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Nuestra Señora del Pilar
Sergio at Nuestra Señora del Pilar in Recoleta Sergio, Joaquín and I landed in Buenos Aires at around 7:00 AM local time, after an overnight, 9-hour flight from Atlanta. Going through Immigration, customs, and out into the general area of Ezeiza International Airport did not take any time at all and soon enough, we were looking for ways to get from the airport to our hotel in downtown BA. Having heard from Argentinean friends that using “remise” (cars w/ drivers for hire) was one of the best ways to get around, we soon discovered a remise service window upon exiting from customs and decided to give them a try (at 69 Argentinean Pesos or about US $23 for the three of us).
The trip from the airport on remise was fast and comfortable... Our driver was surprised about our Spanish Language skills after learning of our U.S. citizenship and took upon himself to give us a lot of useful information about the places that we needed to see during our visit. As we passed various areas of the city (Barrios) in the way to our hotel, he pointed out vital statistics about each one. Close to the end of the trip, he gave us a small map of
Outdoorsman & Dogs
Urban outdoorsman entertains city dogs the city that we used extensively from that point on.
Since we arrived so early in the morning, our hotel, the Marriott Plaza, did not have a room available for us and asked us to return in an hour or so to get our keys. Leaving the bulk of our luggage with the concierge, we headed to Barrio Recoleta (a 15-minute walk from our hotel, which is located in the “Retiro” area). In Recoleta, we admired the elegant classic architecture of many of the buildings there. The three of us found it very similar to areas in Paris that we had visited during previous trips.
One of the first items we noticed in Recoleta was many dog walkers with 8-12 dogs of all kinds along side them. We came to a green area within Recoleta where several of them were entertaining their dogs. In one of the sides of this green area, along Junin Street, we found an attractive church, “Nuestra Señora del Pilar”, where we spent some time taking pictures. Next to the church, we stumbled into the Recoleta Cemetery where we knew Eva Peron is buried. The cemetery itself was quite an experience! In addition to
Cat City
Happy cats enjoy the sun and visitors at Recoleta Cemetery its elaborate mausoleums representing every possible architectural style and forming a true small town of the dead, this cemetery is also the residence of hundreds of cats. None of us had seen so many of them in one place… All of the cats seemed to be well fed, happy and very friendly towards humans and each other.
We had to follow an official tour of Asian tourists to find Evita’s mausoleum, though a map at the cemetery gate’s points to the general area where it is located. After paying our respects, we headed back to the hotel to pick our keys, claim our room, and have some overdue showers.
After the showers and a 2-to-3-hour nap (to recover some of the sleep time that we did not have during the flight over), we headed back out to explore the vicinity and start looking for Joaquín and Sergio’s main shopping target in Argentina: leather jackets. This time we headed south from Retiro and looked for the water, which was actually not too far from our hotel. We found the beginning of Puerto Madero and walked along its “diques” where several statues of cows representing different themes decorated the walkways.
Evita's Mausoleum
Visitors at Evita Peron's family mausoleum Halfway through Puerto Madero, we came to a pedestrian bridge, built by Architect Santiago Calatrava (“Puente de la Mujer” or Woman’s Bridge)… This futuristic structure provided lots of inspiration for photography, especially since the sun was starting to set and there was a partial full moon behind it. As the sunlight dissipated, the artificial lights around the bridge gave it an abstract aura that we tried to capture with our cameras. Next to the bridge, the imposing view of the Frigate-Museum “Presidente Sarmiento” provided additional photo opportunities.
Heading back to our hotel, we located the site of one of the leather shops recommended by our Lonely Planet travel guide: Dalla Fontana. Both Sergio and Joaquin had fun trying different styles of jackets and speaking with the attendants who were also impressed by our almost perfect Argentinean Castilian accent… They found it difficult to believe that we were from the U.S.A. Because both Sergio and Joaquin are so tall (and thin) for the typical Argentinean built, it was impossible to find anything that fit them properly but the store offered to make any of their styles using their actual measurements. We did not make any purchase decisions since we
Puente de la Mujer
Santiago Calatrava's pedestrian bridge in Puerto Madero still wanted to see what other stores might have in stock. But we found that the styles and the ability of the establishment to actually make the jackets to measure would be important factors to consider for our future decision.
Since it was getting late and had found so many restaurants around Puerto Madero that a decision for dinner was getting difficult, we decided to ask our new friends at Dalla Fontana for a recommendation. They recommended “El Establo”, a Spanish-style restaurant on San Martin Street, not too far from their establishment. The recommendation proved to be golden, since we had a great multi-course, steak meal, with great wine and aperitifs for about US $69.
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