Bike, bus, walking, subway…exactly like the locals do.
We’ll walk through:
SAN TELMO / MONSERRAT / BALVANERA: OLD TOWN CENTER
No Southamerican Paris at all; this place has a unique identity in its completely own right!...
No Southamerican Paris at all; this place has a unique identity in its completely own right!...
Corrientes Ave., old-fashioned bars where you can taste chocolate con churros, (longstanding Spanish tradition) have some coffee or, if hungry, taste a slice of pizza that even Italians admit surpasses the Neapolitan original. This is the theater area, where you can browse through old and new books in the 7/24 bookstores that still are a trademark of bohemian Buenos Aires. Not to be missed: the Teatro San Martín, world-renowned city landmark since 1957, brainchild of architect Mario Roberto Alvarez, who will soon be 100, active as ever (it would seem that Latin American architects have found the secret of long and fruitful lives, as Alvarez and his Brazilian counterpart, Niemeyer, 102, are living proofs)
Callao Ave., typical porteño bars, special little places… Juan Domingo Perón owned an apartment on this avenue in the mid-1940s, where Eva Duarte visited him for some discreet romantic moments at the very beginning of their tempestous relationship, before he became El Líder and “Evita” evolved into a household name for millions.
Congress area: polemic since its conception (it was called “the golden palace” when inaugurated in 1907 because it repeatedly went over budget), the Congreso building attracts huge crowds when a special law is to be treated (these meetings are generally peaceful, but if worse should come to worse, we have years of experience in avoiding trouble…in troublesome Buenos Aires! what’s the point of coming to faraway Argentina without experiencing some adrenalin-raising bombo show?)
All this area reminds us of a splendorous, creative and productive era for this country. In some cases, sadly decayed, as in the formerly posh El Molino café, where Senators and deputies from all over the country met for informal pre-session agreements. The building still shows the pockmarks of bullets from the Sept. 1930 Army takeover, the first of a long series of military coups d’état that ended (hopefully, forever) in 1983.
Palacio Barolo
Palacio Barolo
Avenida de Mayo: Imagine the center of Madrid, the Reina Sofía area, or the Travessera de Gràcia in Barcelona. Put in some South American pep. Add a dash of bandoneón tango lament… and you have a very Argentinian bit of Spain in Buenos Aires. Historic cafes, like the 36 Billares and particularly the Tortoni cafe, where we’ll have a sidra chopp (another Spanish tradition), have a look at the wall memorabilia and hopefully watch some tango dance live. The avenue was founded in 1890, as Federico de Alvear, the first city governor, planned a splendorous boulevard that had to be equal to the most elegant and hip city centers of Europe.
Casa Rosada (govt. house): not only the Perón couple used to salute the masses from this historic balcony, but they certainly started the trend. This area (Plaza de Mayo) is a showplace of the statu quo: at nearby Paseo Colón, the huge Army headquarters building shed its ominous shadow over the Casa Rosada, but is now overshadowed by the Puerto Madero skyscrapers, that have dramatically changed Buenos Aires skyline. So, we´ll chat a little about all this, and we´ll visit the Museo del Cabildo, where you´ll be able to get in touch with the documents very beginnings -the Cabildo itself is one of the greatest- of a convulsive history that took us to the current democracy.
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
We´ll also have a look on the Catedral, the Museo de la Ciudad with its incredible toys, and a few other very special places (libraries, barber shops, subway stations, old buildings and galleries), specially representative of this historic area of the country.
We´ll visit one of the first five houses ever built in Buenos Aires -- Lo de Luca Prodan, from 1740, and that later became the house of one of the most important rock musicians that ever lived here, leader of the reggae-punk rock band Sumo-. We´ll visit the roof and view Alsina st and the Iglesia de San Ignacio.
Other churches to view: San Francisco -along with its Museo Franciscano, studying place for the patriot Mariano Moreno-, and Santo Domingo.
Luca Prodan, from SUMO
Magical cafe-bar Los 36 Billares
We´ll visit one of the first five houses ever built in Buenos Aires -- Lo de Luca Prodan, from 1740, and that later became the house of one of the most important rock musicians that ever lived here, leader of the reggae-punk rock band Sumo-. We´ll visit the roof and view Alsina st and the Iglesia de San Ignacio.
Other churches to view: San Francisco -along with its Museo Franciscano, studying place for the patriot Mariano Moreno-, and Santo Domingo.
Casa de los Lirios
Luca Prodan, from SUMO
SAN TELMO: It all started just in here.
The south-center city area is the oldest part of Buenos Aires. Pedro de Mendoza founded the city for the first time in 1536. In fact BA was founded twice, as Indians destroyed the first settlement, and I’ll show you the site of the 2nd foundation, marked by a statue of Juan de Garay just across Casa Rosada)
Also here, in the south part of the city, locals fought against the English invaders that tried unsuccessfully to take over the (then) Spanish colonies, during the Napoleonic wars (English Invasions, 1806), where four years later Argentina declared its freedom…here is where the story of Buenos Aires was first written, and you can still breathe this.
