A Weekend in Buenos Aires

Best Of IgoUgo

Overview

Quote:

Since we only had two days in Buenos Aires before heading south, we tried to see everything. About a third of the Argentine population lives and works in Buenos Aires. Wide, landscaped boulevards, modern high rises tower over older buildings with a distinctive European style reminiscent of Paris – which is undoubtedly why they call BA the Paris of South America. It’s a very elegant city and most of the people I saw were just as elegant as their city. We were centrally located, so we were able to spend quite a bit of time walking through the beautiful parks and gardens that dot the city. We walked through the Plaza de Mayo, where mothers in their white kerchiefs still protest the u...Read More

Since we only had two days in Buenos Aires before heading south, we tried to see everything. About a third of the Argentine population lives and works in Buenos Aires. Wide, landscaped boulevards, modern high rises tower over older buildings with a distinctive European style reminiscent of Paris – which is undoubtedly why they call BA the Paris of South America. It’s a very elegant city and most of the people I saw were just as elegant as their city.

We were centrally located, so we were able to spend quite a bit of time walking through the beautiful parks and gardens that dot the city. We walked through the Plaza de Mayo, where mothers in their white kerchiefs still protest the unknown fate of their loved ones, the "disappeared." The sidewalks are painted with symbolic human outlines and the white kerchiefs. Facing the plaza is the Casa Rosada or "Pink House" (the Argentine version of the White House). Guides are quick to point out the balcony where Evita (the Madonna version) stood in one of the film’s scenes.

In the fashionable Recoleta area, we paid a visit to the famous cemetery where Evita is buried, then sat in a shaded sidewalk café sipping coffee and watching the dog walkers at work. I expected a dog or two, but these handlers walk a dozen at a time, in sizes that range Great Dane to toy poodle. After much wrestling around to get the leashes straightened out, off they go – handler and dogs – in what looks like a reasonably coordinated procession. We found most of the people we met were very gracious and kind, though one traveling companion, who was very travel savvy, still was unfortunate enough to encounter pickpockets.

Quick Tips:

Must sees: Take in a tango show in the San Telmo area, it’s where the Tango was created. There are several estancias (ranches) in the outlying areas and many have overnight accommodations. If you have a chance, go. The afternoon we spent riding and lunching at one, and it was the most pleasant, peaceful day of our stay in Argentina.

Best Way To Get Around:

We used public transportation. After one look at the traffic, I wouldn’t even attempt to drive. We found buses and taxis excellent, though like everything here, it was expensive.

If you're staying in a specific area, you'll find the city very walkable.

Read Less

Cheer!
Flag

Sheraton Park Tower

Best Of IgoUgo

Hotel

Quote:

Elegance and graciousness is the by-word here, as it should be for the price. We stayed in the tower part of the Sheraton Park Tower, both at the beginning of our trip to Patagonia and again when we returned to Buenos Aires for the trip home. The Tower is the exclusive side of the hotel, joined to the hotel yet separated by a glass door. The separate lobby is floored in marble and the massive furniture is decorated with equally massive flower arrangements. No standing at the front desk here, we were ushered to plush chairs and offered fresh orange juice while we filled in the registration forms. The room was large, spacious and filled with overstuffed furniture, huge beds ...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on June 25, 2001

Sheraton Park Tower
Avenida Leandro N Alem 1193
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Cheer!
Flag

Nazarenas (Las)

Best Of IgoUgo

Restaurant | "Las Nazarenas"

Quote:

Our first taste of the Argentine beef that one of my co-workers raved about, was at Las Nazarenas, which was literally across the street from the hotel, so we walked. Well, crossing one of the major avenues in the city was a bit like taking your life in your hands, but we survived. Although prepared for the heavy consumption of beef in this country, I wasn’t prepared for the fact that was about all you were served. Being primarily a vegetarian, I went home after two weeks so desperate for greens I was about to graze on the lawn. However, the food is very, very good, and was most places we ate and the odd potato, usually fried, did make it to the table along with the ubiquitous grated...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on June 25, 2001

Nazarenas (Las)
Reconquista 1131
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Cheer!
Flag

Teatro Colon

Best Of IgoUgo

Attraction | "Colon Opera House"

Quote:

I love to wander through old buildings, and the Opera House was no exception. Anyone who was anyone in opera or dance performed there: Caruso, Nijinsky and Pavlova, among dozens more. Regular tours take you through the lobby and theater areas, with their gilded wood, plush carpets, and monumental statuary. The construction was overseen by three different architects, each fond of a different style – French, Italian, and Baroque (I think were the styles) but it all works. There are six tiers of balconies in the main theatre and a chandelier sturdy enough for members of the orchestra to sit up there and provide "celestial" music, when required. Along the side on the ground floor is an ornate grill. ...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on June 25, 2001

Teatro Colon
Libertad 651
Capital Federal, Argentina 1012
+54 11 43787132

Cheer!
Flag

Señor Tango

Best Of IgoUgo

Attraction | "Shall We Tango?"

