Hola Buenos Aires!
Leaving London on cold wet day was not very difficult for me
Although there were many goodbyes and I will miss some people greatly, I couldn`t help being ridiculously excited for the trip ahead. Many thanks to all who sent me messages and saw/spoke to me before I left.
Saying goodbye to some great friends
So.... I had to get to Heathrow for a takeoff time of 12:05pm. The flight plan was Heathrow-Atlanta and then Atlanta-BA on Delta airlines. Being the panicky traveller that I am I decided the earlier the better and shot off at 8:30am.
Getting to Heathrow and onto the flight was pretty easy, as was the transfer from Atlanta airport onto the plane to Buenos Aires. I even managed to keep down the dodgy looking chicken fillet that was served on both legs of the flight.
Touching down at 7:30am,it was already about 20 deg and climbing rapidly. Even though I had only managed to grab 2 hours of sleep I was totally pumped up and excited. My friend Mara (a girl I`d met whilst working a ski season in Aspen) had kindly picked me up from the airport. Driving into downtown BA it was clear that the city has a distinct European style of architecture. That`s not really surprising considering that it was mainly Spanish and Italian ancestors who settled in the area.
Mara
Mara took on the role of tour guide very well and our first destination was the local cemetary! It was very similar to what I had seen in the cemetary of Montmartre in Paris... huge mausoleums that were built to house generations of family members. The place seemed infested with stray cats who didn`t fancy the chewy fruit gums I threw at them to keep them at bay.
Mara looking a bit too excited in the cemetary
Here`s me sneaking in for a better look
On from there we walked through the city centre checking out the Obelisk and local government landmarks including the famous "Pink House" where the Argentinian president resided. Mara helped me out a lot with some of the local phrases that I would need to use.
The Obelisk
The Pink House
The Old Town Hall
By now it was around 35 deg and we were beginning to feel the strain of marching around for miles on end. Mara was also complaining a lot about blisters (I guess they don`t make em that tough over here ;-) ) so we decided to take a lunch break and indulged in a local dish of Empanadas which are sort of like mini meat pies but less stodgy than the Engen garage ones I am used to.
After lunch I recieved a call from Riverdance that they had almost arrived back in the city (They had been at Pali`s farm in the west of the country). We drove to pick them up and headed to Pali`s flat on Azcuenaga St in the city centre. I was to use Pali`s sister`s room which was really nice and comfy and loaded with furry animals.
Meeting up with the troops (Riverdance, Irina and Pali)
After we had dumped our bags we were off again to have a lunch (this was to be my second one). We took a cab to the nearby Palermo district and sat down in the steak house Miranda
For 36 pesos (about 7 quid) we got a starter each (i had a grilled Mozzarella sausagey thingie), a main (I had a 400 gram Ribeye steak with chunky cut sweet potato chips which was just bloody incredible!), a desert and a glass of wine. How do you spell BARGAIN!?
Anyway after filling ourselves to the brim we all headed back to the flat to have a much needed kip.
After our rest, we headed off to one of Pali`s friend`s houses for a sushi party. We met several of his friends and enjoyed huge amounts of sushi and alcohol. At 3am it was decided to go out to a nightclub for a party. In Argentina, nobody goes out until 2am (at the earliest), so as our heads were lolling foward in tiredness, all the Argentinians were preparing for a big night.
Buenos Aires is very quiet in the first 2 weeks of January as most people are holidaying at the beach resorts in the south or at Punte D`Leste in Uruguay. This meant that most nightclubs either were closed or very very empty. Luckily after a bit of searching we found a club called Kicke where we partied away until 7am. Returning to the apartment we passed out and only got up well after midday!
Saturday started off with a hangover. However as soon as we had recovered we made our way to the fashionable Puerto Madero district. This area is part of the docking system of BA and is lined by many excellent restaurants and bars.
It was full moon and we were treated to a great sunset as we dined on the edge of the dock
Bridge at Puerto Madero
Another incredible steak dinner
Mmmmmmmmmmmm
On Sunday, we took a cab through to the La Boca district in BA. The area is renowned for its colourful buildings and as being the birthplace of "Tango"
We arrived and the area was filled with SLR wielding Americans intent on capturing every square inch of the place. The "Caminito" building is the most iconic building there as it represents the culure of the Italian (mainly from Genoa) dock working immigrants that moved to La Boca between 1880 and 1930.