Here´s where the rich people of Argentina lived lavishly, but little is left to show that: when the yellow fever erupted, between 1858-1871, this area became a ruin of what it used to be; wealthy people moved to the north area, and the downtrodden (workers and immigrants) settled. So, petit French-style buildings mix up with "conventillos"; houses that used to belong to one family, and after that, became communities, where each room belonged to one different family, many families sharing one washbasin. Nearly all of today’s rich families started like that, a few generations ago; but Argentina was a generous country, and hard-working immigrants could give first-rate education to their children, and upwards social mobility was possible, not unlike North American cities at the time.
Nowadays, the area is chosen most of all by arty, bohemian people, along with normal, mid-class workers, who maybe have been here for generations, and right now, some sort of "classy wave" of rich people tend to come live to the neighborhood -looking for an alternative-, but the low-class spirit somehow always persists. So, in this area, everyone´s living together; wealthy or not; you will certainly not find that eclecticism in the north area.
San Telmo has also been the "gay friendly" neighborhood forever -not necessarily meaning place of "search for meetings", but more of a way of accepting and living altogether-.
Defensa St, the most typical antiques commercial centre; if the "feria" is on (weekends), we´ll stop in there; if not we´ll keep going. We´ll eat something on the typical Británico café, we´ll cross the San Telmo marketplace, I´ll show you a few special points, and then, if the day is nice and we´re not very tired, we´ll get in touch with some nature and animals from Buenos Aires! Less than a mile away from Plaza de Mayo.
We´ll have a drink on La Coruña bar, we´ll check out the very old and hip Mercado de San Telmo (San Telmo market), and we´ll see the Iglesia San Pedro Telmo, base of the resistance against the British Invasions (1806 / 1807) and which also functioned as a hospital, where people were treated when the cólera and yellow fever epidemics took place, in the late XIX century.
San Pedro Telmo church
If you agree, and are into history in general,.we would highly recommend you to visit with us the Museo Histórico Nacional, along with the Parque Lezama, the Británico bar, and the Russian Orthodox Church.
This wonderful museum is so important for us, and it´ll give you a pretty deeo idea of how we became a "free nation".
One of the most important objects the museum has, which are so many, is nothing less than the original petitory that the commitee of criollos for argentinian independency signed on May 25th 1810, reclaiming their independence from the Spanish royalty.
Being able to get in touch with this, whether you´re argentinian or not, is really emotional and profound, we think for everyone who gets in touch with it.
Nowadays, the area is chosen most of all by arty, bohemian people, along with normal, mid-class workers, who maybe have been here for generations, and right now, some sort of "classy wave" of rich people tend to come live to the neighborhood -looking for an alternative-, but the low-class spirit somehow always persists. So, in this area, everyone´s living together; wealthy or not; you will certainly not find that eclecticism in the north area.
San Telmo has also been the "gay friendly" neighborhood forever -not necessarily meaning place of "search for meetings", but more of a way of accepting and living altogether-.
Defensa St, the most typical antiques commercial centre; if the "feria" is on (weekends), we´ll stop in there; if not we´ll keep going. We´ll eat something on the typical Británico café, we´ll cross the San Telmo marketplace, I´ll show you a few special points, and then, if the day is nice and we´re not very tired, we´ll get in touch with some nature and animals from Buenos Aires! Less than a mile away from Plaza de Mayo.
We´ll have a drink on La Coruña bar, we´ll check out the very old and hip Mercado de San Telmo (San Telmo market), and we´ll see the Iglesia San Pedro Telmo, base of the resistance against the British Invasions (1806 / 1807) and which also functioned as a hospital, where people were treated when the cólera and yellow fever epidemics took place, in the late XIX century.
San Pedro Telmo church
If you agree, and are into history in general,.we would highly recommend you to visit with us the Museo Histórico Nacional, along with the Parque Lezama, the Británico bar, and the Russian Orthodox Church.
This wonderful museum is so important for us, and it´ll give you a pretty deeo idea of how we became a "free nation".
One of the most important objects the museum has, which are so many, is nothing less than the original petitory that the commitee of criollos for argentinian independency signed on May 25th 1810, reclaiming their independence from the Spanish royalty.
Being able to get in touch with this, whether you´re argentinian or not, is really emotional and profound, we think for everyone who gets in touch with it.
LA BOCA
This place has something attractive that sometimes words can´t explain. For some reason I went to live there for a few years... For me, it was the place par excellence to retire from the center and the mainstream system... The underground culture... the artists, mixed up with the unwealthy, and the hip, the lofts.. completely opposite from the èlite arts. The rich is not welcome here. And the soccer, in the middle of all this... the old buildings... conventillos and deadly cantinas, like a phantom city.. and some italian tarantella, sounding backwards, somehow...
