Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
San Telmo
The heart of colonial Buenos Aires, lovely San Telmo is the city's
most romantic neighborhood with its cobblestone streets,
colonial houses, Spanish churches, and antiques stores. It was
first inhabited by elite families who fled during a yellow fever
outbreak in 1871, their mansions becoming tenement houses or
conventillos
for poor European immigrants. San Telmo soon
became a melting pot of cultures, a working-class stronghold,
and later, a Bohemian quarter synonymous with tango. Newly
fashionable and sprinkled with slick loft apartments, chic restau-
rants, and boutique hotels, it retains an engagingly gritty feel.
Antique jar
Top 10 Features
1 Plaza Dorrego
2 Feria de Antigüedades
3 Parque Lezama
4 Monumento del Canto
al Trabajo
5 Museo de Arte Moderno
6 Street Performers
7 Mercado de San Telmo
8 Balconies
9 Iglesia Nuestra Señora
de Belén
0 Pasaje de la Defensa
Street market, San Telmo
There are numerous
places to watch
tango in San Telmo.
El Viejo Almacén
(see
p45)
and Bar Sur
(Estados Unidos 299;
4362-6086) are two
of the best.
!
Plaza Dorrego
At the heart of San
Telmo, picturesque Plaza
Dorrego dates from the
colonial period and is
ringed by antiques stores,
old tango bars, and sepia-
toned cafés.
A great place for a
snack is El Federal
(see p57)
, a bar-café.
• Map F4
• Feria de Antigüedades:
Open 10am-5pm Sun
• Museo de Arte
Moderno: Avda. San
Juan 350; 4361-1121;
www.museodearte
moderno.buenosaires.
gob.ar; 4342-2970
• Street performers:
Calle Defensa btwn
Plaza Dorrego & Avda.
Belgrano
• Mercado de San
Telmo: Avda. Carlos
Calvo and Bolívar
• Iglesia Nuestra Senora:
Avda. Humberto Primo
378
• Pasaje la Defensa:
Defensa 1179
@
Feria de
Antigüedades
This Sunday antiques fair
(left)
has been taking place
on Plaza Dorrego since
1970. Items range from
19th-century Art-Nouveau
ornaments to the kooky
and kitschy. Rummage
around for a bargain.
#
Parque Lezama
A popular recreation
area, this park
is
believed to be the spot
where Buenos Aires was
founded. A statue of the
city's founder, Pedro de
Mendoza, stands at the
park's northwestern corner.
(right)
18
The no. 29 bus line connects San Telmo to La Boca. On its return
it descends Calle Defensa, stopping at Plaza Dorrego.
