NEW UPDATE: At long last, the Teatro Colon reopened its doors, as expected, on the 25th May 2010. Tickets are now available either at their ticket office, or buying online through TUENTRADA.COM using the following link: Buy Teatro Colon Tickets Online Here for Opera, Ballet and other Concerts (after purchase you will still need to collect the tickets from the ticket office between 2 hours before and 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the show).

[Note from Alan: Updated this post to reflect the change in the expected re-opening date for the Colon Theatre - now due for 25th May 2010 - as I know a lot of people read this post and I don't want to mislead people due to outdated material]

(Original post written October 25th 2006)

Earlier this week I finally took the opportunity to take in a performance at the Teatro Colon (Colon Theater) which many say is the ‘jewel in the crown’ of Buenos Aires, as one of the most famous opera houses in the world.

I was prompted to get along to the Colon by the fact that it is closing for reconstruction work at the end of October 2006, with plans to reopen on May 25, 2010, on the 200th anniversary of the May Revolution, when Argentina split from the Spanish to become an independent nation.

A long wait until the re-opening, and that’s IF the works are actually completed in time. Knowing Argentina, I would be extremely suprised if things go according to plan!

[Further edit: I was right here! The works have indeed been delayed for 2 years, as the original reopening date was supposed to be 25th May 2008. Who knows if they will even make it for 2010! ]

The Concert

We saw a concert from the ‘Camerata Bariloche’ orchestra, playing pieces from Strauss and Beethoven, which was all very pleasing to the ears (I have to admit i’m far from being classical music fan), but the star of the show was of course the venue itself, which is resplendent in its rich scarlet and gold decoration, along with several forests worth of beautiful wooden construction that make up the auditorium, with hints of Italian, Greek, German and French Renaissance design. It’s all very impressive when you are looking down, way, way down, from above, in the ‘Paradise’ (‘Paraiso’ – the 7th and final seating level) area, which cost but a mere 10 pesos a seat or 5 pesos to stand (yes, I bought the cheapest tickets in the house – just don’t let my girlfriend find out).

For the record, I turned up in smart shoes, trousers, a shirt and tie, taking note of the dress code I saw in the ticket office earlier that day. I was easily the most over dressed person in the ‘Paraiso’ area – but in the more expensive areas I did see some well dressed ladies and gentleman. I think in reality you could go along dressed as you please – I saw quite a few people in jeans and t shirts.

Some Teatro Colon History

The famous venue is not without some interesting history. It opened in 1908, almost 20 years after the first cornerstone was laid in 1889, under the direction of architect Francesco Tamburini. You might understand why I suggested the current restorations may not be completed on time when I tell you that the theatre was originally due to be opened in 1892! But to be fair, a series of tragedies did complicate the process. Tamburini died soon after construction started, and his friend Vittorio Meano took over the project. Who also promptly died (murdered in a love triangle ‘gone wrong’ – though actually I’m not sure if there are many love triangles that ‘go right’). The architects were followed to the grave by another Italian guy, Angelo Ferrari (assassinated), that had been partly funding the building works. Italians dropping like flies…

Fortunately, a Belgian, Julio Dormal, came in and finished the job, breathing a sigh of relief as the finishing touches were made without event. This further confirmed my feeling that Belgians are in fact some of the greatest people on this planet, not only producing the best beer in the world and some of the finest chocolate, but also bucking architectural death trends without batting an eyelid. And that’s not to mention the waffles! I drink to Dormal and his kind whenever I can (sadly no Belgian beer) inside another of his many BA constructions, the Confiteria Richmond cafe, on pedestrian Florida Street (near Lavalle).

The Colon Finally Opens…

But back to the theatre. It finally opened on 25 May 1908 with a performance of Verdi’s Aida, and never looked back, as it became one of the world’s premiere centers of opera. Over the years the Teatro Colon has hosted such musical greats as Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, French opera singer Jane Bathori, Italian tenor Enrico Caruso, Greek soprano Maria Callas, fatty Luciano Pavarotti, Argentine Tango bandoneon maestro Astor Piazzolla and even Weird Al Yankovic. OK, I made that last one up, but it would have been interesting.

Previous Colon Theater

There was actually a Colon theatre before the current one, as noted recently by Jeff Barry in his blog (he will soon be posting more on the Colon, probably far more coherently than I am doing right now). It had opened in 1857 on the edge of Plaza de Mayo, and served the porteno aristocracy well for a good many years until the current Colon was opened. These days the old building houses the Banco de la Nacion – the national bank of Argentina, an imposing structure that looks down upon the tourists that buzz round the Pink House.

Perfect Acoustics

The current theatre, located in Buenos Aires City Center (more or less in Tribunales) and visible from Avenue 9 de Julio, has virtually perfect acoustics. This is one of its main attractions, the sound reaching each and every audience member perfectly – so you can be a cheapskate like me and still enjoy the concert, even if the orchestra do look like musical ants from the loftier vantage points. If that doesn’t sound like a nice visual experience, you can always take in the music while staring at the beautiful surroundings, such as the decoration around the top of the stage, the huge, dazzling chandelier, or the ceiling frescoes that surround it. Though sadly the latter are not original, due to damage caused by damp in the 1930s. Instead they were painted in 1966 by famous Argentine muralist Raul Soldi, whose work can also be found on the ceiling of the wonderful Galerias Pacifico shopping center, again on Florida street (corner of Cordoba).

Teatro Colon Verdict

All in all, I very much recommend that any visitor to Buenos Aires pays a visit to the Teatro Colon – but unfortunately you will have to wait until May 25, 2008, or perhaps even longer, to see this attraction. However, it is probably worth the wait. In the meantime, if it is the classical music you are after, the Colon is continuing to put shows on in other venues across Buenos Aires during the closure. These mainly seem like they will be held in the Luna Park sports/concert venue, which though not without an interesting history of its own (the place where Peron and Evita 1st met, the funeral of Carlos Gardel and, err…, a Liza Minelli concert), is really not much more than a glorified warehouse.

Anyway, the Teatro Colon is still there to look at from the outside, and that’s not such a bad view in itelf…

For more detailed information on the Teatro Colon, and pictures that are far better and more varied than mine, check out the history section of the official Colon website. And of course, Wikipedia is always good. To contact the Teatro Colon, you can phone them using the following number: (54-11) 4378-7344.

Just a quick note to let everyone know that, now we’re officially in Spring, I am once again offering private, guided, walking tours of Buenos Aires City Center. These sightseeing tours cover the main attractions in the historical center of the city, such as Plaza de Mayo, Avenida de Mayo, Plaza Congreso, the Casa Rosada, the Cathedral, Cafe Tortoni, and a whole lot more.

