As always when we visit a new city there is a collection of photos that don’t fit any particular category – thus becoming ‘Scenes of the City’.
Montevideo, Uruguay – November 2019 – Scenes of the City
Montevideo, Uruguay – November 2019 – The People Of the City
No visit is complete without meeting some of the locals….
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Montevideo, Uruguay – November 2019 – Street Art
Montevideo has a massive amount of street art. While much of it, seemingly on every building, is just ‘scribbled tagging’, there are some really nice ones.
Montevideo, Uruguay – November 2019 – A Variety of Architectural Styles
Montevideo, Uruguay is a city of approximately 1.3 million people, making up 1/3 of the entire population of the country. As the capital and economic center of Uruguay the city has a eclectic collection of architecture.
Since we arrived by the ‘fast ferry’ from Buenos Aires, the first building that greeted us was the Port Terminal Building.
The Municipal Theater and Museum of Art History is an impressive structure in the Cordon neighborhood.
Along the Avenida 18 July there are a number of impressive buildings leading you to Plaza Indepencia.
The most impressive is Palacio Salvo (also the feature photo). It was designed by Mario Palanti, who designed the Palacio Barolo in Buenos Aires. As a result their looks are very similar.
The Ciudadela Building is on the opposite end of Plaza Independencia from the Palacio Salvo. Designed by Raul Sichero and Ernesto Calvo and completed in 1958, it stands 90 meters high.
The Pablo Ferrando Building dates from 1917, serving as a library and coffee shop
The new Presidential Building is also along the Plaza Independencia.
The remains of Miguelete Prison. But fear not – it’s wings now host a contemporary art museum as well as a museum of natural history.
Scenes in Ciudad Vieja (the old city).
A few miles out of the old town you come to the World Trade Center of Montevideo.
This unique building is the Damaso Antonio Larranaga Zoological Museum.
As you reach Punta Gorda the mid rise apartments give way to single and duplex family homes.
We end our tour with the 1876 Punta Brava Lighthouse. It continues to serves it’s original use to this day.
San Antonio de Areco, Argentina – November 2019 – Gaucho Festival
We have been fortunate to attend a number of amazing events, those truly unique in the world – I can’t believe what we just saw type of events.
The San Antonio de Areco Gaucho Festival is one of those events! (caution – something this cool has resulted in a fairly long posting with 40 photos)
The town of San Antonio de Areco is about 60 miles/100 KM from Buenos Aires, but in feel it is a world away.
It has a relaxed feel, where the local dogs just cruise around town greeting visitors. This little guy hung out with us for the first 1/2 hour we were there.
It is known as the ‘Cradle of Tradition’, or ‘Capital Nacional de la Tradicion’ for all of Argentina. The Gaucho Festival is their premier event of the year.
Lasting 5 days the Feast of Tradition culminates with an exhibit of traditional dance, followed by a parade of gauchos. The dancers wore authentic period clothes.
At the edge of town is the Ricardo Guiraldes Crillo Park. The park has a museum dedicated to the gaucho.
Nearby there were numerous vendors selling gaucho-ware.
The most amazing part of the day was the parade which consisted of over 4000 horses and riders! This view is of them making their way into town from the park.
Across the ‘Old Bridge’
Into another park that acted as a staging area.
It was here you began to get an appreciation of the beauty of the horses, as well as the very stylish look of the gauchos.
There were entire herds of horses just hanging out in the park.
With 4000 horses and riders some had to wait a bit for their turn to parade.
While most were in groups of two or three a few larger groups rode together.
Horses were everywhere, including on front lawns of houses.
But it was time for the parade. This rider, carrying the flag for the festival, lead the parade.
And for the next few hours we were treated to an amazingly stylish parade.
These gauchos gathered for the ‘Grand Finale’….
A number of riders showing their herding skills by driving a group of horses through the streets of the town by themselves.
What could be better than a beautiful warm spring day with a jacaranda tree blooming in the background, and a gaucho showing his skill.
With the parade over it was time for a cold cerveza while sitting on your horse! Our day in San Antonio de Areco was fantastic, a memory that will last forever.
Buenos Aires – November 2019 – Open House goes South
Out of sheer good luck we happen to be in Buenos Aires for their Open House. Their motto is 1 City, 2 Days, 140 Buildings and 760 Volunteers.
Without much notice I missed the sign up period for many of the more popular buildings, but we were still able to see some interesting examples of BsAs architecture.
Our first stop was the Casal de Catalunya. Built in the Barcelona style, the building dates from 1886. It has been home of the Catalan community in Buenos Aires for 130+ years.
Another building from the 1880s is Casa Bolivar. It is designed in a ‘Casa Chorizo (Sausage) style, so named as there are numerous small wings connected through a common hallway, much like links of sausage hanging in the butcher shop.
Casa Bolivar is in San Telmo, which was the main immigrant neighborhood for 100 years. These type of houses served as the first home for hundreds of thousands of immigrants – now it has been refurbished into an art studio and AirBnB.
The Instituto Superior Octobre is located amongst a number of 100 year old buildings, and from the outside fits in perfectly.
Inside is a completely different look – With the openness of the center court, and the steel and glass throughout, it is thoroughly modern.
The Teatro (Theater) Gran Rex is located along the main theater street in the city – Corrientes. It is modeled after Radio City Music Hall. I am unable to identify the statue in the lobby but for now we will call him the Argentina Dean Martin.
As noted previously it was designed to be similar to Radio City Music Hall with the shell roof, and lack of ornate decorations.
With over 3000 seats, it is one of the larger venues in town. On this day the roadies were setting up for a concert.
Our final stop was the Palacio Municipal, or City Hall. It is connected to the Edificio Del Diario La Prensa (a newspaper). Together they make up the Casa de la Cultura (House of Culture).
They are very impressive, ornate buildings.
Olivos, Argentina – November 2019 – The Sun, The Sky, and The Sea
The Argentina National flag features a sun, which is appropriate as the sun shines quite often here. The official presidential residence is in the suburb of Olivos, and the small, but well kept park on part of the grounds features a number of sculptures depicting this Incan sun from the flag.
Olivos is situated along the Rio de La Plata, which is called a river. It is a 30 mile wide river near Olivos and Buenos Aires, widening to 150 miles at the mouth at the Atlantic.
Olivos has a small harbor full of sailboats.
It is also in the landing path of Jorge Newberry Airport.
With the ‘river’ comes great sunrises, with this photo an interesting mix of clouds, sun and ‘sea’.