This place has something attractive that sometimes words can´t explain. For some reason I went to live there for a few years... For me, it was the place par excellence to retire from the center and the mainstream system... The underground culture... the artists, mixed up with the unwealthy, and the hip, the lofts.. completely opposite from the èlite arts. The rich is not welcome here. And the soccer, in the middle of all this... the old buildings... conventillos and deadly cantinas, like a phantom city.. and some italian tarantella, sounding backwards, somehow...
Another special area which I´ll tell you little by little, block by block about, as I have lived there for years. This is where the first Italian immigrants established, THE proletarian neighborhood par excellence. In fact, the colored corrugated iron houses were made from scraps from ships and rests of painting, as the Riachuelo was the natural repair shop for ships that crossed the Atlantic with plentiful Argentine meat and grain. This, in fact, is the low-class riverside of the city, where it’s common to listen to some tangos mixed with London Calling from The Clash, and it won´t sound out of place at all.
La Boca bridge / Riachuelo y ribera - Circa 1930
Caminito
La Boca bridge / Riachuelo y ribera - Circa 1930
Caminito
Art is everywhere. De La Cárcova and Quinquela Martín captured the spirit of this colourful neighbourhood in their paintings. We’ll have a look at the riverside, Caminito, painter Benito Quinquela Martín´s house-atelier -with a special view of the neighborhood from its roof-.
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Paintor Benito Quinquela Martín
Paintor Benito Quinquela Martín
A little of contemporary art -only if you´re specially interested; if not, we´ll just walk through the neighborhood-, on Fundación Proa, one of the biggest galleries of the city, from where you´ll also get a very nice view of La Boca, and can also stop by and maybe drink something, on its cute and comfortable roof.
If you´re into soccer, we´ll check out a little bit the Boca stadium, and maybe, if you´re tired, we´ll get a typical licuado de banana y leche (banana and milk shake) on the typical café de la cancha.
But you could actually meet a contemporary artist that also works and is inspired with La Boca! Are you into sculpture? Let´s stop by for a minute in Carlo Pelella´s Studio, just in front of the riverside. This is a real man who works all day with his huge fishes, and a very well known artist that has been being a part of La Boca´s culture for decades. He´ll be there and share a tasty mate with us.
We´ll visit Eloísa Cartonera too, a community library that produces books out of the hands of the street pickers that find there an alternative way to make a living and also, this place has a lot to do with the culture of recycling and reusing BEFORE expecting the argentinian government to take care of it.
Carlo Pelella´s sculpture
If you´re into soccer, we´ll check out a little bit the Boca stadium, and maybe, if you´re tired, we´ll get a typical licuado de banana y leche (banana and milk shake) on the typical café de la cancha.
Eloísa Cartonera:
Cooperative of book editions made out of the materials and the work of the street pickers (cartoneros).
But you could actually meet a contemporary artist that also works and is inspired with La Boca! Are you into sculpture? Let´s stop by for a minute in Carlo Pelella´s Studio, just in front of the riverside. This is a real man who works all day with his huge fishes, and a very well known artist that has been being a part of La Boca´s culture for decades. He´ll be there and share a tasty mate with us.
We´ll visit Eloísa Cartonera too, a community library that produces books out of the hands of the street pickers that find there an alternative way to make a living and also, this place has a lot to do with the culture of recycling and reusing BEFORE expecting the argentinian government to take care of it.
Carlo Pelella´s sculpture
A quick -and careful- pass through Almte. Brown St (which I call "Almt. Bronx"), to finally get to Parque Lezama (Lezama park).
AlsoCostanera Sur Reservation
Into nature and free air, but kinda lazy?? This is just the south coast of the city, only ten blocks from San Telmo. Here, a species reservation was born naturally, and a focus of birds, mammals, and ducks got together as the industrialization of Buenos Aires went on, and it became so big and important that the gvt. closed it as a specially preserved place and it became huge, full of typical and wild trees and flowers; some sort of Central Park but wilder. Here, you can just stop by, in silence, watch and listen to the birds, get in touch with the sun and forget a little about the big noisy city. Take a nice easy walk while just breathing, relaxing, and enjoying the lovely southern weather and sun.
RECOLETA: The elegant point
This is more the north-center area of Buenos Aires city.
Here, we´ll walk around the neighborhood, and also we´ll visit places like:
The fundamental Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes; a synthesis of argentinian history through its best -well known- paintings and sculptures.
Recoleta Cemetery, a little city of the well known and not too well known; architecturally very interesting, and where not only Evita rests, but also foundational characters of argentinian history like Juan Galo Lavalle.
The Centro Cultural Recoleta, with its contemporary artists, the nice roof, etc.
Here, we´ll walk around the neighborhood, and also we´ll visit places like:
The fundamental Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes; a synthesis of argentinian history through its best -well known- paintings and sculptures.
Recoleta Cemetery, a little city of the well known and not too well known; architecturally very interesting, and where not only Evita rests, but also foundational characters of argentinian history like Juan Galo Lavalle.
The Centro Cultural Recoleta, with its contemporary artists, the nice roof, etc.
The tours will take 3hs -unless you take the option of keeping going for a couple of hours more.