The Caminito
We strolled around at a leisurely pace, politely refusing the insistent Tango dancers who suggested we have a picture with them (for a price of course). Besides the colourful buildings and tango dancers, there was not much else to see and we all felt it was a bit too touristy for us so we made our stay a short one.
We decided then to move onto the San Telmo district which was fairly close by. There was a Sunday market on the main street which we walked along. Many tango dancers were performing on the street to the tourist audience.
I indulged in a delicious Dulce de Leche (sort of like caramel) flavour ice cream as we walked towards the city centre again. From there we caught a cab to Palermo district again to a restaurant one of Irina's friends had recommended.
The place was called Cabrera's Parilla (Parilla is spanish for Grill). The meal was really good and we were astounded by the quantities served! The steak portion we ordered must have been around 800g at least!
La Cabrera
Pali met us at the restuarant and we decided to vist a Tango club that evening called La Catedrale. Before that we popped into the nearby Malba art gallery for an hour. When we arrived at La Catedrale it was disappointedly quiet due to it being a Sunday evening. The actual decor in the club was very interesting however.
La Catedrale - it was really quiet there and te only other people there were takng dance class
We decided to head home to sleep as we needed to be up early for a flight to El Calafate in Patagonia.
Our morning started off badly with us locking ourselves in the flat as the cab was waiting outside! Irina and I ran up the stairs ringing every single person's doorbell so that they could let us out!
Needless to say we were not the most popular people that morning but we did manage to escape with only a 15min delay.
Upon reaching the airport the next hitch cropped up. Our flight had been switched from the domestic airport (where we were) to the international one. Our travel agent had not informed us of this and mild bought of panic set in until the staff chucked us in a cab which sped us to the international airport.
We managed to make our flight thankfully!!!
Breathing collective sighs of relief, we tried to catch some sleep on the 3 hour place flight to El Calafate
Although there were many goodbyes and I will miss some people greatly, I couldn`t help being ridiculously excited for the trip ahead. Many thanks to all who sent me messages and saw/spoke to me before I left.
Saying goodbye to some great friendsSo.... I had to get to Heathrow for a takeoff time of 12:05pm. The flight plan was Heathrow-Atlanta and then Atlanta-BA on Delta airlines. Being the panicky traveller that I am I decided the earlier the better and shot off at 8:30am.
Getting to Heathrow and onto the flight was pretty easy, as was the transfer from Atlanta airport onto the plane to Buenos Aires. I even managed to keep down the dodgy looking chicken fillet that was served on both legs of the flight.
Touching down at 7:30am,it was already about 20 deg and climbing rapidly. Even though I had only managed to grab 2 hours of sleep I was totally pumped up and excited. My friend Mara (a girl I`d met whilst working a ski season in Aspen) had kindly picked me up from the airport. Driving into downtown BA it was clear that the city has a distinct European style of architecture. That`s not really surprising considering that it was mainly Spanish and Italian ancestors who settled in the area.
MaraMara took on the role of tour guide very well and our first destination was the local cemetary! It was very similar to what I had seen in the cemetary of Montmartre in Paris... huge mausoleums that were built to house generations of family members. The place seemed infested with stray cats who didn`t fancy the chewy fruit gums I threw at them to keep them at bay.
Mara looking a bit too excited in the cemetary
Here`s me sneaking in for a better lookOn from there we walked through the city centre checking out the Obelisk and local government landmarks including the famous "Pink House" where the Argentinian president resided. Mara helped me out a lot with some of the local phrases that I would need to use.
The Obelisk
The Pink House
The Old Town HallBy now it was around 35 deg and we were beginning to feel the strain of marching around for miles on end. Mara was also complaining a lot about blisters (I guess they don`t make em that tough over here ;-) ) so we decided to take a lunch break and indulged in a local dish of Empanadas which are sort of like mini meat pies but less stodgy than the Engen garage ones I am used to.
After lunch I recieved a call from Riverdance that they had almost arrived back in the city (They had been at Pali`s farm in the west of the country). We drove to pick them up and headed to Pali`s flat on Azcuenaga St in the city centre. I was to use Pali`s sister`s room which was really nice and comfy and loaded with furry animals.
