Buenos Aires is not a city that is on the radar of a place to visit for many people. From the little time we spent there, I would recommend visiting it. The photo above is technically one street and is the widest in the world and oh you can barely see the bottom 3 lanes in the photo. Our hotel was on the street and this is a photo from our room. Now it is a long flight going south to get to Buenos Aires as in 9 hours from Atlanta, but not as much of a time change as in flying to Europe. Our flight arrived in the morning and by afternoon we were ready to explore some. By chance, our hotel was a block away from their opera house. I should back up here for a minute.
Much of Buenos Aires' growth came during a time when the rich wanted to imitate the major European cities. So it has a nickname of Paris of South America. If you look closer at the photo you will see some old buildings in it. The opera house was built during this growth period. The opera house was started in 1890 and originally only supposed to take 2 years to build because they wanted it to open in 1892 instead it was finished in 1908.
It is in the top ten of opera houses in the world and one of the top 3 for its acoustics. The outside of the building is nice, but the inside is gorgeous. Nothing was being performed while we were in town, so we did a 1 hour guided tour of the building. There were 3 main areas we saw, the entrance (inside), the golden hall and the seating area/auditorium. It is easy to understand why it took 20 years to build when you realize it is full of marble from many parts of Europe. Then there are the stained-glass ceilings in a couple of places like the one in the picture below that was made in France. Or some gorgeous huge murals some made in France, some in Argentina. All of this had to come on ships from the appropriate European countries so not only laborious work but add shipping time to the equation too. Plus, as per its name the golden room is full of gold painted accents in the lower portion of walls and real gold in the higher portions. There are several very nice huge chandeliers in the building too. Even if there had been a performance going on, I am not sure we could have gone. I noticed a sign with a dress code that at least for some seating areas men must wear either a tuxedo or black suit and women must be in appropriate evening attire. Not part of our usual travelling wardrobe!
This is a ceiling from the entrance way - there were 2 others too
Part of the golden hall
The main theatre area - we all sat in a different box.
Ceiling of the main auditorium
We are traveling with our friends Tom and Linda and Linda had found an asado dinner that we could attend that evening. An asada dinner is an Argentinian barbecue or cook out, but with their own interpretation of course. It was quite an enjoyable evening. Oh by the way, Argentinians love their meat and aren't real big on vegetables! Up on the rooftop of a 3 story building they had an impressive built-in barbecue or asado. They use charcoal - no gas here and it was probably 3 feet or more wide. We ate the different types of meat as the grill master finished them so we first ate blood sausage on a little piece of bread (weird texture) then we moved on to chorizo which was served as a small sandwich then chicken, tri tip and ribeye. All along the way they were always serving wine all of course from Argentina. We started with a white and then moved onto some reds. Our last wine was a cabernet franc which was served in the white penguin pitchers you see in the photo below. The penguins are important - they are often used at restaurants to hold their housewine. We ended with a little sweet of cream chesse with some chocolate and they sent us home with a popular cookie.
asada grill
Tonight’s entrees
Next day we were off on a 5 hour tour of the city. We started in the old town portion. There are business still using spaces as they were originally intended over a hundred years ago and hundred years ago those buildings were gorgeous even on the inside! We started at a little coffee shop that was very cute. Then we hit a pharmacy. Oh my gosh!! As you will see in a couple of pictures below. There was very nice wood cabinets and the ceiling!! It was all painted with little vignettes related to science and health. And it was just the local pharmacy for the people in the area!
Ceiling of drugstore
Wood cabinets of drug store
After the old town we hopped back into our van and headed to the governmental section of the city. There we saw the pink palace which is their president's office building. If you look closely in the photo below you will see the balcony where Eva Peron spoke with the people. Now a days when the president is in residence then the doors to the balcony are open. Look for the arched doors/windows on the left side of the photo. The president does not live here, his home is elsewhere and less than a block away is his private heliport.
Unfortunately, Argentina has a rough history with a couple of military juntas over the years. The late 1970s was one of the rough time periods for the country. The military was not happy with what young people were saying and many went missing. According to our guide one of the reasons for the Falklands War was meant to be a distraction from what the military was up to inside the country. To this day there are women who were the mothers of these young people who went missing in the 70s who meet in the square outside of the pink palace with signs. In remembrance of these missing/dead young people there is in that square pictures of white diapers. These mothers wear white neck scarves that represent the diapers there children would have once worn.
Pink palace (president's office)
Diaper represents the missing people from 1977 - children disappeared and killed by military junta
On a much happier note, we then visited the cathedral for Buenos Aires. It is quite elaborate and took many years to build. Fun fact it is on its 3rd front facade. The first 2 were traditional looking church fronts, but now it looks like a library type building. The first 2 fell during earthquakes and this new look is more stable. One of the first things we saw when we walked in the building was a sign about Pope Francis since this was his church before he became Pope. In addition to the usual parts of a cathedral, there was a side room protected by a military honor guard. This room is for General San Martin who led Argentina to freedom from Spain. He also helped free Peru and Chile. As we were leaving the cathedral we saw the honor guard marching over to change the ones standing duty inside the cathedral.
Main Interior of the cathedral
Changing of the guard
Across a plaza from the cathedral is the original town hall for the city. It does not look at all like a town hall, but rather a church. It is where the revolution started. Buenos Aires was freed before the rest of Argentina. Then back on the van and off to The Boca District and lunch.
The Boca district is a popular tourist spot during the daytime, but we were told do not go there after dark because the police will not come help you. So yes it is a poorer neighborhood and kind of an artsy area. We had lunch in a spot and then walked up and down a nearby street. Jeff found a nice new belt in one shop.
Carol and Linda in Boca
Neat corner building
Carol with the Pope inside a shopping spot
As we rode around our guide pointed out this sculpture in a park. He said the petals used to move but our now stuck in this position.
Final stop of the day was a bookstore that is probably ranked on some list as one of the most unusual/beautiful in the world. It is in a former opera house and as you can see in the photo below, they kept much of the building's original layout.
El Ateneo Grand Splendid
That evening we went to a tango show. It was the Secreto Tango Society and a 1-hour show so no food or other stuff just some up close tango dancing. The music was a pianist, an accordion player and a singer. There was 1 dance couple. They were quite light on their feet - so quiet, so smooth. I should add so close that I could have put my foot out and tripped them. Maybe because I had just been at the US Figure Skating Championships, but they made me think of an excellent ice dance routine. There were lifts in some of their dances, they had great facial expressions, and they used their bodies well to express different emotions. It was quite an enjoyable hour.
Click above to watch a brief part of the performance
After going to Iguaso Falls, we came back to Buenos Aires and stayed in a different part of town for a night. Below are some photos from that area.
