Rosie and The Operator are off to tour central Buenos Aires and take a stroll down Avenida de Mayo, a walk that is essential for any visit to Buenos Aires. This street is full of beautiful, huge, neck aching architecture and an atmosphere which buzzes with locals on the go and is totally representative of this big, bold, modern, vibrant city.
Buenos Aires is home to 2.9 million and is a city of surprises. In the heart of the city the monuments, statues and buildings rival the beauty and size of any European capital….probably because they were mainly built by the Spanish with all the stone, fittings, decorations and ceramic tiles shipped direct from Spain, Italy, England and France.
Avenida de Mayo is not only beautiful in its own right but this street is also very politically symbolic to the city. This is the avenue that connects the famous Casa Rosada, the government house at one end, with the Palace of Congress at the other end of its long length. New presidents travel down Avenida de Mayo after being sworn in at the Palace of Congress to start work at the Casa Rosada on the first day of their presidency.
Many a protest also walks down Avenida de Mayo taking their complaints from Congress to the President. On the day we walked the Avenue there were two protests taking place and they were being escorted along by streams of police.
Here we are at the beginning of the avenue, Rosie and The Operator excitedly got out of their UBER and turned to face the Palace of Congress, dubbed the most beautiful building in Buenos Aires. You are joking said Rosie, the beautiful front face was three quarters covered with scaffolding and wrapped in building paper! Rosie was gutted, this building is the centerpiece of the photographs she had planned for the day. Of all the rotten luck!
Move on Rosie……construction began on this (trust me) beautiful Palace in 1897 and the building was finally inaugurated in 1906 but not without a bit of drama. The building was dubbed the “Golden Palace” by journalists due to the budget-busting costs, ringing up to over 31 million pesos in 1914.
The Plaza del Congreso is across the road and houses the huge statue and water fountain of The Monument of the Two Congresses which was built in 1914.
The sun was just hitting the top of the statues as we entered the plaza and Rosie was looking for an entry into the fountain area as it was surrounded by a high wrought iron fence. There is none said The Operator, you cannot enter. You are shitting me said Rosie. No, he was right, it is barriered off to the public as of 1999 because of repeat vandalism. Rosie grumped….two disappointments in quick succession today….the day was not starting out well as she stomped onto the grass to take a photo of the fountain (with no running water flowing in its beautiful pools, third disappointment) through the fence barrier. Watch out for dog shit in the grass warned The (ever practical) Operator…good point…that would really make Rosie’s day. SIDE NOTE – BA is riddled with dog poop…everyone owns a dog, or two and they poop literally everywhere without it being picked up.
On the Avenida de Mayo however, all of Rosies prior disappointments were dispelled….the buildings along the street are magnificent, elegant and huge. We were heading towards one of the landmark buildings in Buenos Aires, the Palacio Barolo, to catch the first tour of the day as this building is quite quirkily special in the way it was designed.
From the outside, Rosie was definitely NOT disappointed, stepping inside, was like entering a time capsule from another age.
The building was built in 1914 and financed by Luis Barolo, an Italian immigrant to Argentina who wanted to work in a nice office building. Nice indeed, the building was designed by an Italian architect who was obsessed with the Italian author Dante Alighieri and based the design on the symbolism from Alighieri’s epic poem, The Divine Comedy.
Its pretty heavy…kind of like The Divine Comedy itself…in a nutshell, the building represents the 9 circles of Hell and a crap load of Masonic symbolism as well. It’s such a Dan Brown novel in the waiting! The ground floor gallery is hell, filled with demons holding light fixtures and 9 arches that represent the nine circles. Floors 1-14 represent purgatory, which is ordinary and quite bland. Finally, floors 15-22 is paradise, culminating with a lighthouse on the top of the building…yes, serious, this is the light of paradise.
The building is exactly 100 metres tall, exactly 1 meter for every canto of the Divine Comedy and at the time it was built it was the tallest building in South America.
