Tag: city break

Mexico City Stopover

~ Cat ~ Leave a comment

On my way back from Cuba, I had a 3 day stopover in Mexico City – as I had a layover there anyway, I figured I might as well spend a couple of days there.

Mexico City, Ciudad de Mexico also stylised as CDMX, is the largest city in North America and is also at altitude – over 7,300 feet, which I hadn’t realised beforehand. The city is in a basin and surrounded by peaks and volcanoes which makes for an interesting descent into the airport.

I had arrived from Cuba in the early evening. I was staying at an Ibis Styles in Zona Rosa district. After a brief wander and a McDonalds (ordered in my faltering Spanish), I had an early night as I had an early start the following day for a guided tour around some of the main sights in the centre of the city.

I was met at the hotel by my guides and we took a local bus and then the Metro to the historic centre of Mexico City. We emerged from the metro onto the Zocalo, the main plaza in Mexico City. We visited the Templo Mayor and its museum which contains heaps of artefacts from the excavation of the site, and lots of history on the Mexica peoples. We popped into the cathedral briefly as mass was taking place, and then walked through the streets towards the Palacio de belles artes (Palace of Fine Arts) and Alameda Park. The trees all around the city had this gorgeous purple blossom (I visited in March 2019).

Cathedral; Beautiful blossom in Alameda Park

We then had authentic Mexican tacos for lunch (delicious) and visited Diego Rivera’s famous mural before heading to San Juan market to try some (less delicious) local delicacies including grasshoppers and ants. I can’t say I enjoyed them, but when in Rome…

Authentic Mexican tacos for lunch; Diego Rivera’s ‘Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park’

That was the end of the guided tour, and I took an Uber back to my hotel for a quick refresh before heading off down the Avenida Chapultepec towards Chapultepec Castle (featured as the starting point of series 2 of the BBC’s Race Across The World). I wandered around the castle and its grounds for the rest of the afternoon before heading back to the hotel for another early night.

The view down Avenida Chapultepec from Chapultepec Castle

The next day I had another guided tour – in the morning we took the metro out to the Basilica of Our Lady Guadalupe in the north of Mexico City. The site contains the Old Basilica and a Modern Basilica which was built in the 1970s as the Old Basilica was sinking due to the terrain on which CDMX is built. Following repairs, the Old Basilica is still open to the public to visit but the masses are mainly held in the Modern Basilica which can hold up to 10,000 people.

Old Basilica (left) and modern Basilica (right)

In the afternoon, we took a local bus about 25 miles outside of the city, to the Teotihuacán pyramids. The 2 main pyramids here are the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. I was quite surprised to find that we were allowed to scale both of them, as well as some of the smaller pyramids surrounding the site.

At Teotihuacán

We then went to a local obsidian shop, and stopped by a local hostelry where we tried pulque and tequila, and then went for dinner for some more genuine Mexican fare. After dinner we headed back to the city on the bus, and then I took the metro back to my hotel.

The next day was my final day in CDMX, though my flight wasn’t until late in the evening so I still had a full day to explore. I’d booked a ticket to the Frida Kahlo museum, and made my way there via the metro. The metro in Mexico City definitely has a reputation and as a solo female traveller I certainly had to have my wits about me. The front carriages on Metro trains are reserved for women and children only, and I used these when travelling on the metro by myself. I also wore my backpack on my front, as indeed many of the locals were doing. I didn’t feel unsafe, but I was well aware that I needed to look out for myself.

The Frida Kahlo museum is in her former house in Coyoacán, and is a bright azure blue. That, along with the queue, makes sure you can’t miss it! An incredibly interesting woman.

Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo Museum, Coyoacán, Mexico City

So, in summary, Mexico City was well worth a couple of days on a stopover. Lots of history, great food and loads of interesting things to see. Definitely recommend!

Iceland

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In March 2018 I took a short trip with a friend to Iceland. Flight time is approx 2 and a half hours from the UK – we flew from Manchester and arrived into some low cloud at Reykjavik’s Keflavik airport mid afternoon. After getting to the hotel, we had a bit of a wander around the local area to orientate ourselves, before having dinner and an expensive drink.

The next morning, the weather was much better and we could see some of the beautiful scenery that surrounds Reykjavik.

Views in Reykjavik

We had a long walk around Reykjavik, along the waterfront which has some interesting sculptures, and we visited the Aurora Northern Lights museum to learn about the Northern Lights, which we were hoping we’d be able to see in the evening.

After an expensive burger for lunch, we visited the Hallgrimskirka, which is the main church in Reykjavik. You can also climb up the bell tower and see some great 360o views of Reykjavik – I definitely recommend doing this if you visit Reykjavik. And I also recommend trying to get up high in any new place you visit – it gives such a great perspective on wherever you’re visiting.

