To start your day in Mexico City, consider checking in at the Gran Hotel de la Ciudad de México. If you stay at the Gran, you are taken to your room in the second-oldest elevator in the country (you get only one ride). The National Palace across the street has the oldest one.

At the Gran, you are in the heart of Mexico, looking out on the Zócalo, the largest plaza this side of Red Square in Moscow. Officially, the Zócalo is the Plaza de la Constitución; and before that, back when viceroys lived in what is now the National Palace, it was the Plaza de Armas. Here stood the Halls of Montezuma. Hernán Cortés ordered the halls razed and the palace erected from the rubble. A block away you can see what is left of the Great Temple of the Aztecs and learn about them in an adjoining museum.

Breakfast on the hotel terrace and soak up the atmosphere of the oldest capital in the New World. Mexico City is also the biggest city in the New World, with more than 20 million people living in the metropolitan area. Seeing it all could take a lifetime. Just seeing the Zócalo can fill a day.

Ancient ways still prevail on the Zócalo. The plaza has always served as a marketplace. It’s fascinating to wander. Feathered dancers prance on the Zócalo to the accompaniment of flutes and drums.

Looking out from the terrace, the palace stands on the far side, while to your right are the offices of the local government, the Federal District. To the left of the palace is the Metropolitan Cathedral. It is imposing, the largest of Mexican churches. In addition to hosting weddings and baptisms, the cathedral serves as a hiring hall. Plumbers and carpenters squat by the gates, a sign identifying the specialty of each.

The National Palace is the presidential office, although Mexico City’s traffic being what it is, Mexican presidents prefer to work at home. The presidential part of the palace is closed to the public, but you can wander through the rest of the place; over the central staircase are murals by Diego Rivera depicting the history of Mexico.

Lunch could be at the rooftop terrace of the Hotel Majestic. From there, you can wander the narrow streets of the old vice-regal city or hop aboard a double-decker tour bus for a three-hour glimpse of all there is to see.