My first impression of Buenos Aires was that it had a European feel and at the same time it felt like being back in New York City; it is very noisy and congested, the nightlife is basically 24 hours long, the energy of the city is crazy non-stop. There is always something to fill every one of your senses.
Day 1
Upon landing, the first thing we noticed was this soccer stadium that belongs to the soccer team River Plate. Thousands of fanatics come here each year to watch their team play, and when World Cup time comes around, the whole country stops working just to watch the games! Sports are one the specialties here and are taken very seriously, especially soccer.
Funny story about buildings in Buenos Aires, the majority are so old that they don’t have elevators! Oh surprise, we had about 10 pieces of luggage which we ended up carrying to the apartment. (Note: it was only two flights, but 10 massive suitcases make those two flights look eternal)
Day 2
In this city, we either walked or took the subway train (people have cars, but where’s the adventure in that?). So, we took the subway from this place called Alto Palermo, to Plaza de Mayo where we went on a little tour around the outskirts of the city.
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The first place we were taken to on our tour, was called Cabildo de Buenos Aires. This building was used as housing for the government during colonial times (the declaration of independence was signed here!).
Back in the 1600’s, due to lack of maintenance and funds (one of the common characteristics of the city), the building was in ruins. Eventually, an “extended version” was constructed but again, due to lack of funding, it was suspended. Now, this place is only about 2 thirds of the tower that was built later on (which had 11 arches) and serves as a museum.
Right across from Cabildo, on the same plaza (note: plaza is the same as park or boulevard), sits the government house, called “Pink House” (Casa Rosada).
If you ever watched the film “Evita”, this is the original place where Madonna filmed one of the main scenes!
If you ever watched the film “Evita”, this is the original place where Madonna filmed one of the main scenes!
Soldiers were one of the most unusual things I encountered in Buenos Aires; if you look closely, on the picture of the Pink House, there are fences surrounding the house all around, but that wasn’t the only thing surrounding it… these guys were walking all around it throughout the whole day!
I’m not really sure but I suppose they’re meant to serve a security guards since people often come to this plaza to protest.
National Congress Building
Av. 9 de Julio is considered to be the widest avenue in the world; the obelisk -one of the main icons of the city- sits at the end of 9 de Julio, towering a massive 223 ft over Plaza de la Republica. This whole intersection becomes a massive celebration ground after major soccer victories, thousands of fanatics gather around this place to celebrate whenever their team wins a match.
Caminito was definitely, one of my favorite places in this city. This place was completely built up and inhabited by Italian immigrants over 100 hundred years ago. Something I learned from this tour: since all immigrants arrived at the port, it seemed logical to settle by it; they were so poor that they built these tiny houses where large families lived in out of wood and corrugated iron and were painted with left over paint from the ships (hence the variety of colors).
Now, this old Italian neighborhood is crowded with thousands of tourists, artists, tacky souvenir shops, art markets, and restaurants.
Above: a couple dancing tango outside a restaurant in Caminito
Below: a moving statue of a gaucho (which is the Argentine version of a cowboy)
Below: a moving statue of a gaucho (which is the Argentine version of a cowboy)
Luna Park is one of the biggest arenas in the city and has hosted tons of events and internationally famous people like Frank Sinatra and Luciano Pavarotti.
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