As Rosie said the coolest part of this office building is its original retro-ness…and I mean this building is totally original, there have not been any alterations done to it since it was built. Except that is for the discreet trunking for extra cables winding along the upper parts of the ceilings and leading to the the offices it still houses to this day.
On the ground floor entry way the area of ‘Hell’ used to be an open passageway where pedestrians could traverse through to get from Avenida Mayo to the street behind. At night time there were giant light features, the roses in the floor you can see from the aerial interior shots looking down, had under lights that lit up like spotlights illuminating the ghastly creatures of Hell sculpted into the cornices.
The lifts are original…and Rosie might add they get a hell (get it) of a work out moving up and down this building, they never stop.
The building has a wee desk by the elevators that houses the “concierge’. This man stands there and greets the employee’s mostly by name as they enter the building. Gives directions to tourists as they enter and gawp, signs for packages coming in and sorts the mail for the different offices that are in the building…..cool. Behind him is the building directory listing all of the offices in white, hand pin pushed letters. Soooooooo coooool.
In purgatory you get a better idea of what the office building was like on the day it opened. It is very plain and austere in these levels. All of the edges appear to be rounded and there are no sharp lines. The windows are single glazed with lead detail and the catches are ornate. The doors to the offices are metal and set in corridors reminiscent of a ship.
The buildings fire safety code….well….this is it.
But when you enter heaven….wowza, here are the views of Buenos Aires from the balconies as we start to ascend to the lighthouse and our final destination to paradise. Looking back up the Avenida de Mayo over the Plaza de Congresso to the wrapped Palace of Congress….and spread out in all its glory is the huge city of Buenos Aires.
Rosie and The Operator climbed the last few flights of stairs to stand up in the wee glasshouse that housed the giant light of paradise. It was worth it….you couldn’t go on this allegorical story and not end your journey in ‘paradise’.
Look at that said The Operator pointing down…you have got to be kidding said Rosie! Hanging off the highest point of this building, 100 meters above the ground was a guy in a harness scraping the exterior of the lighthouse dome!
There is no way our rope access guys would get away with wearing those frayed harnesses and using sun damaged and perished ropes likes this guy is. Plus there was no lanyards on his tools if he dropped them……this would be an immediate ‘Stop Work Action’ on my site said The Operator suddenly forgetting he was on holiday in a foreign country.
Below him was another guy…working on a tiny ledge with no harness at all to stop him falling…talk about nerves of steel!
Our tour tickets gave us a cup of coffee in the Palaces Café which we drank looking out over Buenos Aires basking in the low warm winter sun, it was just bliss. What a great tour this was, especially as seeing this is one of the only high points in the city we could access.
Back out on Avenida de Mayo we keep strolling to 9 de Julio, the world’s widest avenue. The avenue is named after Argentina’s Independence Day: July 9, 1816. This avenue is widest in the world with 7 lanes going in each direction… even though it only stretches about 1 kilometer in length.
Here in this point of Buenos Aires is the Kilometer Zero marker where all of the distances in Argentina are measured from…Rosie and The Operator looked high and low…we couldn’t see a plaque, mark or statue…maybe our GPS wasn’t in sync with the zero marker.
Walking the Avenue Rosie and The Operator are heading towards a coffee stop at one of the oldest and most renowned cafes in Buenos Aires – Café Tortoni, established in 1858. You have got to be joking said Rosie, the que is 50 meters down the street to get in! The wily café owner also has curtains up over the front windows to stop tourists like myself from taking photos from the street instead of going in….which is what Rosie intended to do rather than wait in line. Disappointed…again, Rosie moves on.
A second hand bookstore catches Rosies eye….Buenos Aires is FULL of bookshops. People here seem to love to read, and contrary to everywhere else in the world where bookshops are closing at a rapid rate thanks to e-readers etc, bookstores here are thriving. Rosie loved the piles, shelves and boxes of books. Leather bound and paperback, the dry mustiness and the smell of old leather and paper was delicious.