Quote:

It’s touristy, but don’t miss an opportunity to see one of the tango shows in the San Telmo area of BA. This is where the tango was born a century ago. Once the rough and ready port area of Buenos Aires with its bars, nightclubs and ladies of easy virtue, it is now a tourist destination. In the evenings, the cobbled streets are packed with tour busses and hordes of tourists file into the various clubs. Of course, we had to join the hordes and go see this dance of passion and desperation performed at its origins. We saw the show at the Casa Blanca and the dancing was spectacular (I didn’t know feet could move that fast), interspersed with singers crooning the melancholy songs, musi...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on June 25, 2001

Señor Tango
Vieytes 1655
Capital Federal, Argentina 1275
+54 11 43030231

Cheer!
Flag

La Recoleta Cemetery

Best Of IgoUgo

Attraction | "Cemetario de la Recoleta"

Quote:

There’s Pere Lachaise in Paris, Highgate in London, the Cemetario de la Recoleta in Buenos Aires. The Recoleta is a posh area of town, with sprawling, shaded parks, outdoor cafes (from whence we watched the dog walkers), and shops. It’s also noted for the Cemetery, a veritable city of the dead. Mausoleums crowd like short condos, side by side along narrow streets. Not a blade of grass in sight. The only flowers, those left by mourners. Some tombs are simple, others ornate as a Greek temple, others like small homes. We saw family members about their spring-cleaning inside the houses of the dead, caskets laid platforms. Everywhere were the feral cats who haunt the place. Scrawny, wary, and wide...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on June 25, 2001

La Recoleta Cemetery
Junín 1790 Recoleta District
Buenos Aires, Argentina 1116
+54 (11) 4804 7040

Cheer!
Flag

Afternoon on an estancia

Best Of IgoUgo

Story/Tip

Quote:

We were offered a special treat while in Buenos Aires. We had an opportunity to spend the afternoon on a working polo ranch outside the city. The owners of this elegant estancia provided us with a relaxing afternoon of lunch, a little wine, a little music, and a horseback tour of the property. It proved to be the most relaxing day I spent in Argentina. The setting was idyllic: ivy-covered house, a small pond shaded by weeping willows, sparkling blue pool, and huge trees beneath which we would be wined, dined and serenaded. Since there were only six of us, we had a leisurely tour of the host’s home, lingering in the kitchen, listening to stories, like the one about the newborn pony they...Read More

We were offered a special treat while in Buenos Aires. We had an opportunity to spend the afternoon on a working polo ranch outside the city. The owners of this elegant estancia provided us with a relaxing afternoon of lunch, a little wine, a little music, and a horseback tour of the property. It proved to be the most relaxing day I spent in Argentina. The setting was idyllic: ivy-covered house, a small pond shaded by weeping willows, sparkling blue pool, and huge trees beneath which we would be wined, dined and serenaded.

Since there were only six of us, we had a leisurely tour of the host’s home, lingering in the kitchen, listening to stories, like the one about the newborn pony they found on the side of the road and raised with their dogs. The little horse, now grown, still thinks it’s a dog. Our tour expanded, this time on horseback, through the wooded areas of the estancia, winding past the small lake with its border of weeping willows, and back to the stables where we wandered through the carriage house with Juan’s collection of old carriages. His latest acquisition, of which he was justifiably proud, was an ornate, century-old hearse, which still had its silver trappings.

Lunch, the main event, began with empanadas by the pool house. They were, without reservation, the best empanadas I tasted during my stay in Argentina. I would have had more than one, if I didn’t know lunch was about to be served. Now, there is a right way and a wrong way to eat an empanada. A well-made empanada, or meat filled pie, should have a filling juicy enough dribble down your arms when you bite into it. Thus, it is only common sense, that the proper way to eat an well-made empanada is to lean forward a bit, legs spread, so the juice dribbling up your arm doesn’t land on your clothes. I forgot to ask how you manage when you’re sitting down. Perhaps you’re not supposed to! In any event, these were extremely well made empanadas.

This was only my second day in carnivore country (my usual diet is mostly vegetables, heavy on salads) and I’m sure my eyes bugged out at the spread that awaited us. Grilled beef, lamb, sausages made on the ranch (they were delicious), and grated carrot salad and one of the few tossed green salads I would see over the next two weeks, though I did see saw a lot of grated carrots. Lunch was accompanied by local wines and local musicians – playing tangos, of course.

While this ranch, Los Patricios, offers afternoons like this to special groups, there are several estancias in the Buenos Aires area that provide overnight accommodation and would be worth checking out if you wanted to stay away from the city hotels. Read Less

Cheer!
Flag

IgoUgo

Buenos Aires Journals

Upload Photos