Top 10 Buenos Aires

Around Town – Barrio Norte, Recoleta, and Around
66
Shalom Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is home to Latin
America’s biggest Jewish
community, and its hub is the
barrio of Once. This bustling,
colorful, traffic-choked district is
lined with Jewish businesses,
delicatessens, kosher restaurants,
and temples. At its heart is the
AMIA building, the site of one of
two Jewish-targeted terrorist
attacks in the 1990s (see p33).
% Avenida Corrientes
The center of the city’s
theater district, this legendary
thoroughfare was called “the
avenue that never sleeps” in the
1940s, when it overflowed with
theaters and movie theaters.
Today, it is a tad bedraggled
though the theaters remain.
It is also lined with cafés and
bookstores, including excellent
second-hand stores (see p69).
d Map P6
Centro Cultural Recoleta
^ A vibrant contemporary art
space, this cultural center
occupies the old Recoleta
monastery, built in 1732. Twenty
separate galleries host temporary
exhibitions. Exhibits are
edgy, provocative, and rich in
social, political, and religious
comment. There is also a micromovie
theater, an auditorium
housed in the monastery chapel,
several multifunctional spaces,
Centro Cultural Recoleta
Exhibits at Museo de la Ciudad
and a roof-top terrace where
performances take place in
summer. d Map N3 • Junín 1930
• 4803-1040 • Open 2–9pm Mon–Fri,
10am–9pm Sat–Sun • www.centrocultural
recoleta.org
Museo de la Ciudad & Housed in a private residence
dating from 1894, this
museum includes recreations of
Art Nouveau and Art Deco
bedrooms, a typical 1900s office,
and a dining room from the
1950s. Other displays feature
antique children’s toys,
architectural antiques, and period
furniture and paintings. The
Farmacia de la Estrella in the
same block is a functioning
pharmacy open since 1834.
It includes ceiling frescoes and
an antique counter and weighing
scales. d Map F2 • Defensa 219,
Montserrat • 4331-9855 • Open
11am–7pm daily • Adm
* Teatro Colón
Inaugurated in 1908, the
Teatro Colón is one of the
world’s great opera houses.
Opera, ballet, and classical music
concerts take place in its
auditorium and past performers
have included Pavarotti, Nureyev,
and María Callas. You can take a
guided tour of its majestic
interior, auditorium, salons, and
labyrinth of workshops and
rehearsal rooms (see pp12–13).