MEXICO CITY Constituyentes and Anillo Perférico. At 200 Calle Durango is El Contramar The Travel Insider team reports in from Mexico City on The bright blue building is the children’s (5514 3169), one of the city’s best everything from ballet to wrestling to street vendors. museum, Papalote Museo del Nino seafood restaurants. It’s not open for http://travelinsider.qantas.com.au/mexico_city_tips.htm (papalote.org.mx). In Bosque de dinner, so best to linger over lunch. DESTINATION GUIDE: MEXICO CITY Chapultepec behind the Papalote is Great new restaurants, galleries and boutiques are popping Museo Jardin del Agua (Water Garden up faster than you can say Olé! http://travelinsider.qantas. Museum), which includes the Cárcamo com.au/destination-guide-mexico-city.htm de Dolores building (commemorating 14:00 WORK THAT TAN IN MEXICO’S YUCATAN the construction of the Mexico City On the gridded streets of Colonia A Mexican destination that’s hotter than jalapeño chilli. water system) on the site of the 1951 Roma, clothing and homewares http://travelinsider.qantas.com.au/work_that_tan_in_ pumping station on Avenida Rodolfo boutiques have sprung up alongside yucatan_mexico.htm Neri Vela. The forecourt features a antique shops and fashionable OUR GUIDE TO CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO striking mosaic fountain in the form of restaurants. South of Durango, at 198 y The majestic Sierra Madre mountains, vast desert and the Aztec water god Tlaloc, designed by Colima, is Goodbye Folk (goodbyefolk. alam ranch-sized rib-eyes. http://travelinsider.qantas.com.au/ Diego Rivera, Mexico’s most famous com), a hip vintage shop and hair salon. y: our_guide_to_chihuahua_mexico.htm modernist painter. Inside the rotunda is Further south, on Avenida Álvaro another Rivera work, Water: Source Of Obregón, near the intersection with hotograph qantas.coM/traVELinsider Life, a spectacular underwater mural. Insurgentes, is Dime Tienda (no.185), P 108 QANTAS MARCH 2014 ONE PERFECT DAY Clockwise: street scene; Goodbye Folk; San Angel markets which sells a unique range of streetwear, aisles devoted to brujeria, Mexican world statement accessories and kitsch magic, including potion ingredients such the of objects by young Mexican designers. as starfish and dried skunk. Cross Fray ens There are many more stores like this in Servando Teresa de Mier and the magic z the area, so it pays to get a little lost. section is close to the footbridge. Note citi : Check out Casa Lamm (casalamm.com. the various deity statues including those mx) on the corner of Álvaro Obregón of Jesús Malverde, unofficial saint of and Orizaba – an art school, exhibition drug dealers, distinguished by his natty streetscape ; and studio space that sells a range of art cowboy outfit. For an unusual souvenir, au . books, many in English. buy a book of love spells or a brujeria com fetish to punish your enemies. ndication 15:30 y After wandering genteel Colonia Roma, bauers 18:00 / it’s time to get off the beaten track. Catch the metro back to Insurgentes Walk back to Insurgentes Metro station or catch the Metrobus to Sonora. On cairns N and go six stops east to Merced. This is Avenida Neuvo León is La Clandestina, y the city’s biggest market, perfect for an unmarked bar dedicated to mezcal shar everything from kitchen gadgets to – very similar to tequila, but smokier. y: piñatas. Across the road is one of the Once a poor man’s drink, it has enjoyed most fascinating places in the city, a revival with mezcalerias all over hotograph Mercado de Sonora (419 Fray Servando Mexico. La Clandestina is one of the P et Teresa de Mier). This is an adjunct to the trendiest and even stocks mezcal k main market and notable for several home-brewed in obscure villages. mar 110 QANTAS MARCH 2014 ONE PERFECT DAY Clockwise from top right: Diego Rivera’s mural word up A Dream Of A Sunday word up Afternoon In Alameda Park (1947) at Hotel del Prado; Mexico City; mescal margarita Casa MeXicana STYLE Tim Street-Porter & Annie Kelly (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) Architectural photographer Street-Porter’s second book in his popular coffee-table series depicting modern Mexican homes. 20:00 Go a block behind La Clandestina and images follow the curve of Avenida Amsterdam y south to Merotoro (no.204, 5564 7799), gett : Where The Air IS CLear one of the city’s best restaurants. The Carlos Fuentes (Dalkey Archive Press) food is modern European with a local mural This classic novel by the grandfather twist, such as red wine and bone k; of modern Mexican literature marrow risotto. attacks the Mexican class system, shutterstoc taking the reader through everyday : life in 1950s Mexico City. scape y 22:00 cit An excellent nightcap venue is whisky ; au bar Diente de Oro (36 Iztaccihuatl, 5264 . com 4617) in the circle, half a block east of . Merotoro. If you’ve still got the energy, ask the restaurant to call you a taxi (it’s ndication not always safe to hail one) and visit y Cabaret La Perla (44 Calle Republica de bauers MY Last breath Cuba) in the old city. Open since 1946, / La Perla is an old-school drag venue that Luis Buñuel (Vintage) moffat has featured in numerous films and TV One of the great filmmakers of shows. The acts are wildly entertaining james the 20th century, Spaniard Luis y: and often feature audience singalongs Buñuel was also an engaging and to Mexican hits. During intermissions, a good-humoured memoirist DJ spins kitschy dance tracks. As you who spent much of his life in hotograph stumble out the door in the early hours, P exile in Mexico City. For airfares to Mexico call Qantas you may well find yourself planning on 13 13 13 or visit qantas.com another day in Mexico City. mescal 112 QANTAS MARCH 2014.