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND TOUR BOOKING DETAILS.

Hope to see you soon!

When the ridiculously-named Courtney Taylor-Taylor sang (as lead singer of the Dandy Warhols) that every day should be a holiday, he probably didn’t realize that his wish could so easily be fulfilled.

Simply come to Argentina, where every day really is a holiday. Of sorts.

OK, so I’m exaggerating somewhat, but there are so many national holidays and assorted celebratory days here, that it’s not far from the truth. In Argentina, it seems, every dog has his day, or feriado. From conventional days like Love Day (Dia del Amor, 14th November) and National Tango Day (Dia Nacional del Tango, 11th December), to wild and wacky ones like Train Tracks day (Dia del Riel, 18th July) and Day of the Noodle Maker (Dia del Obrero Fideero, 22nd May), they’re all here.

Hell, I’ve even heard that there is a National Day of the Mullet in the works. [Note: I was talking to myself at the time]

Yes, it’s “National Flag of Argentina Day”

ARGENTINE PIGEONS ARE FIERCELY PATRIOTIC

Still, today is a real holiday, and the streets are deadly quiet, as per most national holidays here. We all have the day off for Dia de la Bandera (National Flag Day, in Argentina), which is officially on the 20th June, but always gets put on the third Monday of June, so that we get to enjoy a long weekend. Read on to learn a little more about the Argentine National Flag.

Manuel Belgrano, Creator of the National Flag of Argentina

MANUEL BELGRANO’S STATUE AND FLAG IN PLAZA DE MAYO, BUENOS AIRES

Manuel Belgrano. I like the bloke. He is close to my heart, because you can find him on the Argentine 10 peso note, and I like money. So obviously I slightly prefer both Juan Manuel de Rosas and Julio Argentino Roca, despite their brutal tendencies, them being on the 20 peso and 100 peso notes respectively.

Anyway, Belgrano was, as we sometimes say here in Buenos Aires, a Don.

No, that doesn’t mean he was a onetime supporter of the now sadly defunct Wimbledon F.C. (shock English FA Cup Winners in 1988, thanks to a great Lawrie Sanchez header, and a Dave Beasant penalty save – the first ever English cup final penalty save at that. OK, sorry for the ‘soccer’ aside, I’m a little obsessed).

Instead, I mean Don, as in an all round good chap, because Belgrano was indeed a man of many talents – national flag designing was just the tip of the iceberg.

For a start, his full name was Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano, and my full respect has to go out to any man that gets through life with a mouthful of a name like that hanging over him. But not only that, Buenos Aires born Belgrano was a successful lawyer, politician, economist and military leader.

Belgrano and the Dia de la Bandera de Argentina

Most importantly of all, Belgrano was a commander in the Argentine Wars of Independence, making himself a national hero in the process. It was during this time, in 1812, that Belgrano created the national flag of Argentina, for his troops to fight under.

To cut an increasingly long story/blog-post short, Belgrano later died of dropsy on June 20th, 1820, which is why we celebrate the Dia de la Bandera here in Argentina on the anniversary of his death each year. Except of course, that the date is changed slightly to allow for a lazy long weekend.

I’m sure Manuel doesn’t mind about the date change. After all, he has all those lovely 10 peso notes to console himself with…

YOU TOO WOULD LOOK THIS SMUG IF YOU WERE ON THE TEN PESO NOTE

Pablo at D for Disorientation also has a couple of great posts on Flag Day too, from the perspective of a Rosarino (Rosario being where Belgrano first hoisted his newly designed flag back in 1812).

Sorry for missing a week folks. Without wanting to go into the details, it’s been a crazy and stressful time. Anyway, on with the show we go, with my picks from the Buenos Aires blogosphere from the last two weeks, and I’m going to to try and keep my usually meandering descriptions quite brief this time round…

My favorite Buenos Aires blog posts from the past 2 weeks

• Tango Cherie made an interesting post on the subject of tango ‘taxi dancers’
• Nathan from Trip Trap notices some funny goings on in the Buenos Aires section of Craigslist
• Robert’s map of Recoleta Cemetery is ready, and it looks beautiful
  

Things to see and do in Buenos Aires

• David Schneer goes in search of the Jewish underground in Buenos Aires (a series of posts, see links at top of the page)
• Saltshaker had an enjoyable and cheap day out at the races, at Palermo Hipodromo, a place that I also reviewed a while back on this blog: Palermo Hipodromo, Buenos Aires
• Highlights from Karine’s daily photos over the past couple of weeks includes a picture of the 15 year commemoration of the 1992 Israeli Embassy attack, and on a lighter note, one of the statue of General Alvear in Plaza Francia, Recoleta, and a nice aerial shot of the Retiro train station – I guess taken from the torre de los ingleses?
• Argentina’s Travel Guide covered a couple of popular tourist destinations in Buenos Aires… the Casa Rosada in Plaza de Mayo, and El Tigre, up on the delta to the north of the city

Buenos Aires news, info & general comments

• Argentina’s Travel Guide has some useful advice on how to get packages that are sent to you in Buenos Aires
• Disco Shawn reports on the recent ATM withdrawal problems for foreigners in Buenos Aires
• Will Bonner discovers that film director Francis Ford Coppola has just bought a petit hotel in Palermo Soho, Buenos Aires, to stay in when he works on an upcoming film in Argentina.. which On the Road Travel says will be called Tetro and filmed in Buenos Aires
• Yanqui Mike marks the 25th anniversary of the unfortunate Malvinas conflict with an overview of the history of the Malvinas islands
• Buenos Aires Spotting posts about some interesting underground street art viral marketing by the SUBA clothes brand in Buenos Aires
• Greek in Argentina notes that Buenos Aires came in at number 13 on a list of the wealthiest cities in the world, followed by some interesting discussion that continues on into a lively comments section

Buenos Aires restaurants, food and drink

• Robert posts up more reviews of wines available in Buenos Aires in Divino Vino #10, this time with more misses than hits
• Miriam makes some interesting comments about Dining Out in Buenos Aires in her blog, ‘South for the Winter’
• Argentina’s Travel Guide reviews an ‘all you can eat’ (tenedor libre) restaurant, Gourmet Porteño, in Puerto Madero, and Katmandu, an Indian restaurant in Almagro
  
• Saltshaker reviews Barbacoa parrilla and Caballito pizzeria, both in Barrio Norte, followed up by a trio of short Buenos Aires restaurant reviews in one blog post
• Ken posts about our beer tasting visit to Antares in Palermo (including pictures of both of us in silly hats), which I swiftly followed with a review of my own: Antares Pub, Buenos Aires – and Ken also posted his thoughts on tipping in Buenos Aires

Funny or Odd Stuff in Buenos Aires

• Diva returns to form with posts suggesting that virginity is a scarce commodity in Buenos Aires and her thoughts on Catholicism in Argentina
• Ken notes that the fairly regular lack of customer service in Buenos Aires can feel quite odd to us extranjeros, and also rounds up some interesting signs he has seen around the city
• Nathan from Trip Trap has some interesting stories from the supermarkets of Buenos Aires

Thanks for reading everyone!

