Buenos Aires ( Discount
Buenos Airfare )
Argentina's capital city is located within the Capital Federal
District and forms one of the world's largest metropolitan areas.
Buenos Aires is an elegant shoppers' paradise and cosmopolitan
centre that takes pride in its cultural establishments. There
are now few reminders of the city's glorious past, although
the immense Catedral Metropolitana (Metropolitan Cathedral),
which contains the remains of San Mart?n, Argentina's liberator,
is a notable exception. So is the famous Teatro Col?n, the world's
largest opera house (with a capacity of 2500 seats), which occupies
an entire block on the massive Avenida 9 de Julio, the city's
major thoroughfare with its Obelisco (obelisk) at the intersection
with Avenida Corrientes (the traditional theatre, cinema and
nightlife district). Also worth a visit are the Isaac Fern?ndez
Blanco Museum of Spanish-American Art, which houses an important
silverware collection and is located in a beautiful neo-colonial
mansion; the Ambrosetti Museum and the Museum of Colonial History.
The old artists' quarter of La Boca, home of the tango, is located
along a narrow waterway lined by meat-packing plants and warehouses.
Visitors can see a tango show at one of several tango bars for
approximately US$40-60. The San Telmo borough, one of the oldest
parts of the city and particularly known for the Manzana de
las Luces (Block of Enlightenment), has also preserved its artistic
spirit. The city's oldest church, the Jesuit Iglesia San Ignacio,
is located here. San Telmo has many caf?s, antique shops, tango
night spots and a Sunday flea market on Plaza Dorrego. Buenos
Aires' open spaces are particularly notable in the northern
part, where a succession of parks stretch for miles along the
River Plate. The Palermo neighbourhood contains the Jard?n Botanico
Carlos Thays (Botanical Gardens), the Jard?n Zool?gico (zoo),
the Campo de Polo (polo grounds), the Hip?dromo (racetrack)
and the Planetarium. The city's main shopping districts are
located around the microcentro (north of Avenida de Mayo), which
includes popular tourist areas like the Florida and Lavalle
pedestrian malls, the Plaza San Mart?n, and the commercial and
entertainment areas of Corrientes, C?rdoba and the fashionable
Santa Fe. North of the microcentro is the chic and upper-class
Recoleta borough, famous for its Cemeterio de la Recoleta (where
many members of Argentina's ?lite are buried) and the renowned
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts), which
has works by Renoir, Rodin, Monet, Van Gogh and numerous Argentine
artists. Near the presidential palace, the neighbourhood known
as Puerto Madero is now in serious competition with Recoleta
to become the city's most chic quarter. Many of the port's 19th-century
warehouses and docks have been transformed into Manhattan-style
lofts, expensive restaurants, trendy nightclubs, new office
blocks and a university campus. Further southeast is the Costanera
Sur National Park, a nature reserve close to the banking district.
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Argentina Airport Guide
