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Published: February 4th 2012
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Inside the Gran Cafe TortoniEL CENTRO
This was the first stop on the first day of my tour. It contains the Plaza de Mayo, the National Cathedral and the Presidential Palace and one of the two colonial Spanish building still standing in BA.
The Plaza de Mayo is the traditional place where people go to protest government action. It is where the Mothers of the Disappeared launched their marches. It is where the crowds gathered to hear Eva Peron speak.
Evita spoke to the crowds from a balcony of the Presidential Palace, called by Argentineans the “Pink House” and yes, it is pink. After she died it was decreed that the balcony would never again be used and so it was closed until the movie Evita was filmed and Madonna was given permission to use it. This raised a huge controversy with passions raised on both sides. Not, once again, it is closed.
The National Cathedral does not look like a church. It was intended to look like a government building and it does. That is because Catholicism is the National Religion of the country. Inside is the tomb of San Martin, the father of Argentinean independence from Spain. Honor guards
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The National Cathedral stand at the entrance.
San Martin was an amazing man. He not only led the independence movement, but helped Chile and Peru gain their independence and worked with Simon Bolivar to secure the independence of Bolivia.
At one time this was the most important and wealthiest part of town but while the President works in the Pink House, she lives in the suburbs. The mansions are government office buildings.
We stopped for a refreshing drink at the Gran Café Tortoni, established in 1856. It was a hang out for the celebrity and artsy set and retains much of the original ambiance.
We crossed the Aveda 9 de Julio, an eighteen-lane boulevard where traffic was slowed to two lanes because of a labor demonstration.
Next we visited a malanga or tango café. The building houses a café and upstairs is the tango school and bistro where folks come to dance. There are malangas all over the city. This one was close to my hotel and if I had someone to go with I would have loved to take a look upstairs in the evening. Alone, not a great idea.
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