Well, here we are at week number 13 of my (late as usual) Buenos Aires blog roundup. 13, lucky for some? Well, if you like blogs and Buenos Aires, this may indeed be your lucky day! I can’t believe it’s been a quarter of a year already since I started to write these roundups. I guess time flies when you are reading blogs all the time rather than doing any real work…

Buenos Aires Blog Posts of the Week

• He doesn’t post very often these days (I know – pot… kettle… black), but when El Expatriado springs into action, you sure know you will be in for some interesting and/or useful reading. And very useful indeed (for those laptop users among us) is this list of free Wi-Fi hotspots in Buenos Aires
• Yanqui Mike put in a sterling effort with his post commemorating the 150th anniversary of the death of Almirante Guillermo Brown (Bill to his mates) this Saturday, which saw a contingent come from County Mayo in the Republic of Ireland to lay wreaths on his grave in Recoleta cemetery (you can’t miss Brown’s, it’s the big Irish-green column with a ship on top). I would have liked to be there, as not only is Brown also one of my favorite figures in Argentine history (see Mike’s post to understand why), but also my mum is from that part of Ireland, and I spent a good few summer holidays growing up in and around Mayo… so I guess I feel an extra association with Brown… not that I’m thinking of running off and founding another country’s navy any time soon
• Robert proves that around every corner in Buenos Aires there are still interesting discoveries to be made. This time he made a visit to the Iglesia de San Juan Bautista, just off Av. de Mayo, and happened upon a beautiful cloister where soldiers from both sides were buried during the (unsuccessful) British invasions of Buenos Aires during 1806 and 1807. Shame the church authorities wouldn’t let him in to take some better pics

Things to See and Do in Buenos Aires

• Robert also posted some more, very different discoveries in his 36th (count ‘em!) roundup of the weird and wonderful stencil graffiti around Buenos Aires. Also, Disco Shawn (stencils) and Mark DeLoura (freehand) joined in on the BA graffiti act (not literally, I guess… although this is in the things to see AND do section!) in their respective blogs this week
• Diva suggests we take an economically priced tour (AR$0.80) on the number 24 bus. I’ve always preferred the 29 myself, when it comes to sheer numbers of standard Buenos Aires sightseeing attractions And Jeff Barry, well he likes to get adventurous on the 39, going through the colorful barrio of Constitución
• One Argentina Travel blog writer has been relaxing in the Japanese Gardens of Palermo, a haven of Zen tranquility in the middle of crazy Buenos Aires City, something I’m quite partial to myself, as you can see in my previous post about Buenos Aires’ Jardin Japones
• And after re-charging their batteries, the Argentina Travel blog then went on a shopping spree along Av. Santa Fe, one of the best streets for shopping in Buenos Aires, where some bargains are to be found
• Karine has a nice post about Buenos Aires Zoo in Palermo, with lots of lovely cute animal photos

Buenos Aires Info, News & General Comments

• The Greek in Argentina penned an interesting blog post to help with understanding Buenos Aires women, with a nod to Christina Kirchner who may well be the next president of Argentina, following on from her husband Nestor, just as Isabel Peron did when she became the first female head of state in the western hemisphere back in 1974, after the death of her husband Juan (he of the rather famous earlier wife, Evita). Nestor, if you’re thinking what I am, I hope for your sake that lightning doesn’t strike twice!
• In other news, last week it rained like crazy, and Diva explains how this brings out the worst in some Buenos Aires residents

Buenos Aires Restaurants, Food & Drink

• Saltshaker is more than making up for lost time after his time apart from the Buenos Aires restaurant scene, this week giving his expert review treatment to Sette Bacco, a good, romantic, upscale Italian restaurant in Recoleta, Chan Chan, a decent Peruvian restaurant in Congreso, and finally the Recoleta outlet of Romario, a pretty good Pizza chain which has a few restaurants around Buenos Aires
• I also got in on the Pizza reviewing act (again!), this time with my thoughts on the fantastic pizza a la parrilla (a thin crust pizza cooked over a grill) on offer at Morelia in Palermo Hollywood
• Often mentioned as one of the best places to eat steak in the whole world, Cabaña Las Lilas also happens to be one of the most expensive places to eat steak in Buenos Aires, and therefore way outside of my meager review budget. Luckily, for you the inquiring reader, somebody over at Argentina’s Travel Blog had the cash to flash at this fancy Puerto Madero Steakhouse. And yes, I’m jealous!
• There are of course, many cheaper food options available in Buenos Aires. And as Ken kindly points out, almost everywhere delivers here
• Back to Saltshaker again – Dan has put together a useful Spanish to English food dictionary in eBook format, at a bargain price of US$10, which is bound to come in useful for visitors to Buenos Aires trying to get their heads round the menus here for the first time

Funny or Odd Stuff in Buenos Aires

• When it comes to driving, porteños are downright weird, fast and crazy. Ken has some words on the subject, in his paean to porteños behind the wheel. Just make sure you are careful crossing the road when in Buenos Aires, folks!
• And Ken has also vowed to take his camera with him wherever he goes in Buenos Aires from now, because you never know when something crazy is going to happen here, like a sidewalk collapsing and almost swallowing up a news-stand. Just another day in Buenos Aires!

That’s your lot for this week. Some great posts there to keep you reading for a while. I’m going for a lie down… well-earned I think!

Humberto 1º 340 (between Defensa & Balcarce), San Telmo

[Open Monday - Saturday, 8:30am to Midday and 4pm to 7pm. Sundays, 1pm to 6pm.]

I like churches.

Born and raised a good Catholic boy, I was.

…but that has nothing to do with why I like churches. I’m an agnostic, and instead like them because God generally gets some of the best architecture around. And in Buenos Aires it’s no different. So, this is the start of an attempted series on churches in BA, which may well be spread out over several years, cunningly hiding it’s series-ness from view.

