Visiting the ruins of Tlatelolco

On Day 8, we started the day with breakfast at Sanborns La Casa de los Azulejos (The House of Blue Tiles).  The building was constructed in the 16th century.  The facade is blue tiles.

The restaurant was situated in the original courtyard of the building.

Walls covered in murals

Waitress hauls a cart of fresh juices

Looking down on the diners from the gallery above

The waitresses wore very pretty and unique outfits.

Our first tour of the day was the ruins of Tlatelolco within Mexico City. Tlatelolco is the twin capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan.

The ruins were discovered when the excavation started for construction of a business tower.  The entire ruins have not been uncovered as they go under one of the city's main streets.  The site had been built on 7 times between 1337 and 1515 AD  The layers were discovered when the archeologist tunnel at the bottom towards the centre of one of the buildings.  Part of one building is exposed and the rest is under the main street.  This site was the main market place that we saw in model at the Aztec gallery in the museum. 

In the background is the oldest church in Mexico City dated at 1521

you'll notice modern buildings surround this site in the background of some of our photos

The outer layer of the building appear to be lava rock

The next layer below the lava rock appears to be limestone

There were 151 petroglyphs carved in the one building

These buildings were original covered with stucco painted with mural paintings when they were discovered.  Unfortunately the years of exposure to acid rain, etc have eroded the original facade.

Some of the altars have been dated between 1427 AD and 1467 AD

the marketplace area where 30,000 people traded on market days