Second day in B A

26 november

We are a few days further on our trip but had no time to write anything.  You all understand that we are very busy. On our second day with the group we split up. Most of the people went to the Tigre delta for the day and 9 of us opted for a bicycle tour in the city. The guide was waiting for us on Plaza San  Martìn, named after the liberator of Argentina. You find these Plazas all over. Janneke, a young Dutch woman, was our guide for the day. After her first journey to Argentina she fell in love with the country and after several visits she decided to stay. She was good in explaining the Argentinian culture, how other South American’s feel about Argentinians, especially the Porteños, as inhabitants in B A are called.

At the end of Parque de San Martìn we stopped at the memorial site of veterans fallen during the Falkland war in 1982. 30.000 people died only on the Argentinian side. We continued on the huge Av de Libertador. Passing by the Retiro railway station and the Faculty of Law.  An enormous building in classical style. On the other side of the railway you see the “ houses” of the poor and to the left the houses for the wealthy. We went on to the part of the city called Palermo. Here you find the embassies and were the expats live. The city has nice green lungs, with avenues lined with beautiful jacarandas which are blooming now and some beautiful parks like the Rose Garden. After lunch we passed the polo-fields and the racecourse. 
All nice open spaces for the rich. We cycled through Av de Alvear, one of the most beautiful shopping streets in B A. Before returning to our starting point, our last stop was the Evita Perón statue. Per and I still had time to visit the Galeria Pacifico which has a dome with beautiful murials. 
 

In the evening we had a wine tasting in a wine cellar in Calle The Perú with a very knowledgeable sommelier. Since we had had little to eat we dropped in at the famous café Tortoni. That was all we managed so far in B A. The next time more about our trip to El Calafate. Now it is time for a glass of wine.