The San Pedro Gonzalez Telmo church (try saying that after a few pints), is also known as the Nuestra Señora de Belén (Our Lady of Belen) church. A good church can never have too many names in my book.

A Little Church History

Some Jesuits named Blanqui, Bautista, Primoli and Schmidt designed the original and kicked off the building in 1734. That makes it one of the oldest churches in the city. But not the oldest, which I’ll cover at some point soon I guess. The church’s architecture was then added to and restored a fair few times up to the present, which accounts for it’s lovely eclectic style. Apparently it is ‘neo-colonial’. I prefer to call it ‘fancy iced wedding cake’:

It’s very hard to get a decent picture of the church because the street is of the normal narrow, cobbled San Telmo ilk, and there are large trees getting in on the act – some cheeky leaves can be seen intruding on the top right corner of that photo.

Of course, it is a ‘National Historic Monument’. Isn’t everything? (I believe that ‘joke’ will only get a laugh among Buenos Aires tour guides. And probably not even then)

San Pedro Gonzalez Telmo

Up the top of the church, there in the middle, you can see San Pedro Gonzalez Telmo himself. He was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest, born in Astorga (Spain) in 1190, and devoted his life to enlightening the poor. I wonder what old Pedro Telmo would think of all the saucy Tango dancing that goes on in his barrio now? On second thoughts, he is also the patron saint of Spanish sailors, so I’m sure that he’s not so easily shocked these day.

The inside of the church isn’t all that compared the the beautifully decorative exterior… some nice oil paintings, your usual pulpit… it is more the quiet and peace that draws me within churches such as this. And that’s not something easily found in Buenos Aires city.

Yellow Fever

Of course, life is not all lovely architecture and peaceful surrounds. On the outside of the church a plaque is found, commemorating the San Telmo locals that died in the terrible yellow fever outbreak of 1871:

It was that outbreak that also changed the face of Buenos Aires a little. Previously, San Telmo was home to the rich elite of the city. The yellow fever outbreak forced them out of the area, and they found a new home slightly further north, in Recoleta, which remains the home of the extravagantly wealthy to this day. San Telmo turned into an area of fading grandeur that now makes it so attractive to visitors, while in Recoleta the dazzling French architecture that delights tourists in equal measures was erected by the upper classes.

Still, I’d imagine that’s no consolation to the victims of yellow fever

Note – if you would like to book a private guided walking tour in Buenos Aires that includes a visit to Caminito and the surrounding area of La Boca, please click on the following link and scroll down to the section on our San Telmo & La Boca tour: BUENOS AIRES PRIVATE TOURS

Quite possibly the biggest mainstream tourist hotspot in Buenos Aires, the colorful Caminito street in the otherwise run down barrio of La Boca is often looked down upon as commercial, touristy, tacky, tango-ey rubbish by locals and travel guides alike.

However, I really think it is just trendy to say such things, because this small road and the immediate area around it do in fact have both an interesting history and the opportunity for taking some great photos, even though you will probably be surrounded by several American and Japanese tourists also happily snapping away before they quickly hop back onto their tour bus.

But give Caminito a chance! You might just like it…

What does Caminito mean anyway?

Hmmmm, translation is fun, isn’t it?!? Especially when your Spanish is as bad as mine!

Camino literally means ‘way’ or ‘walkway’ in English, and the -ito or -ita ending tagged onto Spanish nouns means little or small. And so Caminito is often translated as either ‘little walkway’, ‘little road’, ‘little path’, or ‘little street’.

All of these are correct. It is little! At less than 100 meters long, it was never going to win any awards for size, but then Buenos Aires claims to already has those in the bag – Avenida 9 de Julio for world’s widest street and Avenida Rivadavia for world’s longest! However, Caminito certainly makes up for its shortness with its amazing colors, and probably has won some kind of award before for greatest concentration of Japanese tourists per square meter.

But there is more to this small street and tourist attraction than first meets the eye.

Caminito and the ‘colorful’ history of La Boca

Around 6 million foreign immigrants poured into Argentina between the years 1880 and 1930, in which time Buenos Aires quickly turned from small town to heaving city. About 50% of these people were Italian, and many of those were from the port town of Genoa, Italy. To use a blatant stereotype, Italians are known for being lazy. Genoa was a port, La Boca was a port…things seemed familiar, and so the Italian immigrants did not move far from the immediate area where they first stepped onto Argentine soil, the port of La Boca (which means ‘the mouth’, as in the mouth of the Riachuelo river).

What has all this got to do with colorful Caminito, you ask? Well, the majority of these Italian immigrants in La Boca worked in the port, just as they had done in Genoa. The Genoese proudly brought their unique identity to La Boca, and one of their old traditions was to paint the outside of their homes with the leftover paint from the shipyard – as nothing else was available or could be afforded.

Conventillo Housing

However, they took things one step further in La Boca, and actually built the houses almost completely from materials found or discarded in the shipyard. This was because of the huge population explosion due to the immigration at the turn of the 20th century – there just was not enough homes for all of the people in Buenos Aires.

The answer to this problem was conventillo (tenement / shared) housing. Conventillos were long houses with small rooms that opened out onto a central outdoor common patio. Whereas in somewhere like San Telmo, for example, conventillos were generally old converted mansions large houses, in La Boca they had to be more inventive. Here the conventillos were hastily constructed from scrap corrugated metal and wood from old ships, and to spruce them up a little, the façades, doors and windows were then decorated in the famous bright color combinations with the leftover paint from the port, that tradition brought from Genoa.

Caminito is not strictly ‘authentic’, but ‘representative’

The main accusation that Caminito’s detractors throw about is that it is not authentic – in its current form, the street does not date back to the turn of the 20th century when the real conventillos were first built and lived in.

Instead, the history of Caminito is basically as follows:

• Early 1800s onwards: a small stream flowing into the Riachuelo river ran along the same route where Caminito street is now found
• Later that century, this area of the stream became known as Puntin, the Genoese diminutive term for bridge, because a small bridge allowed people to cross the stream here
• When the stream dried up, the General Roca railway to the provinces that ran past here (you can see the disused tracks at the end of Caminito, along Garibaldi street) a deviation from the track followed the dried-up riverbed, and was where train repairs were carried out
• In 1954 the train line went out of action, and the area where Caminito now is became a landfill and a bit of an eyesore
• But soon after, probably the most famous Argentine artist of all time came to the rescue…

Benito Quinquela Martin, The Architect of Caminito

By the late 1950s, La Boca had drastically changed from the turn of the 20th century – most of the colorful, ragtag conventillo housing that had been spread throughout most of the barrio had been pulled down, being replaced by dull houses and blocks of flats. But this was the very essence of La Boca being destroyed, its history, and not everybody was going to sit back and watch that happen.

