Day 11 – Buenos Aires
The morning of Feb 20 started in SOHO. Bit of a walk, but well worth it – so much colour and character and so many nice clothing stores. We resisted again, knowing that whatever we bought we needed to lug around for the rest of the trip.
The walls in SOHO were a fantastic kaleidoscopic art gallery. Some were clearly murals added by the shops, others quite certainly graffiti, but all were amazing art. We had a latte in a cute little square and met a woman from Italy. We had shared laughter as we heard multiple police sirens, and then realized it was one siren and dog that howled exactly like a siren in response! We learned about her home town of BRA which is not overly far from Milan & Rapallo where we have been; but more into the mountains closer to Turin. We will need to check out their famous cheese festival which occurs every second September – the next one is in 2019. We also need to try the raw beef, light spiced, sausage in nearby Alba which is famous for its tartar – along with Barolo (best) or (more likely and) Barbaresco wines.
For lunch we had a reservation at a well known local Spanish restaurant – El Burladero. It was fantastic! We had the 3 course albierto (lunch) with ensalata langostinos, I had Chilean Sea Bass with roasted veg, Mike had oxtail stew with mashed. Dessert was espresso with apple tart & ice cream for Michael. The ice cream was flavoured with cardamom and ginger – perhaps the best he’s ever tasted apparently! I had creme w. berries which was better than it sounds. They included a free aperitif before the meal, and a free grappa afterwards – so combined with the red wine, it was back for a short siesta!
Then off to the Museo des Belle Artes. They had an impressive list of artists, although definitely not top quality pieces of the top international names. The Argentinian works were quite impressive however. There was a Rodin show on right now…his work is everywhere! From there we wandered over to the Buenos Aires Cultural Centre where they had a wide variety of eclectic exhibits. Some for kids, but also some extreme adult content sex comics definitely NOT for kids and the best was an exhibit ‘Viva la Vida’ by Roberto Cortes. Interesting in that he had very many pieces which often carried a message. In most he captured himself, perhaps his wife, and there were several other recurrent characters.
Next stop was at the adjacent Iglesias – but as we sat quietly admiring the inside of the church, they quietly closed the cloisters, so we didn’t get to see the relics and museum. Then one last stop for ice cream before we headed back to empty the fridge of beer and salad as we packed for our departure early in the morning.
