Plaza de la Solidaridad (Del Ajedrecista)

Two things define it. Chess and solidarity. The first is about its benches: chess players gather here from ten in the morning to start their games, and they have done so for decades —boards, clocks and spectators, every day. The second is the name. The Hotel Regis stood on this ground until the 1985 earthquake left it in ruins; the square was built in memory of the acts of cooperation that followed the disaster.

How to find it. You will recognise it because it borders the Alameda Central and the Centro's museum row: the Museo Mural Diego Rivera, which holds Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central, sits right on the square.

Getting there. On Avenida Juárez, beside the Alameda. Hidalgo station on metro Lines 2 and 3 and Juárez on Line 3 are both a short walk, and the Bellas Artes palace is five minutes east.