Benito Quinquela Martin, an abandoned orphan who was adopted by a Genoese immigrant couple in La Boca, was the man to take action. He had become the most significant painter in Argentina, with his dramatic paintings of the port of La Boca, and achieved worldwide recognition. But as La Boca was his inspiration, and had provided him with family, friends and shelter after having been orphaned at an early age, he felt he owed the barrio something in return.

And so in 1959, Quinquela Martin and his artist friends created the street of Caminito, as a means of recreating the way old La Boca used to look – a reminder of where everyone had come from, not just in La Boca, but Buenos Aires, and Argentina, because this barrio and its port had been the gateway for many immigrants into this city and country (up until Puerto Madero & then Puerto Nuevo were built as replacements in the early 1900s), who then went on to make Buenos Aires and Argentina what they are today.

The World’s First Outdoor Pedestrian Museum

What Quinquela Martin did was to rescue bits and pieces of the original immigrant conventillos that were being torn down and replaced, and used them to create a concentrated conventillo community around this small street, in what is essentially an uninhabited open-air art and history exhibit, and officially the world’s first outdoor pedestrian museum. What an accolade!

And so Caminito is really a boiled-down representation of the old immigrant La Boca, and therefore, recreated by a master artist raised just around the corner, and so Caminito is actually a lot more authentic than most people will tell you.
It is still an exhibit, and so nobody actually lives in the Conventillos along Caminito. You will see washing lines strung between walls in the stereotypical Italian way, but they are just for show, and all part of Quinquela Martin’s intended work of art, which I think should be respected for acting as a reminder of this barrio and city’s immigrant roots.

Tango in Caminito

You will probably notice a lot of Tango around when you visit Caminito, in the form of street performers, tango dancers and musicians, tango music drifting through the air from bars and restaurants, and tango souvenirs sold by the dozen in most of the shops, some of them situated inside the actual conventillos. Of course this may all seem a little tacky. And of course, it is! However, there is a reason why the Tango is associated with Caminito and La Boca.

Tango music was born in Buenos Aires in around 1870 (sorry Uruguay, but this is a Buenos Aires blog so I will ignore your revisionist claims! ). However, it is still open to debate exactly where in Buenos Aires the tango originated from. Many say the arrabal (the suburbs / frontier between the city and the fields of the pampa) has the strongest claim. However, La Boca’s claim is up there with it, and also back in those days the arrabal would have started just south of La Boca, and so there was probably some crossover.

It is agreed that tango music first came out of the environment of immigrant-packed conventillo houses, where many different cultures and their respective types of music mixed in such close proximity, and from the melting pot of styles from around the world, tango music arose. It was on the outdoor patios in the center of the conventillos, where immigrants socialised together and played their musical instruments to each other after a hard day’s work, that this most probably occurred. And who is to say it didn’t happen in the conventillos of La Boca?

And so, as Caminito is representative of the old immigrant La Boca, it is also a representation of the genesis of Tango music that occurred at the same time here in history. Plus, for me, there has always been something very Italian about the Tango…its passion, style, arrogance, showmanship, and feelings of nostalgia and longing (for the homeland, Italy)…and of course the lyrics are usually infused with lunfardo, the porteno slang dialect of Spanish corrupted with the Italian language and accent. And where was the main Italian community of Buenos Aires? La Boca…I rest my case

Caminito, more than just a ‘small walkway’

There is a little more to the naming of Caminito than it being a literal description of the small street. It also has a tango influence behind it!

The name Caminito was in fact first famous for a very popular 1926 Tango, by a famous La Boca musician and resident, Juan de Dios Filiberto. As the conventillos of La Boca were perhaps the true home of Tango, and the Caminito street was to be a representation of this, artist Benito Quinquela Martin felt it highly appropriate to name the street after a tango, and even better, one by a famous local resident. The name of the tango just so happened to also literally describe this very small street perfectly!

Another reason for the naming was that musician Filiberto had just fallen seriously ill at the time, and his good friend Quinquela Martin thought this homage to him would be the best way to try and cheer him up. These days, there is also a street in La Boca very close to Caminito that is named directly after Juan de Dios Filiberto, and of course, the lyrics to his tango song are also famously written on a plaque up on the first wall you see as you approach Caminito (although Filiberto only wrote the music, it was the Mendozan poet Gabino Coria Penaloza who added the words).

Buenos Aires Travel Guide Special Tip

If you come to Caminito at the weekend, you will also be able to do a little souvenir shopping the Feria de la Ribera arts and crafts market, which starts at the front of Caminito and goes around in front of the Riachuelo river. Here you will find handmade crochet scarves and shawls (see picture), traditional mate gourds and bombillas (the metal straws used for drinking mate), jewellery and lots of other interesting craft pieces, all at reasonable prices, especially if you are coming to Buenos Aires from the United States or Europe.

And if you work up a hunger after traipsing around Caminito and the feria, I can recommend an authentic Italian Pizzeria nearby in La Boca – which I have reviewed in an earlier post: Banchero Pizzeria. The restaurant also happens to have been a favorite of Benito Quinquela Martin, the architect of Caminito, so it is a fitting end to the outing – and delicious too!

For more information about La Boca, including a little something about the famous Boca Juniors stadium and football team, the Argentina Travel blog made a nice post recently about the neighborhood of La Boca, and also has some other good posts about Buenos Aires in general.

And please click the following link if you are interested in a Tango Show in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

[Open 10am to 10pm daily]

Largest Shopping Center in Buenos Aires

The Abasto shopping center is probably the one mall in Buenos Aires that has at least something to appeal to all people, of all ages, although apart from its wonderful 1930s Art Deco architecture you could not really argue that it is an authentic Buenos Aires experience.

As far as shopping goes, it is full of mainstream clothes stores, and it boasts over 250 brands to choose from, including major labels like Nike, Lacoste and YSL. As I said, not all that authentic an experience, but at least the building itself really is quite beautiful (see right), and is on a very large scale – it is the biggest mall in the city of Buenos Aires (Unicenter, the biggest mall in Argentina, is outside the city limits).

This area of Abasto also has played a major role in the social and tango history of Buenos Aires, and for those reasons alone it is worth a quick visit, even if you are not interested in the shops inside, which will probably be quite similar to the ones that you can find back home. And there is also a range of things to see and do inside the center, which can be found near the end of this blog post.

