Plaza Dorrego (corner of Defensa & Humberto Primo), San Telmo

[Photo Credit: Paula Holt]

Note from Alan: Hello! We’re back! Sorry for the long break again, but this time the blog will be back for good, with more regular updates. We start off today with a post from a new contributor to the blog, Kim Winternheimer, who has written a great piece on the Feria de San Telmo. Look out for more posts from Kim, and maybe, just maybe, I might even start to write some stuff myself again soon. One more thing, I’ve started giving walking tours of Buenos Aires again, after my recent break. For now, over to Kim…

In case you didn’t know, and you really should…

The Feria de San Telmo is one of the most notable and popular events that takes place in Buenos Aires. Nestled in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, the San Telmo fair is bustling with unique artisans and antiques every Sunday from 10am to 4pm. Perhaps its greatest qualities, besides the architecturally beautiful neighborhood which it calls home, are its exclusive goods and reliable nature. Never a Sunday will there be without tourists pouring into the cobblestone streets of San Telmo for one of a kind antiques, trinkets, art, tango and delicious food.

Read the rest of this entry »

Av. Corrientes (from 9 de Julio to Callao), Buenos Aires City Center

The famous bookstores of Avenida Corrientes

Welcome to Buenos Aires, one of the most literary cities on the planet. The people here know the value of a good book, whether it’s poetry, fiction, anthropology, self-help, psychology (not only can you bet that most porteños have read some Freud, but there is even an area of Palermo - Villa Freud - named after him!), or art.

If you wish to properly observe this social fact, you absolutely must visit the bookstores of Corrientes, the famous avenue that bristles with the action of theaters, cinemas, cafes, shops, and people with their noses stuck in used copies of anthologies of Argentine history or poetry.

Read the rest of this entry »

Avenida Corrientes 1669 (near corner of Rodriguez Pena), City Center

This black cat in Buenos Aires might not be so unlucky…

On a chilly fall or winter day in Buenos Aires, there is nothing more likely to give you warmth and a big smile than having a delicious spiced tea or coffee in El Gato Negro, one of the city’s most historical establishments. The cafe was originally a spice store founded by a Spanish settler in 1929. His name was Victoriano Lopez Robredo, and he had spent years traveling in Asia and Siberia, collecting exotic spices and flavors. He brought them to Buenos Aires and named this cafe El Gato Negro after another famous cafe back in Madrid.

Now El Gato Negro is a reminder of the city’s European roots, and a wonderful place to read a newspaper or the book you recently bought at one of Avenida Corrientes’ many bookstores, or even to enjoy a gourmet dinner in its elegant upstairs dining room.

Read the rest of this entry »

Thames 1762 (between Costa Rica & El Salvador), Palermo Soho

[Hours of operation: Monday to Thursday - 12am to 10pm; Friday - 10am to 11pm; Saturday - 11am to 11pm; Sundays and holidays - 2pm to 10pm]

Buenos Aires, a city of book lovers

As one of the most literate cities on the planet, Buenos Aires will not disappoint a book lover. You can spend hours just browsing through the stacks and shelves of novels, academic theses, art and photography collections, and poetry anthologies in shops across the city here. Of course Buenos Aires is best for book-shopping if you read Spanish, or don’t mind captions in Spanish, but most places do also have an English-language selection.

One very attractive and alluring bookstore in Buenos Aires is the Boutique del Libro, a combined bookshop and café tucked away in the atmospheric streets of Palermo Soho.

Read the rest of this entry »

Thames 1721 (between El Salvador & Costa Rica), Palermo Soho

[Note from Alan: Again, as with the Tango stuff, it's great to have Rachel here on the blogging team to help review some shops in Buenos Aires, because this really isn't an area of expertise for me. I'll just stick to writing the beer, food and ice cream reviews, thanks. Know your weaknesses! ;)]

Objetos Encontrados - “Found Objects” in Buenos Aires

One of the pleasures of wandering through the streets of Buenos Aires is you often happen upon a store that is entirely unique to the city, a place that shows the culture’s love for antiquities, trinkets, and anything made by Argentine hands. Objetos Encontrados, in Palermo Viejo / Palermo Soho, is one of these such shops.

It’s a fun place to gaze at the various toys, games, art pieces, and household items that are very much part of the city’s history. Perhaps the porteño obsession with collecting such items has something to do with nostalgia for better days in the city, when things were more stable and prosperous.

Read the rest of this entry »