Our final day in CDMX came way too soon, as these things always do. I had originally planned to spend our last morning driving out to Xochimilco, but the beautiful architecture of the main city had caught our attention. We instead decided to grab coffee again, and set out to walk around exploring. I had searched online for a few buildings that were must-see architectural gems, and the first one I came across was Palacio Postal.
This insanely gorgeous post office (that is still completely functioning!) was like stepping into something super bougie. It was built in 1902 and has been functioning since, amid multiple earthquakes. The architectural classification has been somewhat of a mystery, and has been described as art nouveau, moorish, venetian gothic revival, baroque, neoclassical, Spanish renaissance revival, and more. The post office was the brainchild of president Porfirio Diaz, which since H and I have been listening to a podcast on the Mexican Revolution, makes total sense. He was a man of grand tastes.
After exiting Palacio Postal, we stumbled upon a building with a beautiful tiled exterior. The building, aptly named La Case de los Azulejos, or Tile House, is described as a novo-Spanish baroque building. It was created in the l700's, and served as a house for a very wealthy family. Now, it houses a chain restaurant. Interestingly, in the time between it was a house and now, it served many other purposes. At one point, it was a World Worker's House before being bought out and made into a restaurant. Somewhat of a sad and anti-climactic ending for such a beautiful building, but here's hoping it'll go on to one day serve a more illustrious purpose.
Walking down the same avenue where the Tile House was on, we popped into many of the churches and cathedrals on the street. The interiors of many of these were even more magnificent than the grand exteriors and absolutely worth ducking in to.
Part of a large organ inside a cathedral
One of many churches in the Historic Center of the city
As the time for our flight drew closer, we had to start wrapping things up and seeing our last buildings. The eye-catching Palacio de Bellas Artes was a must, and the interior was an art-deco dream. Unfortunately, most of the building was closed off to visitors, so we had to settle for just gaping at just the lobby. We then headed across the street to Sears where we got a tip from a friend that we would be able to get a better view (thanks, A!). On the 8th floor of the building was Cafe de la Gran Ciudad that served both a fantastic mint Mexican hot chocolate and a fantastic view of Palacio de Bella Artes.
Following hot chocolate, we walked to an area of the city center that was not super jammed with traffic so we could hail a ride and be on our way to the hotel to pick up our bags. In doing so, we ran into Barrio Chino, or Chinatown. Walking through the small neighborhood was an unexpected but fun way to end the trip, and served to remind us that there was so much of the city we hadn't even touched. It reaffirmed what we had already decided on day 1 of the trip: we will definitely be back.
Barrio Chino
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