BARRAGAN’S CASA GILARDI
Today we were on our own with no tours. We did, however, have a late morning reservation to visit Casa Gilardi. Born in Guadalajara in 1902, Luis Barragan was a noted Mexican architect. He worked in a minimalist style and favored very bright colors. His studio is a small museum also in the city, and the last house he built in the late 1970’s, Casa Gilardi, is open for visitors by appointment. Real people live here and one of the sons of that family gave us a brief history of Barragan and the house.
There are almost no furnishings or personal items on display; instead you focus on bright blue and red walls bordering a pool, a hallway that glows in yellow, and on the exterior walls painted an intense magenta and a deep purple. On the open air upper deck, the house envelops a jacaranda tree whose light purple blooms stood out against the magenta wall which is also a backdrop for three tall cacti. Inside is some warm wood flooring, a large leather sectional sofa in a living room and a small wood dining table for four, but that’s pretty much it for furniture. It was fascinating to watch the play of light and shadows on all the colored surfaces, but not a place I’d choose to live.
DINING OUT
We had lunch at a very popular seafood restaurant in the Roma section of the city. Following our usual pattern, we checked what time Contramar opened and when we noted noon, figured we could arrive about 12:30 for our 1:30 reservation. This way we could assuage our hunger (breakfast for us is always early) and be there ahead of the crowd. And by shortly after 1:00, the dining room was almost full!
The menu had seafood and fish in many forms from whole grilled fish to spicy shrimp soup to tacos of all sorts to seafood salads. We sampled the octopus salad (quite lovely), shrimp soup, the fried kingfish tacos, and their margaritas. All tasty. The Chief Penguin then ordered the traditional flan which he enjoyed. I’m not a fan of flans; to me, it’s of a piece with floating island, rice pudding, and tapioca, all of which I find too bland.
We attempted to walk back to our hotel and went a few blocks only to discover that not only are all the museums closed on Mondays, but also the big Chapultepec park which is the most direct route to our hotel. Thus stymied, we called an Uber. Fortunately, there are a lot of Ubers in this city and we have now Ubered around four or five times. And, compared to cities like New York, the fares are cheap!
Later we took a walk in Lincoln Park, a small oasis of green with a well equipped children’s play area, and then, for a change of pace, had an early evening nibble at Lardo. This casual Italian restaurant serves lots of small plates plus a few entrees. Not being too hungry, we grazed on mixed olives and almonds, tasty stuffed zucchini blossoms (a rare delicacy), and a mini tomato pizza topped with a few capers and anchovies. Just enough to get us through the night.
Note: All photos by JWFarrington (some rights reserved).