When you arrive at Plaza de Mayo, on your right you’ll see The Cabildo, this building was the center of the Spanish Government during colonial days. The original adobe structure was built in 1580, but what you see today is from 1810. It is so small and tiny with the skyscrapers and giant buildings in the background.
As we cross the starburst of roads that exit this plaza heading towards the cathedral we look up Avenue Diagonal North and wow, there is a great view of the Obelisco…smack bang in the center of it. Erected in 1936, this Obelisco commemorates the first foundation stone of the city being laid 400 years ago. In front of it is the BA sign…well, hedge. Had to have a pic of that!
Where is the Cathedral asked Rosie, its supposed to be right here? The Operator pointed to it, rubbish said Rosie, that cant be it! It may look more like the Pantheon or a Greek temple, but this is the main cathedral of the Catholic Church in Argentina. It is the most foreign looking national cathedral that Rosie has ever seen! But, there has been a church on this location since 1593. After 7 re-builds, the current structure we see today has been there since 1752. Outside the entrance burns the eternal flame for the unknown soldier and General San Martin.
The cathedral is wide and higher inside than it looks from the outside. It has a beautiful golden glow and the floor….wow, what a space, it is so big and the floor is completely inlaid with tiny mosaic tiles the size of your thumbnail in the most beautiful patterns. And the most amazing thing to note as you gaze at the huge expanse of floor…every single piece has been laid by hand.
Mass is being said and the priest has the most amazing singing voice. Rosie and The Operator pause and reflect in the back of the church with a raft of others who are semi participating in the lunchtime service. The part of the mass comes up where you turn to the person sitting next to you, shake their hand and wish them peace. Not here in Buenos Aires…strangers turn and hug strangers and genuinely and kindly wish each other peace….plus, its not just the person on either side of you….you go up the whole isle and hug everyone….it takes a wee while…but the service has paused for this custom. So heartwarming that Rosie got a hug.
In one of the many side chapels is the Tomb Of General San Martin – The Liberator Of Argentina – the general Is a national hero that led the uprising against the Spanish and freed Argentina, Perú and Chile from their rule and put these countries on the road to independence. The three statues of the ladies, which stand guard at the base of the tomb represent each of the three liberated countries.
There are two soldiers, grenadiers, standing guard outside the entrance to the chapel. People were starting to gather, a busload of school kids is sitting expectantly on either side of the doors to the tomb. The stoic guards faced each other at the doorway…hold on, up marches another set of guards and they change out in a slow moving, heel clicking, straight backed series of slick moves….we were just in time!
At the end of the avenue, behind another huge wrought iron fence stopping all entry is The Casa Rosada, or the pink house. This is the official government building of Argentina. The president doesn’t live here but this is where the magic happens to keep the wheels of the country turning. This is the famed location where Eva ‘Evita’ Peron tells Argentina not to cry for her.
No one knows for sure why the building has always been painted pink. There are however two main theories….The first being that the two colours of the main political parties blended together create pink, Rosie thinks this is pretty lame. The second references the proximity to the river and to protect the building from humidity a mixture of sealant including lard from back in the day was painted onto the walls. The pink….well, the lard had traces of blood in it, hence the pink tones. This is definitely the better story…but, don’t quote Rosie in that.
The huge silky flag of Argentina unfurls overhead in the breeze in the Casa Rosadas Courtyard. What a great stroll from one end of this great avenue to the other. Now we turn off this main drag to catch some other sights of this great city.
Plaza San Martin is on the outskirts of the Retiro district and surround by the business CBD and is modern and huge! This large park is where the office workers from the surrounding buildings converge at lunchtime for some fresh air. The huge Ombu tree, one of many that dot the parks and plazas of the city sits in the middle. Its girth and spread is phenomenal and its canopy immense with some getting up to 60 feet tall. This poor old specimen is getting a bit creaky with age, which is reportedly over 230 years, and there are support crutches helping to prop up its limbs. Imagine the things this old fella has seen through the ages.
