Buenos Aires

After a non-stop start to my travels, it’s been good to slow down a bit and catch up with family, sleep, laundry and some life admin in Buenos Aires!

It’s a sprawling and impressive city, which has its own unique charm, but also has buildings and streets that seem lifted from other American or European cities.

Its iconic centre-piece is the obelisk commemorating the foundation of the city. This sits in the middle of the Avenida 9 de Julio (9th July is the date of Argentina’s Independence Day in 1816), the widest avenue in the world. With the imposing surrounding buildings and bright advertising screens, this area reminded me of Times Square, although my first thought was of the images of 4 million jubilant Argentines descending on the thoroughfare after the World Cup triumph in 2022!

Nearby is the Teatro Colón, named after Columbus and one of the world’s great opera houses. We enjoyed admiring the views as we walked around the neighbouring park in the spring sunshine (apologies to those reading this under grey autumnal skies)…

From here we walked to the Plaza de Mayo, the city’s main square, commemorating the revolution in 1810 that led to independence, and the focal point of numerous other revolutions since. One side of the square faces the Casa Rosada (Pink House), the seat of the President and site of the famous balcony from which Eva Perón, and husband Juan, once appeared to the masses.

Across the square is the Metropolitan Cathedral, which is beautiful inside and contains the elaborate and closely guarded tomb of José de San Martin, known as the “liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru”. There were also several displays featuring the kindly face of Pope Francis, or Cardinal Bergoglio as he became known while Archbishop here.

At this time of year, the Jacaranda trees are in bloom across the city, adorning it with their enchanting, purple blossom, as seen here in front of a former colonial government building in Plaza de Mayo:

The hospitality here has been top notch, from our exceedingly generous hosts to those we’ve met in restaurants and shops. Outside of the tourist areas, not many people speak English, but we’ve enjoyed having a go with the Spanish (at least until we invariably hit a dead-end)!

We’ve sampled a mixture of local and international cuisine. A real treat was our visit to the Café Tortoni, the oldest café in Buenos Aires and modelled on another of the same name in Paris. I must confess to feeling a bit under-dressed though as we tucked into our sumptuous cakes while tango dancers graced the aisles!

Another highlight was having a morning coffee and “medialunas” (half moons – Argentine croissants) overlooking the pitch at Estadio Monumental, the home of River Plate:

We then all had a fantastic time looking around the club museum, which had an incredible, immersive 270 degree simulator of a matchday – the next best thing to actually being there for a game! I was heartened when someone on the turnstiles recognised my Watford top, and we briefly spoke about a certain Roberto Pereyra, who played both for one of the biggest clubs in the world, and for River!