Argentina - The Rough Guide to South America on a Budget - page 71

Dorian Gray Blvd Las Heras & Roque Sáenz Peña T 0351
15 403 1626. Bizarre decor and an alternative ambience
draw an eclectic crowd who throw shapes well into the
small hours to mostly electro music. Fri & Sat 11pm-6am.
Good Bar Buenos Aires & Larrañaga. The surfboard out
the front and white leather lounges might inspire you
to slip into Hawaiian-style boardshorts or a white string
bikini. You'll certainly wish you had at 2am when you're
sweating buckets on the basement dancefloor. Drinks from
AR$15-20. Sun-Wed 7pm-3am, Thurs-Sat till 5am.
Johnny B Good Av Hipólito Yrigoyen 320, Nueva
Córdoba T 0351 424 3960, W jbgood.com. This busy,
rather cheesy restaurant-bar serves up good US-style
food, a wide range of tragos (alcoholic drinks; from
AR$20) and a rock-dominated soundtrack (live music
most weekends). There's another branch at Rafael Núñez
4791, Cerro de las Rosas. Mon-Thurs 7.30pm-2am, Fri
7.30pm-4am, Sat 11am-4am & Sun 6pm-3am.
Zen Av Julio A Roca 730 T 0351 15 513 9595, W zendisco
.com.ar. This renowned gay-friendly club has two throb-
bing dancefloors and hosts kooky live shows. Fri & Sat
midnight-5am.

the entrance of the Calamuchita Valley,
was once a genteel summer refuge for the
porteño bourgeoisie. Today it continues to
bask in the reflected glory of its former
residents: Jesuit missionaries, Spanish
composer Manuel de Falla and Che
Guevara have all left their mark here.

1

WHAT TO SEE AND DO
Easily walkable on foot, the town centre is
dominated by an impressive Jesuit estancia ,
one of the finest examples in Argentina.
But it's also a great springboard for walking
in the nearby countryside or, for the more
adventurous, skydiving.

Plaza Manuel Solares and around
Alta Gracia came into its own after 1643
when it was chosen as the site of a Jesuit
estancia . When the Jesuits were expelled
in 1767, the estancia was left to the
elements, only briefly re-inhabited in
1810 by Viceroy Liniers. The estancia
buildings have been well preserved and
overlook the town's main square, Plaza
Manuel Solares . he Iglesia Parroquial
Nuestra Señora de la Merced , dating
from 1762, stands alongside the Jesuits'
original living quarters, which have been
converted into the UNESCO World
Heritage-listed Museo de la Estancia
Jesuítica de Alta Gracia - Casa del Virrey
Liniers (summer Tues-Fri 9am-8pm, Sat
& Sun 9.30am-8pm; winter Tues-Fri
9am-1pm & 3-7pm, Sat & Sun
9.30am-12.30pm & 3.30-6.30pm;
AR$5; free guided English-language
tours on request; T 03547 421303,
W

SHOPPING
Bookshops Librería Blackpool, Deán Funes 395 ( T 0351
423 7172, W blackpoolcerro.com.ar). Sells English-language
novels and travel guides. Jan Mon-Fri 9am-1pm, Sat
9.30am-1.30pm; March Mon-Fri 8.30am-8.30pm, first
and second Sat of the month 9.30am-1.30pm & 4.50-
8.30pm; rest of year Mon-Fri 9am-1pm & 4-8pm, Sat
9.30am-1.30pm.
Markets On weekend evenings (5-9.30pm) there is an
arts and crafts market at the Paseo de las Artes on the
western edge of Nueva Córdoba in the bohemian Güemes
neighbourhood, around Belgrano and Archaval Rodriguez
streets.
Shopping centres Nuevocentro Shopping, Duarte Quirós
1400 (Sun-Thurs 10am-11pm, Fri & Sat till 1am; T 0351
482 8193, W nuevocentro.com.ar).

museoliniers.org.ar). Here, a dramatic
Baroque doorway leads to a cloistered
courtyard and a motley collection of
furniture and religious paintings.

DIRECTORY
Banks Change money at Citibank, Rivadavia 104, or BBVA,
9 de Julio 450. ATMs are everywhere, especially around the
Plaza San Martín.
Hospital Hospital Sanatorio Allende, Av Hipólito Yrigoyen
384 ( T 0351 426 9200, W sanatorioallende.com).
Laundry Laverap, Chacabuco 313 and Belgrano 76.
Police Colón 1200.
Post o ce Av General Paz 201.

Ernesto “Che” Guevara house and
museum
A twenty-minute walk uphill from the
plaza brings you to the leafy residential
neighbourhood of Villa Carlos Pellegrini ,
whose crumbling mansions once served
as holiday homes and residences for
moneyed socialites. The Guevara family
moved within these circles after relocating
from Rosario to Alta Gracia in the 1930s
in the hope that the fresh mountain air

ALTA GRACIA
The pleasant colonial town of ALTA
GRACIA , 38km south of Córdoba at