Beautiful Buenos Aires - A Walking Tour

It was very sad to say goodbye to the loverly Southern Right Whales at Puerto Madryn, but it was time to head for Buenos Aires. I was very excited as you can see from this pic at the start of our 20 hour bus journey. We went with Andesmar again, but this time we went Cama class (bigger, even more reclining seats with only 3 to a row). As an added bonus we received these outrageously bad for you box full of chod (3 choccy bars and some jam and crackers...nice!) plus coffee or fizzy drinks. I was in lard heaven.


We started our five nights in Buenos Aires staying at an outrageously yoof orientated hostel known as the Milhouse hostel. Our private room was ok though and some distance from the constant noise and discos going on downstairs. We didn't spend a whole heap of time there though.

Wandering around town on one of our first nights we spotted this quality bingo hall...


And the first of many busking full bands. They were ace, and somehow had the whole setup running off a car battery. Nice one lads.


Mmmmm, freshly baked Medialuna's (half-moons). These sweetened mini croissants have become our staple breakfast material due to a complete lack of interest in breakfast in Argentina (I guess when you eat the huge volumes of meat that they do for lunch and dinner, breakfast becomes less important..but its not for us!).


Nice buldings around town.


This is the inside of the Galeria Pacifico, now a shopping mall in the centro dating back to 1889. These paintings from inside were done in 1954 by famous muralists of the Argentine school of Nuevo Realismo.


On our second day in Buenos Aires we decided to do the walking tour shown in the lonely planet, with a few small modifications of our own. We started in the Plaza San Martin. San Martin is the chap on the horse in the middle. He is revered as the general who definitively defeated the Spanish in Argentina's battle for independence.


Clairy loved taking these shots of buildings mirrored in others. Plenty more to come!


General San Martin again.


The Palacio San Martin hiding behind a tree.


Shiny.


I loved this conical roof detail on this neo-gothic mansion next to the plaza San Martin.


Our walk took us across the vast Avenue 9 de Julio, apparently the widest Avenue in the world and a full block wide. It is colosal and has 18 lanes of traffic in places resulting in some full on fumage. We only noticed just how thick the fumes were when we saw these pictures.


Here's a closer shot of the obelisco, in the centre of the avenue.


Argentina's largest synagogue, the Templo de la Congregacion Isrealita just off the Plaza Lavalle.


Also off the Plaza Lavalle is the huge and stunning Teatro Colon, which was the southern hemisphere's largest theatre until the Sydney opera house was built.


Normally guided tours are on offer, but sadly it was undergoing some pretty full on looking renovations when we arrived and was all shut up.


Clairy liked the way part of this old building had been incorporated into the new.


Still on the Plaza Lavalle, the Palacio de Justicia.


The plaza was full of these beautifully enormous trees. Some of the vast buttresses had been turned into makeshift shelters for homeless people.


There was an unholy cacophony of noise coming from the centre of the plaza, where various proffesional dog walkers seemed to be taking a break at the same time much to the aggravation of there various doggies.


It seemed like utter chaos, but made us chuckle.


Super shiny.


Roundy bits.


Really shiny.


Shiny and roundy.


We stopped for a quick sarnage in the Cafe Richmond, a Buenos Aires institution on the way to our next point of interest. It was lovely inside, all old-worldy and filled with old men supping coffees. Downstairs provided billiard tables and chessboards for their entertainment.


We then sauntered on to the Plaza de Mayo. This is where at 3:30 every Thursday the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo (Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo) march round amd round in their campaign for a full account of Dirty War attrocities. This building filling up the eastern side of the plaza is known as the Casa Rosada (pink house). Its colour may have come from the 18th century practise of painting buildings with bovine blood (they probably had a fair amount of it lying around, what with all the steak they were eating).


The balcony has been the site of various impassioned speeches to the Argentine public from Juan and Eva Peron and various other Argentine politicians.


Clairy spotted this nice addition to a sign pointing to a nearby church.


God yeah. Its bloody everywhere in this city. Tango loco.


This is another lovely old cafe where we decided to reserve a space for the tango show that evening. Clair wanted to get a pic of the outside, but this incredibly miserable looking bloke wouldn't let that get in his way. We spent a long time laughing at this piccy.


On the last part of our walking tour we passed this incredible building. Its now mainly offices, but we were so amazed by it we went in to get a closer look. A tour was just about to start, but it was a bit pricy so we just took a photo and legged it on.


Nice bit of stencil art.


And finally the imposing Palacio del Congreso.