The BEST NEIGHBORHOOD in MEXICO Roma Norte in Mexico City

Roma is a neighborhood that is often described as hipster. But to us it's way more than that and we're going to show you why in this video. By the way, I'm Tana, this is Serge. Welcome to our channel, if you're new make sure to subscribe and leave a like on this video if you like it. Let's go! So we're standing in front of Mercato Roma right now, which is basically a food hall. It's a very touristy spot to come to. I think it's a perfect place to start because it encapsulates a part of Roma It's trendy, it's nice, it has a lot of tourism, it has a lot of things to do, and Mercato Roma is a place to go if you want something trendy, something nice, and something to do. And if you're looking to start off your trip with some churros, there is an El Moro inside of there which is an iconic churro place where you can get some delicious churros. Unfortunately, we did start this video a little bit early so they're not open yet, so let's move on to the next spot. So we had to stop by the ramen, although they are closed right now. I wanted to recommend it to you guys because it is one of our favorite places to eat at here. They have amazing, incredible vegan ramen. They have a huge vegan menu. So yeah, definitely come by if you are here. We are standing in front of one of the most iconic points of Roma and that is La Fuente de Cibeles right here. So this is in the center of a roundabout. So there are cars driving all the way around and I would say it's a really popular place to come eat. There's tons of restaurants around the entire roundabout and lots of dogs. So if you've ever been to Spain or Madrid specifically, you might recognize this statue and that's because it's an exact replica of what to many is considered the most representative monument of Spain. Mexico built an identical one as a show of brotherhood between Mexico and Spain. So here it is. People love coming and it's beautiful. And while you're here, you can see the mural of Frida. She was the dog who helped rescue people during the earthquake of 2017. She's kind of iconic and there's a huge mural for her here. That's right. She's a hero. Okay, let's go to the next spot. We're standing in front of one of the coolest nightlife places in Roma. Roma is a great neighborhood if you're looking for nightlife. Bar Oriente is a place that all the cool kids go to. It's a karaoke bar. It has live music. It has all the best after parties for the concerts or shows you might go to in Mexico City. So check out Bar Oriente once everything is open again if you're into nightlife. So the most important part of Roma isn't just the beautiful buildings, the pretty streets, and the monuments, but the people. This neighborhood has had a special place in Mexico City's history for generations. Although it was originally built for the elite, over the course of these last 100 years, it has been middle class people who have moved in. And these are the people who have crafted the life that you breathe when you're here in Roma. I absolutely love it. Another really cool thing about this neighborhood is that you will never see a stray dog without a home here. Everybody has a dog and they're just living such good lives here. It's so good to see. And now we are at what is probably our favorite place in Roma. And that is Plaza Rio de Janeiro. Here, as you can see, we have the statue of David with a really pretty fountain around it. And this is where a lot of people come to take their dogs, to let them run around and play, and even get in the fountain and get wet. It's a really chill area. There's a lot of benches around, a lot of trees. And yeah, it's definitely one of our favorite spots to come. Yeah, and it's not just the plaza itself. Businesses a couple of blocks in every direction are all really cool, really vibey. It's just a really good place to be, really relaxing, especially on the weekends. Saturday and Sunday brunch here is insane. There are lines sometimes. So this area is very, very nice. Yeah, there are a lot of really nice restaurants around here. Actually, right off the edge of the park, there's a Cafe Toscano, which you will find a couple of around both Roma and Condesa. A little bit of history about Roma. It was developed in the late 19th century and mostly built in the early 20th century. One thing that really characterizes the architecture of Roma is something called eclecticism. Eclecticism is where you draw from a lot of different styles and make one beautiful art piece. And I don't think there's a better example of that than this church right here. This is essentially Roma's church. Part of the most important history of this church came post-Mexican revolution when the government had this crackdown on religiousness. There was a sort of war called the Cristero War where religious people were defending the right of religiousness. One of the most representative people of that war was El Padre Pro. Padre Pro would have secret church services underground when services were not allowed. He is now a very famous martyr in Mexican history for Catholicism. Speaking of eclecticism and merging architectural styles, we are standing in front of one of the most famous buildings in all of Roma and that is the Edificio del Río de Janeiro, otherwise known as the House of Witches. So it's located right next to the statue of David and it's such a pretty building. The architecture actually has four different inspirations, like four different types of architecture in it so it makes it look really unique and cool. It's really cool how clear the different styles are. The bottom green area down here is 100% art deco. The rest of the building, the red brick, definitely draws parallels to old British architecture. The very top part of the building draws a lot of inspiration from old Parisian buildings and finally the conical tower is 100% old German. Very cool building, very cool to see. I'm not sure what is actually on the bottom. It looks like they're putting out tables for a restaurant so maybe you can also eat there. These old style gated communities are actually really interesting. Again, going back to history and doing an almost insultingly oversimplified version of what the Mexican Revolution was about. It was essentially the poor working class people revolting against the elite and the wealthy. Since Roma was in its first heyday right around the time of the Mexican Revolution, there was a lot of wealthy people that were living here. They started building these types of gated communities for the wealthy to protect themselves from any kinds of attacks during the Mexican Revolution. This is a perfect example of how history defines and shapes the quirky and charming world that we live in today. Now we have these beautiful gated communities because of it. This beautiful building that you can see behind me here was actually almost destroyed to build a mall back in 1990. But thankfully the artists in this neighborhood came together to put a stop to it. So now we can still get to appreciate this beautiful building and it's not a ugly mall. We are on Alvaro Obregón street which is really cool because it's a street where in the middle there's this huge wide walkway full of statues. It's a really pretty place to be on. And right off of Alvaro Obregón behind me here is the Corería Limantur. It's another option if you're into nightlife. And the reason we mentioned this one in particular is because it has been ranked as the 14th best bar in the entire world and the number one best bar in Latin America. So of course there are so many places to go to. There are clubs and bars and all sorts of nightlife activities here in Roma. But I wanted to mention this one in particular because of the recognition that it has been given. So we are just outside of Madre Café right now which is a really popular brunch spot that a lot of bloggers and instagrammers love to come to because it's really cute. It's at like an actual mansion. We haven't been yet but we would like to go. We're not going today because it's too crowded but I guess I can recommend it. I don't know. If you want to check it out we recommend coming during the week because on the weekend there's literally lines. I can see people standing right there waiting to get inside. So come on the weekday. Yeah it's at least instagrammable. So we are coming to our end of our walk around the neighborhood of Roma. We are in Plaza Luis Cabrera and we are tired. Yes there are a lot of people out now. It's pretty hot but getting to see the whole neighborhood in one day has been so much fun. It's so easy to appreciate how beautiful it is here. Yeah I can't believe that we get to live here. I feel so lucky. It's so beautiful. And even though we try to stay appreciative all the time, it was really nice to have this experience to go out to see Roma for the beautiful place that it is. And I do feel more in love with it after this experience. So let us know if you've been to Roma or if you are planning a trip here. We would love to know. And I hope this video was helpful to you. That's going to be it for this video. Make sure to subscribe to us and give this video a thumbs up if you liked it. And we will see you guys next time. Bye!