I woke up after a solid 9-hour sleep, ate a good breakfast and met our guide, Tracy, at 11:00 am for what had to be the best 1-day tour of a whole city and culture that you could have dreamed for. Tracy is a Canadian expat who has made Buenos Aires her home and immersed herself it the local culture, especially the whole tango scene. Along the way, Jim and I (Neil Ann skipped the tour) we were treated to a graduate course in Argentinian history, politics and economics, architecture, urban life of Buenos Aires, the tango culture and customs of the tango milongas (there’s an app…), the changing political regimes, the differences in the local dialect and pronunciation compared to other Spanish-speaking parts of the world, and even the identification of the many unfamiliar plants & trees in this fascinating city.
We started out in La Boca (just Google it and look at the colorful images!) and during the course of the day worked our way north all the way to the Recoleta Cemetery area. In La Boca, we had an initial visit to the Quinquela Martin Museum where we got a rooftop view of the neighborhood and the old harbor, as well as the big Futbol stadium, La Bombanera, then walked up and down various streets and street markets (which were not yet too crowded).
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| In La Boca |
Next was a short cab ride to the San Telmo neighborhood, also crowded street markets and beautiful old Spanish and French architecture. After visiting Casa Ezeiza (the international airport is named after the Ezeiza family), and the Church of Nuestra Senora de Belen, we stopped for lunch at the Mercado de San Telmo, a teeming, sprawling, indoor market with some merchandise, some produce stands, and dozens of little food stands that consisted of kitchens usually with diners crowded around a bar on two sides, each one with a different kind of food. It was hot, noisy, and just glorious.
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| Church of San Pedro Gonzalez Telmo |
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| In the courtyards of Casa Ezeiza |
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| Inside the Mercado San Telmo |
More beautiful architecture and many churches later, we found ourselves at Plaza de Mayo, site of the Casa Rosada (this the famous location where Eva Peron addressed the masses from the 2nd floor balcony), and the area in the Plaza where the “Mothers of the Disappeared” still march every week in protest.
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| The Cabildo, with some municipal government building behind it |
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| Plaza de Mayo |
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| In front of Casa Rosada, with Jim |
Beside the Plaza de Mayo, another beautiful old bank building, and the main Cathedral, where Pope Francis once served. Off to the side of this cathedral was the tomb of Jose de San Martin, sort of the “father” of Argentina, who for good measure also helped win independence for Chile and Peru. The tomb, guarded 24/7 by soldiers, is not IN the cathedral proper since San Martin was a Protestant & a Freemason, even if he is a national hero, but is actually in an extension built off of one side.
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| Tomb of San Martin, inside the Main Cathedral |
Somehow after that we ended up in the beautiful and very elegant Confiteria Ideal where we had a quick coffee before continuing on to the Plaza San Martin, in the Retiro District, where we saw the “Monumental Tower” (formerly the English Clock Tower, but renamed after the Falkland Islands debacle), and the interesting Kavanagh Apartments.
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| In the Confiteria Ideal |
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| The “Torre Monumental,” formerly known as the English Clock Tower, near the Plaza San Martin |
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| Formerly a private home, this is now a military office building |
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| Kavanagh Apartments |
In the Plaza San Martin, I photographed these beautiful pink flowering trees that have fascinated me since we got here. They are called the Drunken Stick Tree, or “Ceiba” and are in spectacular bloom all over Buenos Aires. A couple of photos below, but they really don’t do it justice.
In the home stretch now, we continued walking north through increasingly nice neighborhoods (I can’t even remember them all), filled with beautiful old mansions, embassies and hotels, although we never really saw what I’d call a fancy shopping area. Eventually we reached the famous Recoleta Cemetery, but it was after 6 pm by that time, too late to go in, so we walked around the neighboring areas, looked in the beautiful Alvear Palace Hotel, saw the beautiful old church at the entrance (another Basilica, this the Basilica Nuestra Senora del Pilar), and finally took a cab back to the hotel.
Somewhere during this day, I think between the Confiteria Ideal and Plaza San Martin, we also managed to ride the subway, known as the “Subte,” for a couple of stops. Tracy pointed out that in their subway, the trains run on the LEFT track, since they were designed and built mostly by British engineering firms.
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| Basilica Nuestra Senora de Pilar, at the entrance of the Recoleta Cemetery |
Reflective of the incredibly affordable nature of this city, our cab ride back to the hotel, 10-15 minutes long, cost the equivalent of less than $3 USD!
Dinner was at Tango Porteno, which is a kind of theater/supper club/tango hall that is literally right underneath the hotel we are staying at. Dinner started at 8:30, the show at 10:00 pm and ended around 11:30. I know that it sounds very tourista, but the food was amazingly good, and the tango show was terrific. Great music, dancing, singing.
After this long, almost overwhelming day, I’m left with the impression of Buenos Aires as a city that has been at various times incredibly prosperous, very cosmopolitan, beautifully architectural, and culturally significant; yet it’s a city that by virtue of decades of political and social unrest, change and constant unpredictability, seems hollowed out and half-abandoned, even though there are some areas that still seem vibrant. Anyway, it was quite a whirlwind of a day!
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