We arrived at out hotel at 4:00 pm. No time to waste if we wanted to see the city in three days.

Recoleta History

After checking into our very comfortable apartment in the Recoleta district’s Art Suites, we appropriately began our tour at the Recoleta Cemetery, the home of the lovely mausoleums of the city’s rich and famous, including that of the ever-popular Eva Peron.

Then next door to the historic (1716) Basilica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar church with its lovely gold leaf alters and its Historic relics.

The next building, revitalized into the Centro Cultural Recoleta, is a community arts center with studios, workshops and exhibition areas for artists, and a children’s museum, where they can play and experiment to learn scientific principles.

 

Recoleta Shopping and Browsing

Walking south through the park right outside the church and the Cemetery takes you to Ortiz St, which is lined with casual restaurants, most with outside seating. A couple blocks east takes you to Alvear and Avenida Tres Arrroyos, two of the grandest streets in the city, with elaborate mansions, exclusive hotels (including the Alvear Palace and the particularly lovely Four Seasons) and clubs (especially the ultra-prestigious Jockey Club) and the most expensive shops and most luxurious malls, culminating at Patio Bullrich (which, ironically, used to be a slaughterhouse).

Meanwhile, on the other (west) side of town is a less upscale shopping street, Avenida Santa Fe, which is filled with lower-scale stores and chains, theaters showing mostly American films (in contrast with central business district theaters that are more likely to show Argentinian and European films). Santa Fe, however, does have at least one particularly noteworthy venue, a wonderfully bookstore (at #1802) built inside an old theater, that retains all the original balconies and even the stage and curtain (which houses a cafe and seating area).