BA, touring the sights and EVITA

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Well we made it to BA okay and caught a taxi into the city rather late. Being a late night kind of place it was great to arrive at this time not having had a meal. We ducked next door for a pizza which was nice and tasty.

Day 1 BA- City tour and Recoleta

We decided to get a package deal from our hostel which gave us a load of activities to do, the first being a bus city tour. We visited the Plaza de Mayo which is very beautiful and is where the city was founded. The church their holds the grave of José San Martin who is considered to be the hero of Argentian liberation. The bus then drove us around a bit.

There weren´t too many English speaking people but they translated things for us. Our next stop was Boca stadium then the Caminito. It is a strip where you can see the immigrant houses called convenillos (like convents because of all of the families that lived in the one house). This area is considered to be an area where tango was born. You can also see a lot of art. The houses are all painted in crazy bright colours because they used the leftover paint from the ships they arrived on. These were mainly Italian immigrants.

After this stop we spent a lot of time driving around with commetary. We saw a metal flower that is worth 3million. It is really huge and it opens and closes at night. The most expensive flower in the world! We had the option to get off in Recoleta so we jumped off had some lunch and then headed to the cemetery.

The Recoleta cemetery is a massive necropolis with massive mansion like graves. There are some really interesting sculptures and different types of graves that are great to just look at. We did the suggested itinerary on the map we got and included of course was a look at Evita´s grave. People were getting their photo taken with her tombstone which was interesting ( I mean the people not the tombstone).

We walked back through the rich Recoleta area seeing many monuments and then had a look down Florida street (shopping disctrict).

The Desnivel in San Telmo a place recommended to us by a number of people. We both had steaks and they were the best steaks we have had in the whole of Argentina, they were so tender and just yummy. The place had a great vibe with meat just flowing from the kithchen. It is interesting to see the difference between porteños and English type people. We are lot less pushy for starters, we wait and are too timid. These guys just say I want this, that is not good enough, I don´t want that. They are not mean about it or rude they are just forthright.

We got home late and felll into bed after a mega day.

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Photos

Plaza de Mayo
This is the main square. It is the place where the grandmothers gather on a Thursday to commemorate those missing in the last war. It was also where the foundation for the city was laid.

Caminito
La Boca district, a colourful end of town.

Caminito
A cafe/tango house. The area is considered to be an open air museum

Recoleta cemetery
This is one of our favourite graves, that of an Italian girl 17 years.

Recoleta cemetery
Another interesting tomb, this of an Argentian President.

The Desnivel
Ben enjoying his steak and some vino tinto