I left my jewellery in the safe and we took bus 29 from nearby the hotel. Final stop -La Boca - home to the infamous Boca Junior football club - Maradona bring their most famous son.
We alighted at the last stop. There is an area in which the tourists congregate and beyond this small area one is advised not to venture. It was a very colourful place, with most buildings painted in vivid colours.
It has become somewhat of an artists quarter. Souvenir shops abound.
From there, we took the 10 minute bus ride to San Telmo, the antiques district, with shops selling the most amazing antiques. It was once the residence of BA’s elite. It is one of the oldest neighborhoods in BA but in 1871, with the outbreak of yellow fever, the wealthy fled northwards. Latterly, the area has regained its splendour.
On Sundays, there is a market in the square but today it was quiet.
Tonight we are meeting two Aussie ladies whom we met on the ship. We’re dining together at Dolita on the river. This is the old port which was renovated in the 1990s and now has multi-storey apartments together with restaurants. We took a taxi but the taxi driver couldn’t find the restaurant - he went around in circles .... our friends had a similar experience! The first poor experience of taxis in BA
We finally reached the restaurant. The food was average, the wine acceptable and the service woeful!
We taxied together back to our hotels, without further mishap.
It was a balmy evening and the Woman’s (pedestrian) Bridge looked resplendent in pink. It’s design is said to represents a couple dancing the Tango (invented in BA.) The mast represents the man and the curved silhouette the woman.
This morning, we had intended to visit Museo de Beaux Artes. Inaugurated in 1896, it is one of the most important art museums in Latin America. It houses the largest Argentinian art collection and in addition features works by Picasso, Renoir, Monet, Rembrandt and Rubens. As we ariived we noticed a crowd outside. We alighted the taxi only to discover that the museum had closed today until April. One woman informed me that she had checked their internet site and there was no reference to the closing.!! No option but to taxi back to the hotel.!!
This evening (Tuesday), we depart for Frankfurt at 18:05 and finally arrive Dublin 18:00 (Wednesday) We’re 3 hours behind here!!
Just a word about inflation Since the 1990s, annual inflation has been running at 25-30% per annum. This MONTH alone (February), it is said to reach 2.9% !! Little wonder prices hadn’t changed much between 2003 and 2019.
A great trip - we were blessed in Antártida as ships a day after us had choppy seas in Cape Horn and fog on Elephant Island! There was an expedition in the region trying to locate Shackleton’s sunken ship Endurance. A manless sub was sent in and lost and the mother ship had to abandon the search.
A trip to Antártida is all in the lap of the gods!!!
Sure, in Argentina soccer is like religion. I visited Buenos Aires and went to La Boca with a Jewish tour Buenos Aires.
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