Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WHERE TO DINE
Hook
ARGENTINE/IRISH/SEAFOOD With a v ague pirate-and-shipwreck theme,
Hook is a restaurant/pub with very friendly staffers who like to chat with patr ons at the
bar. Seafood as w ell as I rish and Argentine items ar e the main draws her e. During the
lunch hours, they also have an inexpensive Executive menu, which is a bargain at about
$8 to $10 (£5.40-£6.80).
Av. 53 no. 538, btw. avs. 5 and 6.
&
221/482-2160.
www.hooklp.com.ar. Main courses $3-$8 (£2-£5.40).
No credit cards. Mon-Sat 8am-2am; Sun 8pm-2am.
Restaurant Modelo
ARGENTINE/ITALIAN You won't find any models lur king
around here, as the name of the place might imply. You will find professional service and
high-quality food in an interior that looks more English than Argentine in what is known
as the oldest restaurant in the city. At night, the bar becomes the focus, filling up with a
young cr owd drinking beer , shelling peanuts, and thr owing the r emains all o ver the
floor.
Calle 5, at Av. 54.
&
221/421-1321.
Main courses $3-$7 (£2-£4.75). No credit cards. Daily 8am-3am.
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4
TIGRE & THE DELTA
36km (22 miles) NE of Buenos Aires
The Tigre River Delta is in essence a wild natural suburb of Buenos Aires, but it seems a
world apart from the city. The delta is formed by the confluence of five rivers, where they
flow from the Pampas into the Río de la P lata. This marshy complex is full of silt and
hundreds of tiny islands. Ov er time, it 's continuing to gr ow down the Río de la P lata.
The delta ar ea has gr own considerably since the S panish Conquest. I n theor y, within
several hundred years, the Río Tigre Delta will actually reach the capital. The islands here
are a mix of grassland, swamp, and true forest, with a variety of animal and plant life.
The development of the Tigre Delta into a r esort area owes to two concurr ent his-
torical circumstances in Buenos Aires in the 1870s. One was the construction of railroads
from Buenos Aires into the rest of the country. The other was the 1877 outbreak of yel-
low fever, which caused wealthy Porteños to seek out new parts of the city for new year-
round homes as w ell as summer v acation spots. The English were in charge of much of
the construction here, so many of the older neo-G othic and mock-Tudor mansions and
bed-and-breakfasts that line the banks of the riv er passages look like Victorian London
buildings transplanted into the wild marshes of the P ampas.
Today, many P orteños come her e on w eekends to r elax, ride horseback, hike, fish,
swim, or do nothing at all. It's also a convenient destination for tourists, since it's easy to
come here just for the day, tour the islands b y boat, and return to Buenos Aires in time
for dinner. There is a year-round population of residents on these car-free inner islands,
and they go to school, wor k, and shop for groceries using a system of boats and docks.
6
ESSENTIALS
GETTING THERE
The Tigre D elta is best r eached b y train fr om B uenos Air es and
then a boat or launch fr om the train station. Trains from Buenos Aires leave from
Est-
ación Retiro
for Estación Tigre, at A venida Naciones Unidas, every 10 to 20 minutes
along the Mitre Line. Tickets run about $3 (£2) r ound-trip. Call
&
11/4317-4445
for
schedules and information, or visit www .tbanet.com.ar. Within Tigre, the
Estación
Fluvial Tigre,
where the boats depar t to head thr ough the various rivers and islands, is