History of the Mercado de Abasto

In 1893, a market fair started in this zone, which back then would have been referred to with its official barrio name of Balvanera. This official barrio is still found on the maps, but these days it is generally split into three unofficial, but more commonly used, areas, of Abasto, Once and Congreso – all named after major landmarks in each area (the Abasto mall, Once train station, and Congress building, respectively).

By 1930 Buenos Aires needed a wholesale distribution center for its food produce, and this old marketplace couldn’t cope with the needs of a rapidly growing population, so plans were projected by the architects Delpini, Sulsio and Besque for this grand structure to be erected as a new indoor home for the wholesale food market. Building began in 1931, and el Mercado de Abasto eventually opened in 1934. It soon became the center of the noisy, busy food trade in Buenos Aires. Crowds of workers would also drink, listen to tango music and play cards in the seedy bars around the market.

On the structural side, it was significant as the first building in Argentina to ever use cement for both its façade and indoor finish. I bet that really has you excited. The original façade is still the same as ever, with its lovely five curves at the front, the central one being wider and taller than the others, as can be seen in the picture above.

The Modern Abasto ‘Shopping’

The Abasto market set the lively pace of this neighborhood until it was closed down in 1984. This was due to its position in the middle of the city, which was seen as impractical, given that all of the produce came from the countryside and it meant unnecessarily travelling through most of the busy city to bring it here. And so a new central market was instead built on the city outskirts, which is the present Mercado Central, with the Abasto building sadly left abandoned to contemplate its former glory.

However, fifteen years later, in 1999, Abasto was reborn into a shopping center (or just ‘Shopping’, as they say in Buenos Aires), as it was refurbished completely on the inside, and with additional structures at the back and side, but keeping the original beautiful Art Deco façade.

Carlos Gardel’s Old Stamping Ground

The area around Abasto also just happens to be where the most famous tango singer of all time, Carlos Gardel, lived (with his mother) for most of his life. He was so closely connected to this area, that one of his nicknames was El Morocho del Abasto, which basically means ‘the dark-haired guy from Abasto’.

In honor of this, a nice bronze statue of the immortal tango crooner stands just outside of the Abasto building, as shown in the picture over to the right.

Also within just a few blocks distance are his former house where he lived with his mother, on Jean Jaures 735, which is now a museum about his life, a small street named after him, called Pasaje Carlos Gardel, a subway station bearing his name, a corner tango house built in an 1893 bar that ressurects his songs in razzle-dazzle Argentine tango shows each night, and even a small street called Pasaje Zelaya where Gardel’s multi-colored mug is painted on most of the walls.

Finally, just across from the side of the mall is El Progreso Bar, on Anchorena 529, which happens to be one of the few places in Buenos Aires where Carlos Gardel actually sang (among other famous tango figures such as Tita Merello), which has also been preserved in the state it would have been in when Gardel performed there.

How to get to Abasto

Getting to the Abasto mall is fairly easy, thanks to an adjoining Subte (subway) station, called estacion ‘Carlos Gardel’, on the red B Line.

Also, if you are staying in a hotel, you can ask them to call 4338 2333 to arrange you free transport to and from the shopping center, which will certainly help if you are planning on going on a big shopping spree.

Things to do for families in Buenos Aires

The Abasto shopping center also includes several activities that may help to keep families with kids entertained when on holiday in Buenos Aires, for example:

• A 12 screen cinema, which goes by the name of ‘Hoyts’ and shows all the major American, European and Argentine release.
• A massive food court on the top floor where you can guiltily pig out on junk fast food, if that is, like me, one of your secret pleasures. This includes a Kosher McDonald’s restaurant, as Abasto is part of the Jewish area of Buenos Aires.
• The Museo de Los Ninos, with its massive indoor big wheel (see right) and where kids can play at being adults in a ‘city’ scaled down to child size, where they can, for example, operate cranes on a building site, run a TV studio or man the helm of a ship. It costs 5 pesos per person for entry and is open from 1-8pm on every day, except Mondays.
• A fairly large games/amusements arcade replete with the usual flashing lights and games machines that gobble up pocket money at a fast rate.

Buenos Aires Travel Guide Special Tip

If you are looking for a place to go to the cinema in Buenos Aires, I find the Hoyts cinema complex in Abasto one of the most laid back, least busy places to do so in the city. It also wins my prize for having by far and away the best sweet popcorn! It is called pochoclo in Spanish, and if you want sweet, ask for dulce, or say salado for salted.

Also, if you go to the Hoyts cinema in the Abasto mall at night, you will get to see the outside of this wonderful building at its best, when its curves are lit up after dark, to stunning effect:

And finally, if you are on a budget, I also recommend going to the cinema on a Wednesday night, which is the day before the big releases come out, because entrance is generally about half price then. Almost all films in Buenos Aires are shown in the original English version, with Spanish subtitles, so there will be no potential language problems.

[4th - 10th December 2006]

Hello and welcome to the first of my new weekly highlights posts covering what has caught my eye in the Buenos Aires blogosphere. Think of this a kind of a low-brow Global Voices Online solely covering BA.

Unfortunately, I can’t write in this blog as much as I would like to, but there are many other excellent blogs about BA out there – and so I am going to let them do some of the work for me! Most of the ones I know of can be found listed over at the excellent Bloggers in Argentina.

Each week I will link to the best blog posts I have read that I think will be of interest to visitors to Buenos Aires, and post the links up here, with a little commentary added. If I have missed something interesting out or seem to be overlooking a whole blog completely, please comment below to draw my attention to it. Here goes (warning, there is a lot this week!)…

Buenos Aires Sights

• To start proceedings off on a sobering tone, Line of Sight blogged about the building that once was the Argentine army’s intelligence HQ, the first stop for many detainees on their way to be tortured and ‘disappeared’ (i.e. killed) during the last military dictatorship here. Such a sad, horrible period in Argentine history.
• On a lighter note, Jeff Barry took some nice pictures of a replica of a Greek temple in Parque Lezama, San Telmo, which reminds him of a Borges story. Although a whole lot of things do seem to remind him of Borges. Then again, he is one of the greatest writers of recent times, and Argentine at that, so he is worth being reminded of. Borges that is, not Jeff, although Jeff’s excellent blog is indeed worthy too of a reminder now and again.
• The Argentina Travel blog put up an excellent review with pictures of the barrio of La Boca in Buenos Aires, including a little about the mighty Boca Juniors football team and the colorful Caminito street – a staple pilgrimage for most tourists in Buenos Aires.
• Buenos Aires Weekly has some useful facts and lovely pictures of both the Obelisk and the Pink House – two tourist attraction stalwarts of Buenos Aires.
• Tango Cherie has a link to an article she had published about lovely old Line A of the Buenos Aires Subway system. It’s British built, don’t you know, just like me, though the similarity stops there. I wrote a dirty joke here, and then remembered that children might read this. I’m sure you can imagine it!

