Buenos Aires

[fbtn]

Has anyone ever been to Buenos Aires?

I'm going to Argentina in a fortnight for a few weeks. I'll be doing quite a bit of travelling around and itinerary/timetable etc is all sorted but I've a few days free in Buenos Aires. Hotels etc are booked but any info on what to do around the city from anyone familiar with it would be very much appreciated.

Cheers.

[MariborKev]

La Bombanera.

If you do one thing, visit the stadium(preferably when there is a game on!)

[Closed Account 2]

Agree with that, I was there in June, it's a great city.

For football matches, check what fixtures are on (www.soccerway.com) also your hotel or hostel will be able to sort tickets, this is the easiest way to do it, they will use an agency like "Tangol" to get the tickets.

there are about 13 top division teams in Buenos Aires, so you can easily watch 2 matches a weekend (one on saturday one on sunday), sometimes the friday match too.

If you can watch one of the big derbies (Boca - River, Racing - Independente, San Lorenzo - Hurcán)

If not just watch any of those teams or also other good teams are Velez Sarsfield, Estudiantes and Banfield. Or non-BA teams (who might be playing away and worth watching) are Newells Old Boys, Rosario Central and Lanús.

Also if you speak Spanish, some of the words are very different, also double "l" is like a "j" not a "y" so for instance the word for street is "Ca-jay" not "Cay-yay" (like in Spain)

Other stuff worth seeing, well BA has a main street (it's like 5 lanes) going up the middle of it and every other road is in a grid (except the 2 diagonals)

The obelisco is in the middle of this road, then on one side you have the Plaza Mayo ("May Square), this has buildings like the Casa Rosada (PMs residence) and town hall.

Then on the other side of the main road is the Congresso (main parliament building).

Puerto Madero is the new bit, by the river, there are lots of restuarants (food all over Argentina is high quality and cheap) and the university is here. There is a good nightclub there too (called Opera Bay)

For shopping you can go to Calle Florida (pedestrian street) which has lots of shops and a big shopping center (called Colombus I think), you can by Leather Jackets really cheaply there.

Palermo (a suburb to west of the city center) is nice as is Racoleta (near) and San Telmo (south towards La Boca district).

When you arrive at the airport MAKE SURE you get a registery cab from the desk, if you just get a off the street cab they might rip you off (as they will know that you are a tourist from the airport)

Also watch out for cab drivers giving you fake Peso notes (this wont happen if you get your hotel to book the cab).

If you have free days you can go to Tigre (Paraná Delta - like the jungle, about 45 mins on train north of BA), or Colonia (in Uruguay, 1 hour on boat), or even Montevideo (4h on boat).

If you have even more time then I suggest going to either Iguazu (waterfalls in the north) or if you can El Calafate in the south (massive mountains and galcier).

Let me know if you want any more information or if you want I can post pictures of stuff I saw on my trip.

It's a great place you should really enjoy it!!

[MojoPin]

Has anyone ever been to Buenos Aires?

I'm going to Argentina in a fortnight for a few weeks. I'll be doing quite a bit of travelling around and itinerary/timetable etc is all sorted but I've a few days free in Buenos Aires. Hotels etc are booked but any info on what to do around the city from anyone familiar with it would be very much appreciated.

Cheers.

ur leaving for the end of the season? madness

[kingdom hoop]

Very good advice from edmundo there, he must work for the Lonely Planet! I'll add my tuppence worth too I suppose...

That big street with the obelisk (a poor-man's Spire!) he mentions is, ah, interestingly, the widest avenue in the world. I think it has about twenty lanes all told, think at least twice as wide as O'Connell Street. It is partitioned so crossing is possible, though it is more fun when the red man is alight and the speeding Portenos (Buenos Aryans) whizz past your coat-tails.

The city centre, by and large, is a lovely place to stroll around, though the pace of life is discernibly European, so be careful not to be trampled upon. The Recoleta district is probably the most chic of all. Elegant, with charm in abundance too, and that's not just the people. There is also an amazing graveyard (I'm sure it's in your tour-itinerary) in the area, famous for housing Evita's corpse. Graveyard is probably a bit of a misnomer, it's more like, extravagant tomb yard. I went there as it was approaching dusk so got a good look around in daylight, and then as twilight eased in the place became morbidly magical. Eerie, but very cool. There are a lot of Irish names on the tombs too, illustrating our indelible influence on Argentinian history.

