City Tour of Buenas Aires, Argentina
The next day we got up bright and early, and ready to explore Buenas Aires. We had a quick breakfast at the buffet and then met our tour group to board our bus for our all-day city tour
Our driver was Diego, and he was a history teacher when he wasn’t explaining the highlights of his city to tourists. He was great. The first area we drove through was the ‘higher class’ area which was where there were lots of parks and monuments. There was huge tribute to Eva (Evita!) Perone and he explained bit about her story to us.
Then we visited the cemetery where Evita is buried. Believe it or not, it was an amazing place! Lots of mausoleums and family crypts that were ornamental and interesting. Our guide explained that the part we could see above ground was only part of the story, and in most cases – there were basement areas of each crypt, and many of then had about a dozen family members entombed inside.
After leaving the cemetery we were taken ‘downtown’ to the political capitol area. We ran into a huge traffic jam. Turned out the President was speaking near-by and the police closed down many streets. We were somewhat close to where we wanted to go, so our tour-bus driver turned the bus around and dropped us off where the street was blocked. Our tour guide urged us to take photos from the middle of the street because it’s normally a VERY busy area – and it was an unusual treat to have the street blocked. From there we walked to a large Catholic church. It was very ornate and beautiful inside and had a monument to a fallen national hero (sorry I don’t recall his name) that had a military guard. We happened to be there during the ‘changing of the guard’ which was interesting.
Outside the church – we noticed a large police presence – and even riot police.
Our guide explained that there was a large demonstration about to take place, and urged us to move on… so we did!
Next up was the Casa Rosada or the “Pink Palace.” This is the equivalent to the U.S. White House. It is also where Evita made her famous speech to the crowd below from the balcony.
Because we were still close to where the demonstration was to be, we decided to move on to our next destination. We walked down a few blocks – admiring the old architecture, and then we arrived – a Tango show. They served us lunch, which included a HUGE Argentina steak – and then we were treated to music and authentic Tango dancing (the area where we watched the show is where the Tango was created). We also were treated to “Goucho” music too – who are sort of like Cowboys of Argentina.
Next our tour went to an area of town called “La Boca” which is where there is a large soccer stadium and an area where ‘artists’ are known for painting buildings in interesting colors.
Next our tour headed back to toward the pier but via a much ‘lower class’ area than we had started out in. It was interesting but also somewhat depressing to see such poverty in the city.
After we arrived back at the cruise terminal, it was much less hectic because there was only our ship in the terminal. Then it was time to ‘sail away!’ at last. It wasn’t quite like we are accustomed to because Buenas Aires is located on a HUGE river, instead of the ocean…. after sail away we had an early dinner and headed to bed early again, while we were still adjusting to the local time…