I’m so glad we’re visiting this city on the weekend – more markets!
We took the subway – the equivalent of 75 cents per ride – to the Plaza De Mayo, the location of political demonstrations. The A-line, built in 1913, was not only the first underground in Latin America, but all the Southern Hemisphere. Until recently, there were wooden cars in use.
From there we headed to San Telmo, the oldest barrio in the city, originally an industrial area. Nowadays it has tons of well-preserved colonial buildings, a great arts vibe and cobblestone streets lines with antiques shops and Tango parlours and restaurants.
Every Sunday there is a market which spans over 10 blocks, and fills the parks and squares as well. Again there’s leather, jewellery and mate accessories, but also a lot of antiques. There are empanada carts, and carts with thermoses of hot water for Yerba Mate.
The sun was shining (from the north, which is a bit hard to get used to), there was music, delicious smells and it was perfect.
This lady was rocking on hand made instruments
From there we walked to La Boca, what would be a cool area, if it wasn’t such a tourist trap. It’s an old neighbourhood, with shipyard workers. The industrial buildings are all painted different colours, with whatever paint could be found. Nowadays it’s just one busy street with tourist stuff, and the surrounding area is a bit dodgy.
Back on the train, we headed to Palermo,the shopping and eating epi-centre. Full patios everywhere. The food was over our budget, so we had a picnic in a park.
The next day we spent the morning in the park near our apartment, before heading to the bus station for our overnight bus to Mendoza. The park is like the living room of the neighbourhood, everyone was gathered there, napping, chatting, reading, drawing.
Meanwhile... 