Tucked away in some backstreets between San Angel and Coyoacán is a surprising place which we visited on our Photo Walk Nº77. The beautiful quiet area of Chimalistac is like a small Colonial town which accidentally got left behind among the chaotic traffic and noise of Mexico City, forgotten in time.For this walk, we met in one of the squares in San Angel and made our way across busy Avenida Insurgentes, plied by red Metrobuses and streams of ever-moving traffic, to a beautifully landscaped park, Parque La Bombilla. Perhaps the most eye-catching element is the large Art-Déco style monument built in memory of Álvaro Obregon who was assassinated in this very square and which for years, believe it or not, housed the arm he lost in the war, until it was replaced by a bronze replica in 1989.From there, we made our way to Plaza Federico Gamboa, lined by picturesque houses and cobbled streets. In the middle of the square is the small church of San Sebastian Màrtir, built in the 1600s with a Baroque altarpiece and a rather lively congregation on Sundays.The land behind this square was originally a fertile orchard planted with thousands of fruit trees belonging to the nearby El Carmen Monastery, and watered by two rivers, el Rio Magdalena and el Rio Chico. Spanning these rivers were bridges made of volcanic rock and immortalized in a famous painting by the Mexican landscape painter José Maria Velasco. Today the rivers have long disappeared but the bridges have stood the test of time and now span the gardens which meander through this place, bordered by lumpy cobbled streets and fine mansions.As we wandered around the tranquil streets, we came across many hidden gems... splashing fountains, a small capilla with special acoustics where whispers could be heard clearly in the opposite corner, a house designed by the famous Mexican architect Luis Barragán, and a rather eccentric mansion whose owner kindly invited us in and let us photograph the impressive interior and gardens.We finally came back to reality and found ourselves once again among the crowds and the traffic and wandered through San Angel market where we had a refreshing drink of freshly-squeezed juice. Our last stop was a visit to the Casa del Risco with its magnificent fountain, one of its kind in the world, decorated with ceramic plates from as far off as China and Europe.
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Margaret MetcalfeBorn to travel, explore and share photos and experiences Archives
May 2019
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