Meeting up with the troops (Riverdance, Irina and Pali)After we had dumped our bags we were off again to have a lunch (this was to be my second one). We took a cab to the nearby Palermo district and sat down in the steak house Miranda
For 36 pesos (about 7 quid) we got a starter each (i had a grilled Mozzarella sausagey thingie), a main (I had a 400 gram Ribeye steak with chunky cut sweet potato chips which was just bloody incredible!), a desert and a glass of wine. How do you spell BARGAIN!?
Anyway after filling ourselves to the brim we all headed back to the flat to have a much needed kip.
After our rest, we headed off to one of Pali`s friend`s houses for a sushi party. We met several of his friends and enjoyed huge amounts of sushi and alcohol. At 3am it was decided to go out to a nightclub for a party. In Argentina, nobody goes out until 2am (at the earliest), so as our heads were lolling foward in tiredness, all the Argentinians were preparing for a big night.
Buenos Aires is very quiet in the first 2 weeks of January as most people are holidaying at the beach resorts in the south or at Punte D`Leste in Uruguay. This meant that most nightclubs either were closed or very very empty. Luckily after a bit of searching we found a club called Kicke where we partied away until 7am. Returning to the apartment we passed out and only got up well after midday!
Saturday started off with a hangover. However as soon as we had recovered we made our way to the fashionable Puerto Madero district. This area is part of the docking system of BA and is lined by many excellent restaurants and bars.
It was full moon and we were treated to a great sunset as we dined on the edge of the dock
Bridge at Puerto Madero
Another incredible steak dinner
MmmmmmmmmmmmOn Sunday, we took a cab through to the La Boca district in BA. The area is renowned for its colourful buildings and as being the birthplace of "Tango"
We arrived and the area was filled with SLR wielding Americans intent on capturing every square inch of the place. The "Caminito" building is the most iconic building there as it represents the culure of the Italian (mainly from Genoa) dock working immigrants that moved to La Boca between 1880 and 1930.
The CaminitoWe strolled around at a leisurely pace, politely refusing the insistent Tango dancers who suggested we have a picture with them (for a price of course). Besides the colourful buildings and tango dancers, there was not much else to see and we all felt it was a bit too touristy for us so we made our stay a short one.
We decided then to move onto the San Telmo district which was fairly close by. There was a Sunday market on the main street which we walked along. Many tango dancers were performing on the street to the tourist audience.
I indulged in a delicious Dulce de Leche (sort of like caramel) flavour ice cream as we walked towards the city centre again. From there we caught a cab to Palermo district again to a restaurant one of Irina's friends had recommended.
The place was called Cabrera's Parilla (Parilla is spanish for Grill). The meal was really good and we were astounded by the quantities served! The steak portion we ordered must have been around 800g at least!
La CabreraPali met us at the restuarant and we decided to vist a Tango club that evening called La Catedrale. Before that we popped into the nearby Malba art gallery for an hour. When we arrived at La Catedrale it was disappointedly quiet due to it being a Sunday evening. The actual decor in the club was very interesting however.
La Catedrale - it was really quiet there and te only other people there were takng dance classWe decided to head home to sleep as we needed to be up early for a flight to El Calafate in Patagonia.
Our morning started off badly with us locking ourselves in the flat as the cab was waiting outside! Irina and I ran up the stairs ringing every single person's doorbell so that they could let us out!
Needless to say we were not the most popular people that morning but we did manage to escape with only a 15min delay.
Upon reaching the airport the next hitch cropped up. Our flight had been switched from the domestic airport (where we were) to the international one. Our travel agent had not informed us of this and mild bought of panic set in until the staff chucked us in a cab which sped us to the international airport.
We managed to make our flight thankfully!!!
Breathing collective sighs of relief, we tried to catch some sleep on the 3 hour place flight to El Calafate
Comments
What about some good old South American fish like kingklip ?
It seems you had a great time there!
I wanted to ask you for an advice, because I'm planning a trip to SouthAmerica, and I was looking for apartments for rent Buenos Aires, and I'm not sure wich area of the city should I chose, any suggestions?
also if you have any other recommendation, that would be great!
nice pics, thans for sharing :)