Apparently, staying downtown is not always the best option. This is definitely the case in Buenos Aires. My friend took me on a short drive to show me some places that I could explore today on foot or on a bike. What I discovered was a beautiful city full of parks and bike paths that I would have never imagined after staying in the somewhat depressing downtown area the last time I was here.
Along one of the main streets (Libertador), one can find park after plaza after garden after monument by following the road basically north to south or vice-versa with a little deviation over one or two streets. It literally took me 8 hours of walking just to hit the highlights and I didn’t even stop to watch a horse race.
One of the first things I tried to do was to “rent” a bike. There are actually many free tourist bikes available, but they require a passport, which I left in my luggage. It’s sometimes a good idea in case you get robbed, but in this case, it would have been good to have. Not a big deal as I like to walk and that meant I didn’t have to concern myself with keeping track of a bicycle as well. In perhaps a particular order, these were the highlights of the walk:
1. Universidad de Derecho (Law School). I basically went in there to find an ATM, but discovered a beautiful building full of art and buzzing with education.
2. The big metal flower (see picture; if you find an orange spot, that is me in the reflection):
3. Canadian Embassy (it was in the neighbourhood, so I thought I would take a look). Just a building as I expected.
4. A park (actually this one counts for about 12 different plazas/parks etc. that I won’t mention again).
5. Malba Art Gallery. The top floor had a photography exhibit by Mario Testino. I thought his unique style and intuitive ability to capture moments and create emotional connections have made Mario Testino one of the most well known photographers in the world. The In Your Face exhibit gathers works that combine key elements of contemporary culture, inviting spectators to enter an aesthetically beautiful world of glamour, sensuality and sophistication (some of that may have been copied from elsewhere).
The other floor included contemporary art from many notable Argentinian artists. This picture shows a bench in the hallway. The branches spanned two floors and connected to another bench below.
6. Zoo. I actually didn’t go because it cost 90 pesos and I wanted to support the anti-zoo graffiti on the walls and sidewalks. But I did walk by it and spotted a hippopotamus butt from the fence.
7. Botanical Gardens. I actually spent a couple of hours here mostly because I am a bit of tree nerd and there were so many trees labelled with their Latin binomial name. The gardens were free entry and included plants, a butterfly/bee garden that was being well used by the butterflies and bees, and several fountains and statues.
8. Rose Gardens. Similar to the botanical gardens but much narrower in scope. Only roses. Thousands of them. And only one yellow rose. I think the rest of the yellow roses had finished blooming already, but there was one hold out.
9. Horse racing and casino. I only walked in and out of here. I stayed long enough to laugh at how all of the casino games are the exact same ones that rip off people in Canada.
10. And number ten seems like a good place to end this list. There were many other interesting things along the way which I saw, enjoyed, and would love to explore further. I stopped at a McCafe at one point to have a “submarino” which is steamed milk in which you drop a chocolate submarine. It melts and makes a delicious cup of hot chocolate that you sweeten to your own taste. It is so much better than the gawdawful sludge that they try to pass off as hot chocolate in Canada. Are you listening, McDonalds Canada?! Anyway, the most interesting thing about this McCafe and attached McDonalds restaurant is that it is right underneath a train track and every time a train goes over, the entire place shakes. The facade makes it look like the underside of a train bridge and there is a tunnel from the McCafe to the restaurant.
In conclusion, I would like to recommend that if you travel to Buenos Aires, don’t stay in the downtown area. It might be worth a visit for one day, but there are much nicer places to go and I found only a very small portion of them today.
Some notable things I missed: there was no polo match in the polo field, the museum of fine arts and probably a dozen other museums, riding the tour bus that lets you get on and off at various landmarks, and riding a bike through the city. The fellow at the bike place did give me a map and the bike routes are extensive.