Day 0
Long lay over in Washington DC. Private tour courtesy of good friend at Smithsonian American Art Museum
Day 1
Hotel Mariposita Wonderful small hotel combined with dance studio just north of San Telmo.
Interior view of Hotel Mariposita
Visited Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Gallery is in a lovely old building that’s a bit musty and frayed around the edges. Small but nice collection of European artists. The second floor is devoted to (mostly) Argentine artists and is stunning. Two I was most taken with were from Uruguay: Rafael Barradas and Pedro Figari.
Walked around and had dinner in Puerto Madero (after stopping for very traditional local pizza).
Pizza in San Telmo
Day 2
Wandered across. High point was Manzana de las Luces and window shopping in San Telmo. Napped and wend to Buenos Aires International Jazz Festival. Dinner and show at Te Matare Ramirez.
Mid-Day Madness
Courtyard in Manzana de las Luces
Courtyard in Manzana de las Luces
Street Art
Day 3
Late start.
Coffee at local coffee chain, Havanna.
More antique shopping in San Telmo. Lots more.
Courtyard in San Telmo
Big walk to and around Puerto Madero.
Canal in Puerto Madero (in the daylight)
Woman's Bridge
Went to Madero Tango.
Day 4
Walking and shopping in San Telmo. Madness on a Sunday.
Street Art
Went to MALBA. Magnificent.
Walked back through the embassies to the famous cemetery in Recoleto.
Cemetery in Recoleto
Dinner at small very authentic restaurant called 1810. Ate fabulous empenadas and Locro.
Drank Otro Mundo beer at very hip bar called Mundo Bizarro. Might be my new favorite beer.
Day 5
Visited a friends paper shop called Papelera del Artesano. Handmade paper and boxes.
Papalera del Artesano
Juan Carlos
Ate at local restaurant called “The Oldest.”
More tango lessons.
Ate at a local bar / restaurant which was very disappointing. Oh well.
Street Art
Day 6
Woke to a massive rainstorm.
Flew on LAN to Mendoza. Mendoza is unexpected and stunning in every way.
Staying at Bohemia Hotel. Charming, reasonable. perfect English spoken and convenient to everything.
Lots of walking. Two brilliant meals, the best, and one of the best ever, was at La Sal.
Day 7
Spent the day with Ampora Wine Tours. Highly recommend.
Andeluna owned by the scion to the Frito Lay fortune. Beautiful building. The views of the Andes are stunning (as is true of all the wineries we visited). Wines very very nice.
Bodega Lurton is owned by a famous Bordeaux family. The building was the least interesting of the three but the Gran Lurton Cabernet 2005 was very nice.
Everything about 0.Fournier was beyond compare. The buildings are some of the finest architecture I’ve seen anywhere. The lunch was a top ten meal. The wine was lovely, particularly the Torrentes.
O. Fournier Wine Cellar
Restaurant at O. Fournier Winery
Day 8
Walked around Parque San Martin. One of the loveliest urban parks I’ve ever seen.
Parque San Martin
Lunch at a very local Empanadas place.
Empanadas in Mendoza
Returned to Buenos Aires to 1551 Palermo, a wonderful boutique hotel that looks like complete crap on the outside and like wonderland inside. Good location. Wonderful wine bar around the corner. Palermo shopping district four blocks away. I’d stay again in a heartbeat.
Hotel 1551
Lots of walking around.
Day 9
More walking around BA. Dinner with friends. Best steak ever (sounds dopey but it’s true).
Street Art
Day 10
Last day. Tried to visit the famous Hippodrome, but it was closed. Everything we tried to visit was closed. Weird. So we spent the afternoon in a delightful spa (trying to find the name).
Headed to the airport and home.
Tags: HotelMariposita, Manzana de las Luces, Puerto Madero, Buenoss Aires International Jazz Festival, Te Matare Ramirez, Pedro Figar, Rafael Barradas
