Mexico City – Jewish Heritage Tour

Upon arrival transfer to the Hotel JW Marriott located in Polanco neighborhood. In the evening walk to a local restaurant for a welcome dinner.

Visit the Memory and Tolerance Museum established in 2010, then drive to El Zócalo, the city’s heart. This big square with a massive Mexican flag in the middle is surrounded by the Presidential Palace, The Supreme Court of Justice, and the Cathedral. Visit the Cathedral built in sections from 1573 to 1813 around the original church that was constructed soon after the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan, eventually replacing it entirely.

It is situated atop the former Aztec sacred precinct near the Templo Mayor, (“Main Temple”) was the main temple of the Aztecs in their capital city of Tenochtitlan. The temple was destroyed by the Spanish in 1521 to make way for the new cathedral, the site is part of the Historic Center of Mexico City, which was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987. After the visit to Templo Mayor ruins enjoy lunch in a local restaurant.

In the afternoon walk to Synagogue Nidje Israel, built in 1941 it was the main place for the Ashkenazi Jews, after the Jews moved to other areas cities the synagogue was in poor conditions until its renovation for it fully splendor in 2009.

At night after dinner on your own, you may optionally choose to attend the National Ballet of Mexico at the Palace of Fine Arts, an Art Nouveau construction one of the most beautiful building of the city.

Start the day visiting Olamí school. This is a new Jewish school created by the Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities. Meet with high school students for a conversation about Jewish life in Mexico. Continue a tour of Interlomas where all Jewish schools are located.

Drive to Centro Deportivo Israelita, the biggest Jewish institution in Mexico. The CDI has 18,000 members and here is where Mexicans Jews come to do sports, socialize, participate in cultural events and to the library.

Start the day by visiting the National Museum of Anthropology. It is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico City. Established in 1964 the museum’s collections include the Stone of the Sun, giant stone heads of the Olmec civilization that were found in the jungles of Tabasco, treasures recovered from the Mayan civilization, at the Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza, a replica of the sarcophagus lid from Pacal’s tomb at Palenque. It also has a model of the location and layout of the former Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, the site of which is now occupied by the central area of modern-day Mexico City.

After lunch at the museum walk up to Chapultepec Castle. It is the only royal castle in the Americas. It was built at the time of Viceroyalty as summer house for the viceroy. It was given various uses, from the gunpowder warehouse to the military academy in 1841. It was also used as the official residence of a sovereign: the Mexican Emperor Maximilian I, and his consort Empress Carlota, lived there during the Second Mexican Empire. The castle fell into disuse after the fall of the Second Mexican Empire in 1867. Finally in 1939, President Lázaro Cárdenas decreed a law establishing Chapultepec Castle as the seat of the National Museum of History. After the visit walk down the hill to Paseo de la Reforma and arrive at the hotel. Enjoy a free evening.

In the evening participate at the Kabbalat Shabbat at Bet-El, the only conservative synagogue in the city founded in 1964 follow by Shabbat dinner.

Drive to the Frida Kahlo Museum, also known as the Blue House (La Casa Azul) for the structure’s cobalt-blue walls, is a historic house museum and art museum dedicated to the life and work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The building was the birthplace of Kahlo and is also the home where she grew up, lived with her husband Diego Rivera between 1929-1954, and in one of the rooms on the upper floor would die. In 1958, Diego Rivera’s will donate the home and its contents to turn it into a museum in Frida’s honor. The museum contains a collection of artwork by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and other artists along with the couple’s Mexican folk art, pre-Hispanic artifacts, photographs, memorabilia, and personal items. The collection is displayed in the rooms of the house which remains much as it was in the 1950s. Here they hosted Leon Trotsky before he was killed in Mexico in 1940.

Drive to San Angel district, one of Mexico City’s most famous markets occurs in an upscale neighborhood in the southwestern part of the city, San Angel. Enjoy lunch at Sak’s restaurant, located inside a colonial 16th century mansion recently renovated. The market is known as the Mercado del Sábado or El Bazaar Sábado (Saturday market) because it happens once a week on Saturdays. A group of artists first began to gather for the market in the 1960s. San Angel’s lively upmarket bazaar at which the best handicrafts of the highest quality from all over Mexico can be found. From fine jewelry and textiles to woodwork and ceramics, this bazaar displays the skills and styles of the country’s best artisans.

Enjoy a free evening.

Drive twenty-five miles outside of Mexico City to visit Teotihuacán. At its zenith, in the first half of the 1st millennium AD, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas, with a population estimated at 125,000 or more, making it at least the sixth largest city in the world during its epoch. Apart from the pyramids, Teotihuacan is also anthropologically significant for its complex, multi-family residential compounds, the Avenue of the Dead and the small portion of its vibrant murals that have been exceptionally well-preserved.

The later Aztecs saw these magnificent ruins and claimed a common ancestry with the Teotihuacán’s, modifying and adopting aspects of their culture. The site covers a total surface area of thirty two square miles and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. It is the most visited archaeological site in Mexico.

At night, attend Festival Aviv, an Israeli folk dance competition with performers from throughout the Americas and Israel. Held since 1973, this has become the biggest Jewish cultural event in Mexico.

Later drive to Xotchimilco, one of the sixteen city’s boroughs. The borough is in the southeastern part of the city and has an identity that is separate from the historic center of Mexico City, due to its historic separation from that city during most of its history. Xotchimilco is best known for its canals, which are left from what was an extensive lake and canal system that connected most of the settlements of the Valley of Mexico. These canals, along with artificial islands called chinampas, attract tourists and other city residents to ride on colorful gondola-like boats called “trajineras” around the 110 miles of canals. This canal and chinampa system, as a vestige of the area’s pre-Hispanic past, has made Xotchimilco a World Heritage Site.

After a farewell lunch drive to Mexico’s International Airport to catch your flight home.