Roma Norte, Mexico City

Let's have a look at the neighbourhood where John and I stayed in Mexico City. 

 Here is our street, Calle Tabasco -- tree-lined and quiet.

There is always interesting commerce on the streets. Here at Colima and Orizaba a plant vendor displays his cacti and ferns near the gate to an empty lot that has pop-up markets on weekends.

Other streets are lined with shops

amid the colour

and the gleam of latice-work doors.

The neighbourhood is in transition. Architecture dating from the early 20th century is being revitalized and smart shops opening up.

Smart shops and restaurants line Avenida Álvaro Obregón. This is the multi-storied shop of El Péndulo combines a smart bookshop with a cafe. 

 This faux-castle displays the entrance to a galleria of shops

with it's exit on colourful Calle Chihuahua to the south.

Elsewhere beautiful European details

and European-style architecture

mix with funky corner stores.

In the early 1950s the area had gone out of favour and so attracted artists and writers like the Beats. 

William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac both had apartments on Calle Orizaba. 

There is street art on Avenida Álvaro Obregón

as well as street food stalls.

We were shy of eating at the street stalls generally but this little clump of eateries

tempted us every time we passed. Next trip we'll try it

Here's another example of the European-inspired architecture.

To finish with this wonderful building that houses the famous secondhand bookstore, Under the Volcano, on Calle Celaya near the La Condesa neighbourhood to the west

and this wonderful blue vision at Jardin Pushkin at the east side of Tabasco.

What a neighbourhood!