Tours, Trips & Museums in and around Buenos Aires

• Expat Argentina gives tips on where to stay and what to do in Tandil, a place for a potential weekend getaway from Buenos Aires, about 3 hours away from the city by car. I’d love to go just to see their replica of a large rock that once (rolled and..) broke. Rock and roll, man!
• Trendy Palermo Viejo brought to our attention, in three languages, a new museum about the equine sport of polo in Buenos Aires. Every time I see it, I am more and more impressed with a blog that writes in three languages. Shame on my monolingual excuse of a blog.

Buenos Aires Info, News & General Comments

• El Sol Ardiente, who will sadly shortly be leaving his beloved Buenos Aires, gave a ceremonial run down on his top ten and bottom ten things about the city. Then he remembered a couple of extra things, but I’ll let him off for that original oversight…he must have been getting emotional at the thought of waving goodbye to this wonderful country.
• Line of Sight does some inventive things with planned subte (subway) maps, and shows us combined plans for the way the Buenos Aires subte system will look. Eventually, hopefully…
• More trilingual trickery from Palermo Viejo, with the impressive news that Buenos Aires is the second best city in the world for shopping. Eat that Paris, languishing down in lowly ninth place. Yes, I mean YOU, the ‘Buenos Aires of Europe’.

Places to Stay in Buenos Aires

• GoodAirs posted about a rather costly new addition to the burgeoning ranks of boutique hotels in Palermo, in this case, one that would eat itself if it were a jar of dulce de leche.
• Back at the Argentina Travel Blog, they have a nice review of the Milhouse Youth Hostel, in Montserrat for all you dirty, greasy backpackers out there. For the record, I am also a dirty, greasy backpacker. I just got lost in Buenos Aires and someone tied me to this computer chair until I wrote everything there is to know about Buenos Aires. The 1000 monkeys in the next room are currently beating me in this task. But only just, and they do have an unfair advantage…they can touch type

Buenos Aires Restaurants, Food & Drink

• I wrote an excellent review of the California Burrito Company restaurant, if I don’t say so myself! Check it out if you are missing spicy food in Buenos Aires! That was my only post this week; consider my wrists slapped for being such a lazy sod…
• Blog Pasa en Buenos Aires (in Spanish), the funky city of Buenos Aires government weblog, declared what all foodies have been anxiously waiting for. Yes folks, the milanesa napolitana, pizza con faina, and sorrentinos are all now officially part of the patrimonial culture of Buenos Aires.
• In case you don’t know what all of those foods are; a milanesa is a thin piece of breaded meat (usually chicken or beef), with the napolitana part consisting of tomato sauce, ham, melted cheese and tomatoes places on top of it. Pizza con faina is pizza eaten with a slice of chickpea-based pie (faina) on top of it. Sorrentinos are massive raviolis, usually filled with cheese and ham. Beware, soon there will be legislation declaring these foods the only legal meal options in Buenos Aires restaurants. Sorry, no sushi for you…
• That last part was a blatant lie. Please keep reading even though I have now probably lost your trust.
• If you are still reading, good. If you are still reading AND like fish, check out Saltshaker‘s review of the fish at the Lo Rafael restaurant in the barrio of Montserrat. And if you ever want to read reviews of fish restaurants in Buenos Aires, check out Saltshaker and not this blog because 1.) He knows more about good food than I do, and 2.) I am viciously allergic to fish. Kind of puts a large, death-related obstacle in my way…
• Beer. I love beer. I miss beer. Mmmmmm….beeeeeeer. This is my kind of post: Beer. Thanks to the Asado Argentina blog for…beer. This blog post was also brought to you by the power of beer (can you notice?)

Funny or Odd Things in Buenos Aires

• Diva, over at Buenos Aires through my eyes, made a couple of interesting observations this week (well, she does most weeks I guess). Firstly she noted that only 4 people turned up for a ‘flashmob’ event where free hugs were on offer, whereas over 3,000 people had brought the pillows to the ‘lucha de almohadas’ in order to beat the hell out of each other.
• She also raised a smile by relating the heart-warming story of an American who thought McDonald’s invented that most Argentine of sweets, the Alfajor de Maizena, because of its uncanny resemblance to a miniature hamburger. Sweet!
• What’s that you say? Ricky Martin was in Buenos Aires this week? Why do I always miss out on all the fun? Luckily for us, Robert Wright had the pocket Latino popster in his Line of Sight, and in the line of his camera lens too. And he even threw an interesting conspiracy theory into the post for good measure.
• Robert also wins the workaholic blogger of the week award. He also posted some excellent pictures of stencils in Buenos Aires, with translations and explanations. He has posted many of these before, this was in fact number 34 in the series! Search back through his blog if they interest you.
• Miss Tango In Her Eyes and her female friend are given some enthusiastic appreciation from the chicos in Puerto Madero, for the sum of their parts, which I suppose must be pretty darn impressive.
• Daily snapper Karine did some rapid fire posting of different Buenos Aires Kiosks, in all of their magazine-bling glory, here, there, and even round the corner from my fiancée’s apartment! Small world, indeed…
• In her other blog, Buenos Aires Weekly, Karine was one of the first to break the exciting news that Barbara Bush’s cell phone, stolen recently in San Telmo, had supposedly been put up for sale on Mercado Libre (the Latin American eBay), with a bargain starting price of AR$1000. Not bad when you consider it contained the phone numbers of both George W Bush AND Michael Jackson, offering the once in a lifetime opportunity to conduct a ‘stupidest person on the face of the planet’ contest, in real time. Unfortunately, the offer was soon removed, surely because the current owner realized that was a chance that couldn’t be passed up.

My plea to Buenos Aires bloggers: please write less interesting posts in the coming week so I can get some sleep!

However, as I am a glutton for punishment, if I have missed an interesting Buenos Aires blog post this week, please post a link to it in the comments below. Thanks!

[Also has branches at Av. Corrientes 1300 (City Center), Av. Rivadavia 5401 (Caballito), and Av Pueyrredon 123 (Once)]

Pizza is a serious business in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires was largely built on huge amounts of European immigration around the turn of the 20th century, with the large majority coming from Italy, not Spain, as many would believe (they came in second). In fact, according to a Yale essay on Argentine Immigration:

“Between 1857 and 1958 the main source of immigrants to Argentina were Italy and Spain accounting for 46 and 33 percent, respectively, of the total. The rest of the immigrants were made up of different nationalities, including French, German, British, and Irish.”

