Paseo Madero
https://www.ciudadanos.cdmx.gob.mx/vive-cdmx/post/calle-madero
The street that links such important landmarks in Mexico City, the Zócalo and Bellas Artes, is a completely pedestrian promenade that features many shops and restaurants, as well as a few museums, for residents and tourists to enjoy. Any day of the week it’s typical to see entire families, businesspeople, and sight-seers walking briskly (if they’re on the clock) or leisurely (if they’re just out for a stroll) to and fro the different eclectic locations this busy street has to offer. It’s a veritable epicenter for street performers and buskers looking to make a few pesos for those interested in taking a picture with them, drop $20 pesos if you feel like it, or at least $10 if you’re on a budget.
One of such museums is the Museo del Estanquillo, a pop culture collection by Carlos Monsivaís, one of the left-leaning intellectuals in the city. There you can appreciate several photographs, paintings, and movie posters that he has collected over the decades. He even has some designs by iconic printer Jose Guadalupe Posada, whose swanky Catrinas are now a staple of Día de los Muertos.
Just one block from Bellas Artes is the Casa de los Azulejos, or “House of Tiles”, which houses the first Sanborns restaurant in the country and is the ideal place for a meal should you be roaming around these parts. The building is an XVII century baroque style construction built by the Counts of the Valle de Orizaba and is completely covered in blue and white tiles typical of the state of Puebla. Sanborns is a Mexican diner chain so ingrained in the country’s culture that even Emiliano Zapata’s revolutionary army, during the Mexican Revolution, stopped in there for a meal once they reached the capital (there’s a picture there to prove it), despite its history, prices are affordable, and $300 pesos per person is more than enough to cover a hearty meal.
The iconic Torre Latinoamericana is located at the very end of the corridor and was once Latin America’s tallest building, it’s also cheap to enter ($130 pesos) and convenient to visit its top floor overlook. Paseo Madero is not only picturesque and entertaining, but probably a necessary route to access either Bellas Artes or the Zócalo, so might as well enjoy the sightseeing and the performances offered by the buskers while you’re making your way from one place to the other.
