So we’re now two days on and we’re feeling suitably rested after our spell of well deserved ‘R&R’ in Buenos Aires. I’ve previously read that BA isn’t a city with many obvious tourist attractions, but by wandering from district to district you can get a great feel for the city. After just a few days, I couldn’t agree more. I’ve decided it’s a city which needs to be soaked up to be enjoyed and over the past three days we’ve been very happy to do just that.

Laura was with us for just a couple of days before she started a month of travelling with a friend around northern Argentina, but not to be outdone, Nikki and I still managed to enjoy some adventures of our own! 

Tall ship at Puerto Madero

Yesterday, we got off to quite a late start. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect we decided for a relaxing girly lunch with a bottle of wine. After a consultation with Laura (South America travel pro!), we decided that Puerto Madero was the place to be. The port itself is very ‘Docklands-esque’, with a slow-running river flowing through the centre, flanked by modern office complexes, riverside restaurants and loft style apartments on each side. We were happy to stroll for a while then enjoyed a lovely and very long lunch with not one but two bottles of vino rosado in the sunshine . 

Casa Rosada in Plaza de Mayo

The rest of the afternoon and evening was a very relaxed affair, focused on food, frappuccinos and shopping!  This morning we got off to an early start as it marked the beginning of Laura’s travels. We had a final farewell breakfast together then saw her off to the bus station to start her journey south to the beach at Mar del Plata.  From there, Nikki and I explored the squares and arcades of San Telmo, the city’s art and antiques district, until we arrived at the Plaza de Mayo.

This is arguably the hottest landmark in Buenos Aires. On 25 May 1810, BA gained it’s independence from the Spanish who were controlling the Rio de la Plata (now Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay) and installed their own government at Plaza de Mayo. One year later the ‘May Pyramid’, was erected to mark their victory and as a reminder of their independence. Today Plaza de Mayo is surrounded by many government buildings, including the Casa Rosada, previous home to General Juan Domingo and Eva Peron. 

 

After taking a few obligatory tourist snaps, Nikki and I resisted the temptation to shop but wandered all the way through Micro-Centro along the main shopping, street Avenida Florida, to Plaza San Martin in the Retiro district. This is another historic site but is for all intents and purposes a pretty park with benches, shady spots of grass and palm trees. Frankly it’s a perfect location to spend a couple of hours in the sunshine reading books… which is exactly what we did!  Before leaving, we decided to go and check out the colourful display of statues which we could just see through the trees from our little park bench! When we got there we were glad we’d made the effort as it was a ‘United Buddy Bears Exhibition’.

United Buddy Bears at Plaza San Martin

This was a new one on me, but essentially it’s an international art exhibition of giant fibre glass bears, each representing countries from all over the world. Each is designed by an artist from that country and all of the bears stand together in a circle to promote the notion of those countries being in peace and harmony with one-another. BA is the 15^th in a line of exhibitions which have been running since 2002.

We couldn’t always work out what the design had to do with the country the bear represented, but were relieved to find that the Brits had indeed kept it very simple!  

  

Feeling sleepy after our afternoon in the sunshine, it was very tempting to call it a day and retire to the hotel for a power nap before our last night out, but I had a nagging feeling that if we didn’t drag ourselves to La Boca we were going to regret it…

La Boca is on the other side of town and an area where we certainly wouldn’t want to wander by night. By day however, it is the epi-centre of tango tourist heaven .

According to the guide books, in the fifty years leading up to 1930, almost 6 million foreign immigrants flooded into Buenos Aires and almost half of these were Italians (mainly from Genoa). They lived in the working-class neighbourhood of La Boca near the port where the majority worked and they built shared ‘coventillo’ or tenement style homes from materials such as scrap corrugated iron and wood gathered from the ports. These were then painted in bright colours with left-over paint from the ship-yards.  Over time these buildings were torn down and replaced by dull sets of flats and other homes and La Boca was no longer the vibrant place it had once been.

An unusually sleepy 'Caminito', La Boca

In 1959, local artist and resident Benito Quinquela Martin stepped in. He decided to re-create a traditional ‘La Boca’ style street to give some soul back to the neighbourhood. The street he created with his artist friends became known as ‘Caminito’. It was built on the site of an old railway track by the mouth of the Riachuelo river and is less than 100m long. The street they re-created has replica brightly coloured Coventillos and there are murals painted on the walls of the buildings and art sculptures can be found all along the street.

Today this is the main tourist attraction in La Boca district. While no-one actually lives in the buildings themselves, the street is lined with souvenir shops as well as cafes and restaurants with their own stages where there is live music and tango dancing throughout the day.

 

We read that it was a complete tourist trap but we arrived late afternoon and had a fabulous time. We took a stroll around the neighbourhood, taking in the artwork and generally soaking up the atmosphere. After a bit of deliberation we decided which bar to park ourselves at and watched the tango dancers and enjoyed a final couple of beers in the sunshine.  

Tango and Quilmes in the sunshine on Caminito

Feeling invigorated by the bright colours and tango music, we were happy to skip on the power nap and instead got our bags packed before heading out for a final night in BA.  Nikki had dinner with a colleague on a work trip a few years ago and was able to make the fab recommendation that we returned to Puerto Madero and ate at Cabana Las Lilas. For anyone planning a trip to BA, this place is FABULOUS! We sat on the riverside terrace and despite all the amazing meals we’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy on the ships, this was the best meal I’ve had in months!  

Nikki and I at Cabanas Las Lilas - Cheers!

Before we even ordered, they brought us a huge platter of sweet roasted peppers, grilled aubergines, sun-dried tomatoes, olives and home-made breads – we were in heaven. The restaurant has it’s own estancia in the Pampas where it rears it’s own cattle and we were about to taste just how good it really was.  Until that point, I have to confess that I thought Argentinean steak was over-rated (shame on me, I know!), but I quite literally ate my words this evening. Nikki had an Argentinean beef skewer and I had filet mignon in a madeira wine sauce with pureed almond potatoes. It goes without saying that it was washed down with a lovely bottle of red and finished off with some home-made French nougat ice-cream. What a perfect way to end our little holiday J.