Argentina - The Rough Guide to South America on a Budget - page 53

blocks surround bright-red restored
warehouses. hese are now home to some
of the city's most chic restaurants and
hotels. One of the capital's best art galleries,
the Colección de Arte Amalia Lacroze de
Fortabat , at Olga Cossettini 141 (Tues-
Sun noon-9pm, AR$25; T 011 4310
6600, W coleccionfortabat.org.ar), is housed
in a peculiar hangar-style building on
the waterfront. Within is an impressive
private collection by both national and
international artists, including works by
Dalí, Warhol and Turner.
Nearby along the river's edge is the
Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur (entrance
at Av Tristán Achával Rodríguez 1550;
Tues-Sun 8am-6pm; free; T 011 4315
1320), a large expanse of reclaimed and
regenerated land. It makes a delightful
afternoon stroll, and they hold full-moon
tours once a month. In front of the
entrance, a small craft market is held
on weekends.

Originally housing a Jesuit community,
it has also been home to numerous
official institutions throughout its history,
and today it accommodates both the
Colegio Nacional , an elite high school,
and Buenos Aires' oldest church,
San Ignacio (daily 8am-8pm;
T 011 4331 2458), begun in 1675.

1

San Telmo
San Telmo begins further south along
Defensa, on the far side of Avenida
Belgrano. With its myriad of antique
stores and junk shops, as well as a range
of busy, late-opening restaurants and
bars (especially around the intersection
of Chile and Defensa), it's a great place
to wander. For fresh food and a variety
of eclectic antiques head to the San
Telmo Food Market (Mon-Sat 7am-2pm
& 4.30-9pm, Sun 7am-2pm). he
market takes up an entire city block,
with an entrance on each side, including
one on Defensa near the corner of
Estados Unidos.
A few blocks further, Plaza Dorrego is
a great place to pause for a coffee under
the leafy trees, at least on weekdays
when it's quieter. On Sundays the area
is completely taken over by the Feria de
San Pedro Telmo (10am-5pm; buses #9,
#10, #24, #28 or #86 easily picked up
downtown). Vintage watches, posters,
antique clothes and jewellery are all on
display at this huge open-air antiques
market, enlivened by street performers
and live tango acts. Another great place
for antique-spotting is the Pasaje de la
Defensa , Defensa 1179, a converted
mansion filled with hidden shops, cafés
and workshops.
Calle Defensa continues, across the
busy, ugly avenues of San Juan and Juan
de Garay, to leafy Parque Lezama , home
to the Museo Histórico Nacional , Defensa
1600 (Wed-Sun 11am-6pm; free;
T

Montserrat
Cobblestoned Montserrat is one of the
oldest neighbourhoods of the city, and
the most popular until a yellow fever
outbreak in the nineteenth century forced
wealthier families to move to Recoleta
and Palermo. The barrio 's principal street
is Calle Defensa, named after the event
when residents trying to force back
British invaders in the early 1800s poured
boiling water and oil from their balconies
onto the attacking soldiers.
he neo-Baroque Basílica de San
Francisco (Mon-Fri 8am-7pm; T 011
4331 0625), at the corner of Alsina and
Defensa, has an intricately decorated
interior that can just about be made out
through the atmospheric gloom. Nearby
is the small Museo de la Ciudad , Alsina
412 (Mon-Fri 11am-7pm, Sat & Sun
10am-8pm; AR$1; T 011 4331 9855),
which houses informative and well-
presented changing exhibitions about
the city. One block west of Defensa is
the collection of buildings known as the
Manzana de las Luces (guided visits daily
at 3pm, Sat & Sun also 4.30pm & 6pm,
Spanish only; AR$12; info at Perú 272;
T

011 4307 1182). This small museum
has an interesting permanent exhibition
on Argentina's history. The collection at
the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos
Aires (MAMBA) , at Avenida San Juan 350
(Mon-Fri 11am-7pm, Sat & Sun
11am-8pm; AR$2, Tues free; T 011 4342
3001, W museos.buenosaires.gob.ar),

011 4342 9930, W manzanadelasluces
.gov.ar), which dates back to 1686.