Mexico City

In December 1914 Pancho Villa is said to have fired a pistol into the ceiling of a cantina on Avenida Cinco de Mayo to quiet the room, and the hole is still pointed out to anyone who asks. Further along the same street, a sweet shop has been selling candied fruit since before the Revolution. The Centro keeps its lore, and the newer city to the west keeps a mole that is reheated and topped up, like a sourdough starter, and has been for years.

Stay

Institutions

Gran Hotel Ciudad de México (Zócalo) — Built in 1899 as El Centro Mercantil, a department store, under a stained-glass ceiling by Jacques Grüber, and a hotel since 1968. The birdcage lifts still run. The ceiling can be seen without a room.