Hallgrimskirka and views from the bell tower

We continued our wandering and ended up visiting the Icelandic Phallological Museum (ahem…)

After that, we meandered back to our hotel for a bit of a break and snooze, as we were heading out later in search of the Northern Lights. We were quite fortunate with a break in the weather on the day we were booked on the Northern Lights trip, the previous day’s trips were all cancelled due to the weather. We were picked up at around 10pm and were driven out of Reykjavik for around an hour towards Thingvellir National Park. We were looking for dark, clear skies, and we were so fortunate to get them. To the naked eye, you could see the sky shimmering a silver-ish colour, but when I cranked up to the right settings on my DSLR, it captured the greens and purples amazingly (if a little shakily as I didn’t have a tripod). I still reckon the Northern Lights are one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen, such an awe-inspiring sight.

Shaky Northern Lights

We were out until around 12.30am watching the skies, and then with an hour’s drive back to Reykjavik, it was a late night. Followed by an early morning as we were doing a full day Golden Circle tour – an absolute must do when you go to Iceland.

The first stop was at Geysir, which does exactly what it says on the tin. Not the most impressive geyser I’ve been to (humble brag…), but if you’ve not seen one before, it’s certainly a sight to behold. There were also some wonderfully blue pools in the area, and lots of steam coming from the ground, as you’d expect in a place with lots of geothermal activity.

At Geysir

The next stop was a Gullfoss Waterfall – an amazing sight, though it was absolutely freezing and blowing an absolute gale.

Gullfoss Waterfalls

The final stop of the day was back to Thingvellir National Park, which we were unable to fully appreciate when hunting for the Northern Lights. This is an important place in Iceland, it’s where the first parliament was held, and is also where 2 tectonic plates are moving away from each other, and you can literally see the crack in the earth.

Thingvellir National Park

After some more expensive drinks in the evening, we had an early night followed by an early morning as we had a very early flight back to the UK. Iceland makes for a great, if expensive, short break destination from the UK. If you’re going to see the Northern Lights, choose your dates wisely – the sky needs to be dark so better to go around the time of a new moon rather than a full moon, and also bear in mind the daylight hours in Iceland. It’s the furthest north I’ve been and especially in summer, there will be near-constant daylight. We went in March which has approx 12 hours of daylight and does mean it is dark enough in the late evening for viewing the Northern Lights. Do your research if seeing the Northern Lights is an important part of your visit. There are also some wonderful natural phenomenon to see here, it’s on a plate boundary so heaps of geothermal activity and barrenly beautiful scenery in and around Reykjavik. Definitely recommend!

Sevilla, it makes me happy…

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In 2018 my holiday plans were primarily to ‘cold’ places – Iceland, Alaska and Jersey (which can be, and was, warm but it wasn’t guaranteed!), so I figured that I needed a hot weather break before we headed into winter. I’d very briefly visited Seville in 2017 when I did a trip through Spain and Morocco, but we basically only had half a day there and it was so hot I could barely move, let alone see everything I wanted to see. So, it seemed like the perfect option for a long weekend break with a good friend who I met on a trip to New Zealand in 2014.

We flew from Gatwick and arrived in Sevilla in the late afternoon. It was cloudy but warm. After checking into our hotel we headed out for a wander towards the Plaza de España

Plaza de España – October 2018

The cloudy skies gave it a different ambience to 2017’s blue sky visit:

Plaza de España – September 2017

With the temperature in the high 20s rather than approaching 40, this time round it was a much more comfortable temperature for meandering through the streets and taking in the sights.

After wandering back around to the cathedral we found a nice tapas restaurant for dinner and a couple of drinks. Afterwards a walk through the city back to our hotel

Sevilla Cathedral by night

The next morning we headed over to the Bull Ring. Bull fighting remains a spectator sport in Sevilla, and you can go on a tour of the bull ring, as we did. It was very interesting to learn about the history of bull fighting in this part of Spain, and the arena itself is very impressive, but I can’t say I’d be rushing to see a live event

Sights at the Bullring

In the afternoon we went on a tour of the cathedral, which we had booked in advance. An immensely impressive building (the largest gothic church in the world) and a must-do when in Sevilla. I would also recommend climbing La Giralda, the clock tower, for some great views over Sevilla.

The intricacies of the cathedral ceiling; views from the clock tower over Sevilla

Afterwards we continued our wandering through the pretty streets of Sevilla before dinner, wine and local speciality tinto de verano (makes red wine drinkable in my opinion!).

The next day, with a slight hangover, we had a tour of the Alcazar, which again we’d booked in advance. It’s an enormous complex, both the buildings and the gardens, and you could easily spend hours there. Another must-do if you are in Sevilla.

At the Alcazar

After more tapas and wine in the evening, it was an early start the next morning for our flight back to Gatwick.

I would absolutely recommend Sevilla as a great short break destination. It does get extremely hot in this part of Spain, so great for visiting in Spring or Autumn – we went in mid October and it was still 30C. It’s a good idea to book ahead for the Cathedral and the Alcazar as they can get very busy, and it saves you queuing in the heat. Wandering around the pretty streets and enjoying wine and tapas is an ideal way to spend a long weekend.