The colossal statue of San Martin himself also sits in the park. Its red bricks were wetly gleaming in the morning sunshine as it was having a wash down from the bird poop that had splattered it. Cheekily, the pigeons watched the council workers perched on top of the heads of the statues as they patiently waited to reinstall the layers of guano that were cleaned away.
A little detour away is another of this cities amazing buildings. Palacio de Agua Corrientes – this amazing huge structure is made of the finest stone and ceramics shipped piece by piece from England and Belgium and it is one of the most opulent and beautiful buildings in Buenos Aires.
What is inside this majestic building kind of tucked away on a side street in the suburbs of this swanky Recoleta area you may ask? Well that is where the secret lies…this building is just a pretty facade to hide the suburbs water storage tanks and pumping station. Serious! This is the inside of the building in the pictures below….
The residents of this upmarket suburb didn’t want a dowdy industrial looking water station in their area of town devaluing their beautiful homes…so a beautiful building was built and this is the inside of the water station which still is in operation today.
Not only does it hold the areas water storage tanks and pumping station you come here to pay your water bills…there was a long que for that. Plus there is a small museum on all things watery, toilety and plumbing related.
Out on the street whilst Rosie was taking pictures of the building a dog walker passed us, this is seriously a thing here, we have seen so many walking a dozen or so dogs at a time around the city. An old lady also stopped and said something to Rosie in Spanish. Lo Siento, no hablo Espanol said Rosie. Francois? she inquired. No, said Rosie. I take it you only speak English then? she said. Yes, smiled Rosie I do. Well shame on you for coming to my country and not being able to speak my language she said as Rosies smile slipped and she spun around in her fur coat and walked away. OK…. moving on….
The Tetro Colon was next on our list to visit. This Theater is the premier theater of the whole of Argentina and is totally beautiful and amazing in its design. Once again all of the stone and the interior decorations were shipped over from Europe and it is just stunning.
Coming here back in the day was not just about the show you were going to see…it was all about being seen by the hoy poloy of the city and being seen out and about in your finest. Imagine what it would have been like…and we haven’t even entered the theater yet. This is still the lobby.
And what a theater it is! Plush and lush with the gold accents, wood and red velvet looking so regal and luxurious in the dim light. We sat in the boxes above the stalls and were transported to another universe when a trainee Italian Opera singer on our tour sang an aria for us which was so beautiful and haunting it brought a tear to Rosie’s eye. Plus, what an honor for him to say he has already sung at the Teatro Colon so early in his career.
The Teatro Colon is one of the worlds premier live performance venues because of its perfect acoustics. According to the dearly departed Pavarotti who once grumbled after a performance….’it is too perfect, I cannot hide my mistakes in this theater’.
Rosie could have done a night at the opera just to sit there and watch everyone else, we even looked up online to see what was playing….The Israeli Symphony Orchestra….nah, pass.
Around the corner is another theater…check this out! Rosie said this city is crazy about bookstores! They are everywhere and none are more special than The El Ateneo Gran Splendid Bookshop.
This bookshop is in an old theater and it is stunning. The bookshop café sits on the stage and you wander up to the top floor and just look down and around at the stacks and shelves of books and the shoppers. It is fantastic…considering bookshops seem to be becoming a theme of Rosies…
On the way home, our last stop was a detour to the park of the Law Faculty of the University of Buenos Aires. In it sits this giant reflective stainless steel kinetic sculpture of a flower. It is 23 metres tall and weighs 18 tonne, the amazing thing about it is that the petals open with the first rays of sunlight the flower then moves and tracks the sun opening its petals further as the day progresses and then starts to close as the sun starts to set. Wow, Buenos Aires sure has a lot to offer in the way of sightseeing! Rosie and The Operator have done this tour over a couple of days and we were not disappointed.
Tomorrow we are leaving the city and staying a few days in the town of Tigre, one hour North of Buenos Aires. Tigre is the gateway to the Parana River Delta, a complex network of river islands and watery channels of which we will be visiting also. Cant wait to show you around!
