Lanin 1 – 200 (between Brandsen and Suarez), Barracas

A more colorful Caminito, without the hordes of tourists

Calle Lanin is beautiful little street in the barrio of Barracas, in the south of Buenos Aires. If you are going to La Boca to see the colorful and historical Caminito street, then you might also consider taking the time to explore some of the neighboring barrio of Barracas, where you will find the quieter, shady, yet extremely colorful Lanin. (Don’t try this at night, it’s not really a safe place for tourists to be after dark). The murals there, created in the year 2000 by local artist Marino Santa Maria (who actually lives on this street), are definitely worth the trip to take a look.

Unfortunately I’m still pretty tight for time at the moment, so probably the most efficient way to give you an idea of what Lanin street is like, and to spare you my boring waffle, is through posting up a few more photos. Click below to see them!

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Av. Tristán A Rodríguez 1550 (near Padre M Migone), Puerto Madero

[Photo Credit: jmpznz, under this CC licence]

Costanera Sur – a quiet nature reserve just a stone’s throw from the city

The hustle and bustle of the Microcentro are lost in the cooling mood of the only ecological reserve in the city, the Reserva Ecologica Costanera Sur. A stone’s throw away from the trendy, modern Puerto Madero and you find yourself walking along the park’s boardwalk littered with nuzzling couples, parrillas, and more pigeons than you can throw a stick at.

The Costanera Sur’s walkway borders the front of the reserve and from there you can see the greater landscape that opens up into the park. The boardwalk itself is entertaining, with beautiful architecture and sculptures, casual eateries and dozens of pickup games of futbol. Your initial examination of the swampy marshland is only an introduction to the many more birds and interesting views that await you upon entering.

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Abandoned buildings in Buenos Aires, and the past stories they hold

Jeff Barry, over at at Buenos Aires, City of Faded Elegance, one of my favorite blogs about my adopted city, recently started what should be a very interesting series of posts about deteriorating and abandoned buildings in Buenos Aires.

He started the series with a post about an abandoned building on calle Bolivar in the barrio of Barracas, and tells an interesting story about the lives that would have once been led in crumbling buildings like these. It really is this type of deteriorating building and the stories within that gives a city like Buenos Aires authenticity and an interesting edge – we would be far worse off without these reminders of days gone by.

Jeff then invited other bloggers to join in the series by posting their own pictures of abandoned or deteriorating buildings in Buenos Aires, or indeed anywhere else. So far, Tango Cherie is the only Buenos Aires blogger to step up to the plate, with her post on run-down buildings in Havana, Cuba, that are in fact still very much lived in, despite their state of disrepair.

I decided to join in with the series, so here is my photo entry:

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Av. de Mayo 1370 (between San Jose & Santiago del Estero), City Center

As I have almost certainly mentioned before, the Palacio Barolo is one of my favorite buildings in Buenos Aires. It is a simply magnificent mish-mash of architectural styles, held together by some amazing numeric symbolism that acts as a tribute to Dante Alighieri, and his epic poem “The Divine Comedy”. I will write a full post about the building and the fascinating stories behind it very soon, when I get the chance to take some more pictures that will fully do it justice.

For now however, this post is a review of the cafe that recently opened on its ground floor, Cafe Palacio Barolo, which is pretty darn good on its own merits, and also acts as an additional excellent excuse to spend some time inside this fantastic building. This is also my first post on the theme of Buenos Aires Cafes, and believe me it will be the first of many, because Buenos Aires is a city full of places to get your caffeine fix, and cafe culture also plays an important part in everyday life here.

[The Palacio Barolo building and cafe are featured on my suggested walking tour of Buenos Aires City Center, which can also by booked as a private walking tour of Buenos Aires, personally guided by me]

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[12th - 18th February 2007]

This roundup post is late, as usual, so no messing around this week folks… let’s just get straight into the Buenos Aires, Argentina linky goodness from last week…

Buenos Aires Argentina Blog Posts of the Week

• Matt Bites, who appears to be thoroughly enjoying a holiday in Buenos Aires and the general Rio de la Plata area, penned a mouthwatering review of the La Cabrera parrilla in Palermo Viejo, one of the best places to eat meat in BA. Although… drinking Torrontes instead of Malbec wine as an accompaniment to steak… don’t they kill for such crimes against Argentine sensibilities round these parts?
• Matt Chesterton, editor of the Time Out guides to Buenos Aires, has been writing a fantastic series about hotels in Buenos Aires… my runaway favorite has to be his post on classic hotels in BA, mainly for his wedding night anecdote from the Hotel Castelar.. seriously, a must read!
• I couldn’t find a third Matthew to make this a ‘Mattrick’ of top blog posts (were there any other Matts writing about BA this week?)… so we’ll have to make do with the closest I could find…a Marc. He recently announced on Asado Argentina that he has launched a new photo blog of southern Argentina. OK, so it’s not Buenos Aires… but from time to time we city dwellers need to be reminded that real life does exist outside of the metropolis, and his first few pictures provide some beautiful examples of that fact

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