Cuernavaca (4)


Source: WTL photo© taken on site in the Cuernavaca Valley.
Comments: You are looking north to Cuernavaca in the center of the photo and beyond toward the mountains in the background, which one must cross to get to Mexico City. Remember that the elevation of the national capital is about 7,400 feet. To get to Cuernavaca you have to go over a mountain pass and then down hill to Cuernavaca, which is about 5,000 feet high. This city now has a population of about 1,000,000, It's name at the time of the conquest was Cuauhnáhuac ("place of whispering trees" or "place at the edge of the forest"). It has been inhabited since about 1200 BCE. Nowadays it is known as the city of eternal spring (la ciudad de la eterna primavera) because, well, it feels like that living there. Is it any wonder that Cortés built a palace here or that modern students and vacationers flock to Cuernavaca? In addition to Cortés, however, both the next-to-last Aztec emperor (tlatoani), Moctezuma II, and the short-lived French emperor in the 19th century, Maximilian, built palaces here.
Recommendation: In WTL's opinion, Cuernavaca has one of the world's finest restaurants in Mexico: Las Mañanitas. It is one of the world's great restaurants.