Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Basilica Nuestra Señora de la Merced<br />
room contains thick volumes as<br />
well as letters from Argentinian<br />
generals. Period furnishings,<br />
from original porcelain bath<br />
fixtures to the courtyard’s<br />
Spanish tiles, are in excellent<br />
repair. d Map F1 • Calle San Martín<br />
336 • 4394-8240 • Open noon–6pm<br />
Mon–Fri; closed Jan–Feb • Adm<br />
( Plaza de Mayo<br />
The Plaza’s symmetry belies<br />
the many upheavals that shaped<br />
its current dimensions. To make<br />
room for Avenida de Mayo, three<br />
arches were shorn off its arcade<br />
in 1889. In 1931, avenue Julio A.<br />
Rocha was completed, requiring<br />
the demolition of three more<br />
arches, leaving us with the view<br />
we have today (see pp8-9).<br />
) Plaza Embajada de Israel<br />
Twenty-nine trees planted<br />
for each of the murdered bear<br />
witness to the 1992 terrorist<br />
attack on Israel’s Argentinian<br />
embassy (see p33). The site is<br />
now a plaza, where the victims’<br />
names are etched into a wall.<br />
The embassy’s former outline is<br />
still imprinted in the adjacent<br />
building, providing a sense of the<br />
tragedy’s physical scale. d Map Q4<br />
• Cnr. Calles Suipacha and Arroyo<br />
• Open daily • Adm free<br />
A Day Around<br />
Microcentro, Puerto<br />
Madero, and Retiro<br />
Morning<br />
From the intersection of<br />
Avenida de Mayo and<br />
Avenida 9 de Julio,<br />
(serviced by Líneas A or C)<br />
get a glimpse of El<br />
Obelisco (see p20)<br />
monument from Don<br />
Quixote’s vantage. Walk<br />
along de Mayo toward<br />
Plaza de Mayo, taking in<br />
the El Cabildo (see p8)<br />
and paying respects to the<br />
Grand Liberator San Martín<br />
inside La Catedral<br />
Metropolitana (see p8).<br />
Continue down Calle San<br />
Martín for a late-morning<br />
coffee and alfajor<br />
(see p53) inside one of<br />
Galería Güemes’ (see<br />
p39) cafés, and bask in the<br />
passageway’s early 20thcentury<br />
grandeur. Exit<br />
onto Calle Florida (see<br />
p81) for a block of rampant<br />
consumerism before<br />
turning onto J.D. Perón<br />
and following it all the way<br />
to Puerto Madero.<br />
Afternoon<br />
Grab a water bottle at a<br />
Puerto Madero kiosk, hail<br />
a radio taxi bound for the<br />
Reserva Ecológica<br />
Costanera Sur’s northern<br />
entrance, and keep eyes<br />
sharp inside the park for<br />
coastal birdlife. Rest for a<br />
while at a shaded picnic<br />
spot and take in the river<br />
and the city’s skyline view.<br />
Afterward, trace your<br />
steps back to Avenida<br />
Córdoba and follow it up<br />
to Calle San Martín for<br />
well-deserved, creative<br />
pizzas at FILO (see p85).<br />
From there, head towards<br />
Retiro to indulge in retail<br />
therapy amid the artisan<br />
shops (see pp38–9),<br />
before resting under the<br />
trees at the verdant Plaza<br />
San Martín (see p81).<br />
Around Town – Microcentro, Puerto Madero & Retiro 83
Change language