Now that Buenos Aires is in the rearview mirror, I thought I'd reflect a little upon my favorite sights and sounds of the city:
Favorite Neighborhood: San Telmo
Great vibe. Loved the history of the older buildings as it is one of the oldest barrios in the city. This leads to some cool architecture. The outdoor and indoor markets were a sight to see. Food and drink were delicious and the area really comes alive at night.
San Telmo Market was great to experience
Favorite Building: Teatro Colon
It was a tough choice with between this and the Recoleta Cemetery but the Teatro Colon was just spectacular. Architecturally it was stunning with multiple influences between French and Italian. They did an amazing job on the restoration. The acoustics were great, even in the upper deck.
The main stage at Teatro Colon
Favorite Food: Empanadas
Fast, affordable, and delicious, my vote goes to the baby calzone as my favorite food in the city. You can find them all over. The come in all kinds of different sizes and flavors and make a great appetizer or full meal. Some were doughy, some were flaky, but all were good. Makes for a great takeaway meal as well.
Weirdest Cultural Encounter: Platform sandals and Dulce de Leche
Unless Argentina boasts the largest population of the KISS Army, this one makes no sense. Over the half the sandals we saw people walking around with were some sort of platform sandal. They just look very awkward and very uncomfortable given the roads and sidewalks aren't all that even. People didn't seem that tall here and there were no height restrictions on anything we encountered.
Random platform sandals in a shop window
Dulce de Leche is good. Very good. It's the Nutella of South America. Except it's so sweet. Absolutely great in the 8 different variations of dulce de leche ice cream. Even better in Alfajores, but serving it for breakfast on just toast? That was a bit of a stretch.
Best Corleone Brother: Freddo
This lost brother left the family and started selling ice cream in Buenos Aires, but it was a good decision. You know ice cream is popular and a store is good when you can buy it by the kilo. Also where there is a line to get in at 10:30 pm that rivals the bars nearby. Ice cream was a staple of our Buenos Aires diet because of Freddo.
Most Frustrating: Architecture
Buenos Aires is a beautiful city. It's also very frustrating to view from an architecture point of view. You can easily pick out some of the French and Italian styles that show up in the buildings that were build during Argentina's wealthy era of the late 1800's to early 1900's. They wanted to be like Europe and imported the building materials and architects to make it happen. However you can also easily pick out the eyesores from the 70's and 80's that remind me of all my trips to China. Mid-rise concrete blobs dotted with barred windows and external ac units. Sometimes faced with marble sheets to make them look nicer than they really are. The most frustrating thing is that they exist right next to each other all the time.
Good
Also good, with bad next to it.
Overall it was a great city and 5/6 days is perfect for exploring without feeling rushed. People were friendly and the city comes to life at night. The barrios all offer something different and I would definitely recommend a day or 2 in each of the main ones (Palermo, Recoleta, San Telmo, Puerto Madras, etc.) to experience them. Definitely walkable but if you're in San Telmo, Palermo is a long, long walk. Very easy to catch a cab if need be, just have the address of where you need to go ready and you'll have no issue. Tons of buses moving people all over and a couple subway lines as well but we didn't use them as much as we did our legs.
-Nick
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