Today was a day devoted to Diego Rivera.
We started out visiting the Palacio National in the Zocalo. The Palacio is basically the equivalent to our white house except it does not have the security hype. We were scanned and my bag was checked but that was about all.
The stairway up to the 2nd level is covered with a mural that depicts Mexican civilization from the Aztec Quetzalcoatl to the post-revolutionary period. Unfortunately I don’t have Nick’s picture taking skills but I did my best.
As with many of Rivera’s murals, he has included Frida Kahlo in it. Once I became overwhelmed with the murals, I kept myself going by looking through them and looking for Frida. I was successful only 2 times. Here’s the first.
The 2nd floor of the Palacio is mostly covered with Rivera murals depicting Indigenous life before the Spanish Conquest. The lighting wasn’t great, but here’s one.
After we finished with the murals, we went down to the Palacio’s botanical garden. I was able to satisfy my “fuzzy love fix”by taking as many pictures as I could of the approximately 15 cats we saw there. Here are a few.
Finally, we visited the Secretaria de Educacion Publica which used to be a monastery. It is almost completely covered with Rivera murals. All 3 levels and some of the stair wells. At this point, we were a bit overwhelmed with Diego but enjoyed the murals none the less. I even was rewarded with a Frida image.
We both greatly appreciated the architecture of the building. I’ve included some images of the view from the 2nd floor. We’d love to come back to see the courtyard when the Jacarandas are in bloom.
Once we’d powered through the murals, we were definitely ready for lunch. We revisited the restaurant, Puro de Corazon, that overlooks the cathedral. It was the perfect place for us to just hang out, enjoy extremely well-made local dishes, and just people watch. At this point we were both feeling quite tired and needed the down time.
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