Buenos Aires: the most European city in the Americas
The first image in this set is the street I stayed on while I was in Buenos Aires.
Throughout many of the neighborhoods of “old” Buenos Aires, the main arterial roads are all standard asphalt. But nearly all of the side streets are narrow cobblestone.
Everywhere you look, there are modern buildings interspersed with amazing old buildings. These aren’t the “special” neighborhoods, this is where the mass of the people live. The architectural details are enough to make one salivate. No wonder they dance tango here!
Buenos Aires Architecture
As I noted in my post about taking tango lessons, Argentina has a massive influx of immigrants in the late 19th century. And most of those immigrants came from Europe. In fact, most were tradesmen. So Argentine architecture has incredibly strong roots that ties back to “the Old World”.
This can bee seen in the balconies, in the iron-work, in the stately doors and in buildings with incredibly high ceilings. Cornices, plaster work… all manner of architectural details.
Buenos Aires has many restaurants, especially in its Theater District. A very large percentage of them have sidewalk or open-air seating. To give a couple of examples of price: a four hour lunch plus wine and bottled water at an outdoor cafe with free wifi cost me around US$10. Dinner at a different sidewalk cafe with two empanadas and a glass of wine was a little over US$4.
So if you want the experience of Europe at about half the cost, Argentina is the place to go.