This amounted to almost 3 million Italians in that period, most of which arrived in the massive rush between 1880-1916. I never thought I would be quoting a Yale essay while talking about a plain old Pizza joint, but there you go.

The Italians and La Boca

Most of the Italians arrived into the port of La Boca, and they liked it so much, they stayed there. La Boca has since then been the main Italian community in Buenos Aires. In fact, the famous football team that plays here, Boca Juniors, has “Xeneizes” written on its shirt, which means “the Genoese” (people of Genoa, Italy), in an old Genoese dialect.

What do Italians love to eat? Pizza, pasta and ice cream. All of which, of course, are abundantly available throughout Buenos Aires. Some of it, arguably…controversially, better than back in the homeland (I can’t really comment, as I have only been in Italy once for a week, and Argentina for two years, but I have at least definitely had better ice cream / gelato in Buenos Aires than I did in Florence or Rome). And where better to sample Italian food in Buenos Aires, than in the main Italian community here, La Boca…

So, first up in my series of reviews of Italian food in Buenos Aires is Pizza, and a place in La Boca with a lot of history: the Banchero Pizzeria. As the tag line on their napkin pictured above says:

“Today a lot of places make Pizza. We created it…”

Quite a dramatic claim. Of course, it isn’t strictly true: Banchero in fact invented a type of Pizza that has since been popular in Buenos Aires.

The history of Banchero Pizza

Don Agustin Banchero arrived from Genoa to Buenos Aires in 1893, to try his luck in Argentina. He soon became one of the first people to sell Pizza in Buenos Aires, starting a little bakery with his son Juan in calle Olivarria, where the “Fugazza Con Queso” was born! (Fugazza was a Genoese invention of a sauceless pizza topped with caramelized onions, oregano and seasoning. It tastes nicer than it sounds! Banchero added the cheese, and this version is now more widely known as the Fugazzetta).

This was surely one of the defining moments in Argentine culinary history! And I say that without a hint of sarcasm, readers. Pizza is that important here.

Son of a Pizza maker

Agustin’s son, the Don Juan of the Argentine Pizza world (literally, that’s his name, Don Juan Banchero), soon took over the dough mantle from his father, and on 28th March 1932 opened the traditional Pizzeria Banchero here in La Boca, which he ran with his sons Tito and Antonio. The Banchero family are all about the Pizza. Note how I am using Pizza with a capital P!

Pizzeria Banchero soon became famous for it’s heavenly slices of pie, and yet more famous after stars like Argentine singer Tita Merello and ‘national-institution’ painter Benito Quinquela Martin began to hang out here on a regular basis.

It is still in the Banchero family, but has since ‘branched out’, adding three other locations, including a branch near the Obelisk on Av. Corrientes 1300.

But what about the Pizza?

Well, the Pizza is great. Deep dish, with LOADS of lovely gooey mozzarella cheese. I didn’t go for the Fugazzetta this time, because I wasn’t feeling particularly Genoese. What I did have instead was a ‘Chica Calabresa’, which is an individual sized Pizza topped with lots of mozzarella, tomato sauce, tomatoes, slices of calabresa sausage (a bit like Argentine chorizo sausage, only a little spicy, and interestingly with a faint hint of aniseed to it) and green olives. Have you ever seen a Pizza in Buenos Aires without olives?

It came in at a reasonable 15 pesos, and was way more than enough for one person. Here it is, in all its gooey mozzarella glory:

Nice prices…just don’t ask for Coca-Cola

There are also cheaper options if you are with company, for example at 17 Argentine pesos for the Grande Muzzarella, you will have more than enough for two people. Throw in a couple of AR$1.50 slices of Faina, a chickpea based pie that is eaten on top of a slice of Pizza here in BA, and you are set. Now, what to drink…?

Most groups of porteno friends like nothing better than a few large mozzarella pizzas washed down with a few litre bottle of Quilmes beer. Quilmes are one of the sponsors of Boca Juniors, so that is also a very safe choice of beverage in La Boca, where they are CRAZY about their football.

If you want a soft drink, you need to be a little more careful. Whatever you do, DON’T ask for Coca-Cola. See, one of the other Boca Juniors sponsors in Pepsi. And Coca-Cola just happen to sponsor their arch rivals in the north, River Plate. There is no love lost between these two teams and their supporters. Trust me, they want each other’s blood.

So, be warned. Asking for a Coke in La Boca is tantamount to slapping the waiter’s lovely old Italian grandmother in the face. If you value your life, do the sensible thing and choose Pepsi. Or a mineral water. Don’t believe me? Have a look round the cafes, bars and restaurants of La Boca and see how many serve the more famous alternative to Pepsi Cola, whose name shall not be spoken in those parts…!

A strangely eerie restaurant

So, some lovely cheesy Pizza and a Pepsi Cola, great. And the restaurant itself…?

Always deserted.

At least when I’m there, anyway. Most of La Boca has a sad, run-down, ghost-town quality to it these days, aside from the small touristy area around Caminito, as a result of there being very little work on offer in this area. Banchero adds to the deserted feeling; it’s like walking into a restaurant in a seaside resort during off season – and you wonder how, or why, they are still open. Maybe it’s because they feel they have a duty to continue the family tradition of providing the highest quality Pizza to the Argentine public. Or, less romantically, maybe the city center branch is where the profits are made, with the La Boca location kept on for authenticity’s sake.

All in all, Banchero is a great place for some top quality Pizza in Buenos Aires. It is one of my favorite Pizzerias, but not out and out my favorite – I can think of at least two others that probably edge it for that crown, which I will of course be reviewing sometime soon.

Banchero Pizzeria: the verdict

• Service: (4/5) As there is never many people to serve, the waiters are very attentive and friendly, and the service is extremely quick. Though I hear that the opposite is the case in its busy city center location.
• Food: (4/5) Delicious thick slices of Pizza topped with loads of lovely gooey Mozzarella cheese…mmmmmmm…
• Atmosphere: (2/5) About a dead as a River Plate fan that forgot where he was and asked for Coca Cola in a La Boca restaurant…the waiters are nice though, so they get some points for that.
• Value: (4/5) At 17 Argentine pesos for a mozzarella Pizza that easily feeds two, it is very good value for money.

Buenos Aires Travel Guide Special Tip

If you go late at night, which I would probably advise against, make sure you get a Radio taxi, because it is dangerous to walk around La Boca at night, especially for tourists. Probably best to be safe and go here for lunch, when it is just as safe as the rest of Buenos Aires.