Teotihuacán
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Today we hired a car and driver and went north east, out of the city, to Teotihuacán. The site is about 25 miles/40 kilometers from Mexico City. The drive took about an hour; lucky for us we were going in the contra–commute direction!
We drove through several northern suburbs with brightly painted houses. Our guide told us some neighborhoods compete to be the most colorful.
The area is hilly, and we saw several mechanisms that transport residents up the hillsides to their homes.
It is an amazing place. Our guidebook says at its peak this was the biggest city in the hemisphere, with a population of 125,000 making it the sixth largest city in the world.
Teotihuacan dates back to 100 BC. It was invaded about 550 AD, and by 900 AD was abandoned.
The Pyramid of the Moon is the large structure left of middle.
Tourists can only walk up the steps about half way to the top. Here is the view from that spot. That is the Pyramid of the Sun on the left of the photo.
This is the Avenue of the Dead. If you look closely at the photo below, you can see people at the top of the Pyramid of the Sun. It is, we understand, the third largest pyramid in the world.
Yes, we climbed the Pyramid of the Sun, all 64 meters/209 feet of it.
Continuing down the Avenue of the Dead, we came to a new temple. Not many tourists visit this area.
Paint pigment still exists after many centuries!
Here is a decorated staircase in the rear of the temple area. It is the Temple of the Feathered Serpent. It was built about 2,000 years ago. This area at the southern end of the zone does not get many visitors, from what we saw.
A close up of the detail.
There is also an excellent museum at the site.
Teotihuacán is definitely amazing!
We stopped about half way back to our hotel to have lunch at a restaurant reported to be one of the best of traditional Mexican restaurants in the City.
We are happy to report that all of the food we have had in Mexico City is excellent and more delicate than Mexican food we get in California.
We visited the amazing pyramids out at Teotihuacán, once one of the world’s largest cities.
Tomorrow—Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.
