Argentina’s cosmopolitan capital, Buenos Aires, is unforgettable
Wait. Where am I again? I’ve just flown for 14 hours across the Atlantic, yet this does not feel like South America.
The cliché about Buenos Aires is that it feels very European. It’s true.
Instead of the typical Spanish colonial architecture and plazas of other South American cities, the wide avenidas resemble Parisian boulevards, the late-night craic has the soul and grit of Madrid and the accent ... the locals, called ‘porteños’, speak Spanish ‘con la música Italiana’, with a strong Italian accent.
The locals are extraordinarily friendly and gracious, with lovely old-fashioned manners.
Buenos Aires is a child in historical terms, cheerfully combining cultural influences from the older parent of Europe, alongside ancient indigenous ones.
Even though the state dates from 1810, most of its development only occurred from 1880 onwards.
Six million immigrants landed here on ships from 1880-1920.
Half came from Italy, a quarter came from (mainly northern) Spain, as well as from France, Russia, Germany, Wales and Ireland.
It wears its history on its sleeve, making Buenos Aires feel like a celebration of cultural hybridity.
Public transport is very efficient and cheap here.
The underground train, called the Subte, is quite safe but we enjoyed using the buses more, shooting through this vast city like torpedoes.
The taxis are reliable too, with a very fair metering system, enforced properly by pleasant, chatty drivers.
It is not the place for a bargain holiday, however. Almost everything costs the same or more than at home.
Signs saying ‘solo efectivo’ (‘cash only’) are common due to the high inflation rate.
For shoppers, all of the usual designer names are here, with some enormous glamorous shopping malls, if you’re into that kind of thing. A notable one is Galerías Pacífico, on busy, commercial Florida.
Argentinians specialise in leather goods, of which there is an eye-popping selection of designs and colours.
Bargains, though? I don’t think so, but you will get something unique.
The only products that looked cheaper to us were the national products: beef and red wine.
In ‘parrillas’, steak restaurants, the locals eat dinosaur-sized steaks in unimaginable quantities.
Here, it’s normal to eat a huge steak for dinner at 11pm every single day.
My doctor would have palpitations.
A ‘bife de chorizo’, or striploin steak, usually costs about €12.
The steaks are very tender because most of them come from feedlot cattle — battery production on a humongous scale.
In the battle between the senses and the conscience, however, the former usually won out.
For the meat-shy, there are also plenty of alternatives, have no fear.
As well as that, the red wine flowed freely, so much that I designated my blood-type as MM — mostly Malbec.
A bottle in a restaurant costs about €7.
The Italian influence shows in Argentinians’ obsession with pizza. They like them thick and heaving with cheese in these parts.
Along Avenida Corrientes, locals sometimes do a ‘pizza marathon’, eating two slices in each pizzeria.
The mama of them all on this street, though, is Pizzería Guerrin, whose atmosphere and food alone was worth the trip to the city.
The locals’ favourite snacks are empanadas, meat-filled pies, the best of which are in Empanadas Norteñas in San Telmo.
Travel is mainly about walking and talking. It’s about the theatre of the streets, the little things that make each place unique.
It was heartwarming to see the easy camaraderie between the locals on the corner where we went for a beer every night; the macho heavily-armed cops on the beat, the bantering bartenders, the tarted-up sex workers, the plaintive beggars, the girls in their summer clothes and the woman who fed the street dogs scraps of meat every night.
The characters tend to stay in the back of your mind, even though they’re on the other side of the world.
However, back to the sights. One of the famous sights in Buenos aires is of course Recoleta Cemetery. Hyped as it is, we actually found it a little underwhelming.
Eva Perón, strangely still a national icon, was buried here following a convoluted controversy.
More interesting for us, though, was the grave of Admiral William Brown, born in Foxford, Co Mayo, and a massive hero to the Argentinians.
He was commander-in chief of the Argentine Navy, helping to secure independence for the country in the battle against the Spanish in the early 19th century.
Much more impressive was Teatro Colón, the 2,700-capacity world-class opera house. It is a glorious, decadent building, dripping with gold and Italian marble.
To enter this auditorium is to enter heaven. Some say it has the best acoustics in the world.
All the greats have performed here. When Pavarotti sang here, he said that he had only one problem — that the sound was too perfect.
There was nowhere for a bum note to hide. Ticket prices range from €200 down to about €10 way up high in what is termed the ‘gallinero’, the chicken hutch.
Plaza de Mayo, the central square, is the epicentre of political activism in Argentina.
The most famous protest group here is the Mothers of the Disappeared, who continue to protest about the torture and kidnap of at least 30,000 people during the military dictatorship from 1976-1983.
They are grandmothers now but their resilience shows no sign of fading, despite opposition from the shiny new president.
They march every week, holding up pictures of their missing loved ones, and we were happy to join them during our three-week stay.
South of here, San Telmo is the part of the city that most resembles the tourist image. This barrio still retains cobbled streets, crumbling palaces, romantic cafes — lots of fodder for wandering souls.
Like many such areas, the developers and tourists have discovered it, so for example, the old food market now sells only expensive antiques.
Who knows how long it can retain its soul?
Such ‘mash-up areas’ are engaged in a constant battle between the original inhabitants and the money men, representing clashing class interests and competing cultures.
On Sundays, the area is transformed into a big street market which is very touristy but still fun. Nearby is the reinvented neighbourhood of La Boca, in which a couple of touristy streets run right beside a very tough neighbourhood, as well as the football ground of Boca Juniors.
These are locked in an eternal battle with the other major city team, River Plate. It gets rough sometimes. People have died.
San Telmo in Buenos Aires is renowned as the birthplace of tango, which forms part of what porteños call the ‘for export’ image of the city.
However, it is very much alive and kicking in the city’s ‘milongas’, or tango clubs.
Classes are available, but because neither himself nor I am blessed with natural grace, we remained voyeurs.
We went to Confitería Ideal, a sumptuous club dedicated to tango. To see it done properly gladdens the heart.
In this city, you don’t need to make plans. Just go for a walk and follow your nose.
On days like this, we saw Retiro train station that looks like a cathedral, we saw goose-stepping soldiers guarding a tomb inside the actual cathedral, we discovered El Ateneo, the gobsmacking bookstore in a converted theatre, we had coffee in sumptuous heritage cafés, and we chatted at the counter of what became our local bar.
Travel can test you in ways you never will be tested at home. It’s all about learning to handle, or even enjoying the feeling of being a bit lost or at sea.
It allows you to try out different versions of yourself. It keeps you sharp. In Buenos Aires, you can play with these ideas in a relatively safe environment. It’s not anything like as dangerous as Mexico City or Bogotá.
One local remarked to me: “Here we have pickpockets, in Europe you have bombs”. Touché.
Bring plenty of money — cold, hard cash preferably — learn a bit of Spanish and have fun.
Is it worth the long flight? Definitely.
We flew for 13½ hours with British Airways from Heathrow, €1090 return. Turkish Airlines go via Istanbul; cheaper ticket but longer flight.
We stayed at 4* Hotel Dorá, Maipu 963, centrally located in the Retiro district. Good value online deals. Good rooms, friendly, helpful staff.
El Establo, Paraguay 489, Retiro.
Don Ernesto, Carlos Calvo 379, San Telmo.
Restaurante Suipacha, Suipacha 425, Microcentro.
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