Category: Buenos Aires

• Happy Birthday Rick 🎂🎉🎊🎁🎈

This morning we took the subway to Plaza de Mayo.  This is the colonial section of the city.  Here are some pictures.

We walked along Calle Florida, which is a pedestrian retail street and over to Plaza de Mayo.   From here we had a great view of the Puerto Madero, with its modern buildings.

We saw the La Casa Rosada, the executive mansion and office of the President of Argentina. Eva Perron gave speeches to masses from the balcony of La Casa Rosada.  They give tours of the building but we didn’t do that.  You can see they are doing construction on the Plaza.

The Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral is also in the Plaza.  The Cathedral of Buenos Aires was rebuilt several times since its humble origins in the 16th century. The present building is a mix of architectural styles, with an 18th-century nave and dome and a severe, 19th-century Neoclassical façade without towers. The interior keeps precious 18th-century statues and altarpieces, as well as abundant Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque decoration.  Here are pictures of Cathedral.

By this time we were hungry for lunch so we walked back to     Puerto Madero and had a very nice lunch to celebrate Rick’s birthday.

On our way back to the subway we saw the Obelisco de Buenos Aires, which is a national historic monument and icon of Buenos Aires, and 9 de Julio Avenue. The Obelisk is located in the Plaza de la República in the intersection of avenues Corrientes and 9 de Julio and was erected in 1936 to commemorate the quadricentennial of the first foundation of the city.  9 de Julio Avenue is the widest avenue in the world, with 8 lanes of traffic in each direction. Its name honors Argentina’s Independence Day, July 9, 1816.

We took took the subway back to our hotel and relaxed for awhile.  Later that evening we went out for birthday pizza.

The Argentines eat very late, similar to the Spanish.  People start showing up at restaurants at 9, even with little kids.

 

After walking a ridiculous amount yesterday, we decided to take the subway. The subway is very easy and cheap, less than $0.50, one way. We went to the Puerto Madero section of the city. As we came out of the subway we were looking at the map, trying to figure out what direction to go when a older gentleman asked us if we needed help. It turned out that he had married an Argentinian woman 50 years earlier and now spends 6 months a year in the US and 6 months a year in Argentina. He told us that the government had invested a lot of money to build the port but it had many problems and was never successful. More recently the government had developed the area into a very nice residential and commercial area. He said it was a desirable place to live because it was run by the navy which is less corrupt than the police who are responsible for the rest of the city.

Based on his suggestion, we walked out towards the river and found the ecological reserve.  We walked through the old/revitalized port area.

This is the Puente de la Mujer or bridge of the lady which was opened in 2001.  A number of streets in the Puerto Madero district have women’s names, thus giving the bridge its name.

Finally we arrived at the reserve which is amazing.  This 360-hectare ecological reserve was created on top of the refuse of a former dump site.  We didn’t feel like we were in the city as we walked the dirt paths.  It was very hot.  Eventually we came to a break in the foliage and could see the river.  It is very muddy and expansive, we couldn’t see the other side.

Puerto Madero has many very modern buildings.  Here’s a picture of a couple of the big buildings as seen from the reserve.

I thought the reflection of the one building in the other building was cool.

We had lunch at a restaurant in one of the renovated dock buildings.  We watched this little boat clean up the water; essentially it was an aqua street cleaner.

We continued walking and were trying to get to Plaza de Mayo but once again got a little lost and ended up at the other end of Plaza San Martin.  Here’s a picture of the clock at the Plaza.

By this time we were very hot, sweaty, tired, and our feet hurt so we took a cab back to the hotel.

That evening we went to dinner and a tango show.  The food at the restaurant was ok.  We sat next to two ladies from Spain who spoke no English but we managed to have a conversation with them even so.  The tango show traced the history of the tango.  It was well done and enjoyable.   Below are a couple of blurry pictures from the show.

 

 

After a yummy breakfast at the hotel we started walking. We were headed to the river. Buenos Aires is on the Rio de la Plata, the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay and the Paraná rivers. It is the widest river in the world, 140 miles at its widest. It is not very deep.

Unfortunately we got turned around and walked away from the river. We walked about an 1 1/2 miles before we realized we were going the wrong way. Oops! After turning around, we ended up at Cementerio de la Recoleta. Before exploring the cemetery we had a late lunch in a nearby square. This tree (not sure of the type) was in the square. I liked this statue of the man holding up a branch.

After lunch we visited the Basilica Nuestra Señora Del Pilar. It was completed in 1732 and is the second oldest church in Buenos Aires.

Eventually we explored the cemetery. It contains many elaborate marble mausoleums, decorated with statues, in a wide variety of architectural styles such as Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Baroque, and Neo-Gothic. There is “street” after “street” of mausoleums, some of which are ridiculously ornate. We found Eva Perron’s tomb. Here are some pictures of the cemetery.

 

The city map we have has some walks so after the cemetery we did the “Little Paris Walk” which ended at Plaza St Martin. Here are some pictures from our walk and the monument dedicated to Jose de San Martin, an Argentine general and the prime leader of the southern part of South America’s successful struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire.

It was very hot and luckily a thunderstorm rolled through to cool it off. We ducked into a little mall to stay dry.

We walked back to the hotel.  I had an ice cream at Freddos, thanks Sally for the recommendation.  We had dinner in the room again.

According to my phone we did 29,775 steps and 13.35 miles. Yikes! Oh and we both have blisters on our feet, not surprising!

We made it to Buenos Aires without problem. We boarded the plane in Miami at 10 and after dinner we both slept for about 4-5 hours.

Once we arrived in a Buenos Aires, our local guide, Paola, was waiting for us right outside customs. She and a driver brought us to our hotel with just one stop at an ATM to get pesos. During the ride she gave tips about getting around the city. Luckily our room was ready so we were able to check in early. We promptly took a nap and then showered.

After freshening up we went to a cute place around the corner from our hotel for lunch.  We didn’t really know what we were ordering but it turned out fine.   Here are pictures of the restaurant.

After lunch we headed for the Parc Tres de Febrero which seems to be the major park of Buenos Aires. Along the way we saw a lot of graffiti (we saw a graffiti walking tour but we figured we could save the money and do it on our own.). Here are pictures of some of the graffiti we saw . . .

Finally we arrived at the park which was beautiful. Here are a few pictures of the park.

After we explored the park we walked back to the hotel. Along the way we picked up some groceries for dinner. We just had our usual picnic of bread, cheese, and wine. Once back at the hotel we had a happy hour glass of wine on the roof terrace over looking the city.

Here’s the view of the city from the roof.

I have been using my Spanish a little bit. I need to get braver and use it more.