I went to the opera house, Teatro Colon, for a tour during the day and a performance one night. It was my first time being in a grand opera house so that probably embellished my delight to an extent but I'd highly recommend getting the tour, they have them in English, and going of a night to savour the high-browness of it all and, lowering the tone a bit, to salivate at the dolled-up bourgeois babes. I don't know how it compares to La Scala et al but it was sure as heck good enough for me.

La Boca is the barrio surrounding La Bombonera so you could combine a gawk of what was once BA's bohemian district with a stadium tour some day. If you like your buildings multi-coloured then this is the place for you! It's cool and definitely worth a look but don't expect a seismic jolt hurling you back through time to a magical place of libertine hedonism. (Well, I guess you were hardly going to expect that so I haven't ruined anything!) My somewhat less than glorious memories were probably tampered with by the fear gremlins that loitered in my head after walking around shadowy streets in La Boca lined with what I'd imagine crack houses to look like. That's because there is the touristy part to it but if you decide to wander off the beaten track have a swift volte-face and decide against. At one point I was thankfully warned by a cop not to continue walking down the street I was going down, I'd planned a nice circuitous route around the area on the map but clearly the danger areas had been overlooked in the drafting. It was pretty late in the day so I'd say that was partly the danger, cos when I walked into there from the city centre earlier it had a nice authentic feel to it, but obviously some parts are off-limits, it's amazing what a change in lighting can do for mood though. A disused warehouse suddenly becomes a crack den, kids grow beards, and the dogs become wolves.:o

Warnings;

- The aforementioned La Boca episode

- I'd like to echo edmundo's advice on the fake Peso notes. I got conned by one despicable cabbie, leading to a horrible feeling of stupidity. They are very poor replications of the real thing, so even on your first day you should be able to feel its inadequacy.

- The women are fantastic looking so if you're going with a significant other be careful not to gawp too much as you stroll the streets. If you're going solo then I think the key is to be commanding, that's what they're used to with the guys there. A lot of the chicks seem to have high opinions of themselves, but I met a few sound ones as well, the novelty factor always counts for something!

- You must return with exact knowledge as to the involvement or lack thereof of a certain Paddy McCarthy in the foundation of Boca Juniors. You must go to whatever lengths necessary, do not rest until you have an answer. As reconnaissance for your onerous duty check out these two threads... http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=27224&highlight=boca+juniors and http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=51905&highlight=irish+founding+fathers

- If you don't commend my post I'll post up some fabrications so that you walk into the dirtiest neighbourhood in BA.

[Closed Account 2]

Haha, working for lonely planet would be my dream job! Maybe one day I will create a giant website which lets users pick what type of holiday they like (beach/city/nightlife etc) and then I can retire from my current banking job...

Kingdom hoop has good advice there, crossing the big road is a nightmare. For getting around quickly you can use the subway too, its really cheap and pretty safe.

The Teatro Colon was being rebuild when I was there 3 months ago
Graveyard is very good, here is a picture of it at night (taken from an adjacent club called "Safari")

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8129/dscf052511tk7.jpg

If you stick around the Stadium (on non match days), Calle Camionito (main pedestrian roads) and even around the mouth of Riochuelo River you should be ok in La Boca. Don't wander off the beaten track in La Boca without a local or you will have problems. In fact people who run tours there make you stick a label on your T-shirt with their name so you wont have problems. Do not go there at night, it's really easy to get lost and you will have problems then. Also dont wear other teams kits there, esp. River Plate, I heard some Americans brought a River Shirt, didnt really know about the rivalry and were wandering about La Boca in it - not a wise move.

If going to a Boca Juniors match make SURE you dont go behind the goals unless you are with a local. They have the "avalanche" when Boca score, the hold stand rushes to the front and if you don't watch out you'll have stuff nicked. If you sit on the side stand you will be fine.

