Discovering the World Sans Valise: Buenos Aires - the Latin American City with European Flavors

After hiking and cruising for nearly 2 months in Patagonia and Antarctica, Glenn and I were happy to visit Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. We reserved ahead of time a fabulous Airbnb in the bohemian neighborhood of San Telmo, near the Downtown. This "barrio" is filled with restaurants, shops and bars and is quite lively in the evening.
Despite two days of rainy weather, we really enjoyed ourselves here. Our only disappointment was to not witness tango dancing in the streets due to the rain and not get the opportunity to attend an opera performance in the beautiful Teatro Colon (the season had not yet started). This opera house is among the top five venues in the world with exceptional acoustics. It is named after Christopher Colombus.

We got to know the town by participating in several walking tours. Buenos Aires seems to combine faded European grandeur with Latin passion. Although a concrete jungle from some angles, the city offer views of some grand French and Italian-style palaces. We had to fall for the city's carnivorous pleasure.....the Argentinian grilled steaks are out of this world :))

After visiting Buenos Aires, we flew to Johannesburg in South Africa. This blog concludes our exploration of South America. Stay tuned for South Africa. Many pictures of beautiful animals and landscapes are coming soon!

Here are our pictures of Buenos Aires.

Arriving by plane from Ushuaia

Formerly called the Torre de los Ingleses, this clock tower is said to be modeled on Big Ben in London and was a gift from the British in the commemoration of the centennial of the May revolution in 1810. After the Falklands war in 1982, its name was changed to Torre Monumental.