Here is a pic I took which shows it:-
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/3267/dscf0184in8.jpg

[bennocelt]

- You must return with exact knowledge as to the involvement or lack thereof of a certain Paddy McCarthy in the foundation of Boca Juniors. You must go to whatever lengths necessary, do not rest until you have an answer. As reconnaissance for your onerous duty check out these two threads... http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=27224&highlight=boca+juniors and http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=51905&highlight=irish+founding+fathers

- If you don't commend my post I'll post up some fabrications so that you walk into the dirtiest neighbourhood in BA.

brilliant, tx for making me have a chuckle!:):)

[kingdom hoop]

Maybe one day I will create a giant website which lets users pick what type of holiday they like (beach/city/nightlife etc)

Do I sniff a budding partnership?:D I'll gladly take the nightlife limb under my wing! Draft up an oul business plan there to get us started on this exciting escapade. Are we thinking of a general repository and a lot more besides...kind of like a happy medium between a set tour service where you might be constrained but everything is organised and easy, and an invertebrate willy-nilly expedition that although fun you don't get the most out of? Tailored Holidays; fitting interests with activities, to suit you and your life. Or something like that. :)


brilliant, tx for making me have a chuckle!

Pleasure. I wasn't happy to see that one die. Hopefully fbtn can deliver irrefutable evidence so we can watch in glee as Dodge evades the crashing disappointment by exiling himself from foot.ie.:D

[fbtn]

Wow! Thanks a lot for all the info. Great photos Edmundo and fantastic post Kingdom Hoop ;)

I checked the fixtures and unfortunately there are no games when I'm there. Sickened. I am spending the first three days at Iguassu Falls, with the last day on the Brazilian side. River Plate host Boca Juniors that night in the league!

I then have around four days in Buenos Aires but there are no games fixed during this. I'll still get a visit to the La Bombanera though. There's a night paid for us at one of the top tango theatres and we've a day at the Pampas. I've also a day in Uruguay before travelling to Corboda and surrounding areas for about five days - Che Guevara's house/musuem, Carlos Paz, Valley of the Condors and up to Alpine Villages etc.

I've another day and night in Buenos Aires after this - but still no games! On top of this, I'm missing three Harps so I'll enjoy my last tomorrow night against Cobh, hopefully we win, go top and stay there until I get back for our last three matches :D

Thanks again lads for the information. Really good help. I'll let you know how I get on!

[kingdom hoop]

I'll let you know how I get on!

Especially with the Paddy McCarthy task, right?:p Ah no, but if it comes into your head during the tour you might broach it. I don't really expect you to traipse the back-streets of BA trying to find some guy who talked to a spiteful Paddy McCarthy in a bar in the 1930s!

Those waterfalls you're going to are absolutely amazing. The memories, in an almost literal sense, are flooding back. Ahhh. It's a terrible pity about the matches though. That's where edmundo's and my company will come in handy in future!

[fbtn]

Just got back at the weekend. Great country. Really enjoyed it. The waterfalls in Iguazu were something else.

Spent a day in Boca and done the guided tour of La Bombanera. Spent quite a bit of time around the museum and had a really good conversation with one of the english speaking guides. He's an obsessed Boca fan and never heard of Patrick McCarthy.

No mention of him in the museum or the official history. The story of their rivals having the same kit (black and white stripes) and having a playoff to decide who kept their colours resulted in them losing.

They decided on their new colours by waiting at the dock the next morning and the next ship came in would fly their new colours and it was a Swedish ship. No mention of the men from Tipp I'm afraid.

[kingdom hoop]

:D Good stuff. Fair play for asking at least.

Your next mission is to go to the south island of New Zealand and do some reconnaissance on the coaching set-up and match day performances of Otago United in an effort to ascertain whether a certain Terry Phelan is up to the task of becoming the new Ireland manager. :)

[NeilMcD]

Lads just saw this thread. Thinking of going to Argentina for 2 weeks in April. Still not sure yet as have to talk to my surgeon about it.

Anyway was thinking of doing

Buenons Aires
Iguazu
Cordoba
Rosario
and possibly Uruguay.


Would people recommend anything else.

[SkStu]

finish with Uruguay - possibly the best looking women on earth. Was there for a week, but i just relaxed on the beach and took in the atmosphere. Ive read that it is the most prosperous and stable country in Sth America. I will defeinitely go back and spend longer there and tour around.