Is it possible to find a place without much pollution in Buenos Aires? Yes! In Puerto Madero! This is a very modern neighborhood  in Buenos Aires, and looks completely different from the rest of the city. It isn’t European-looking, doesn’t have any old decrepit buildings and for once, you don’t have to walk on a sidewalk right beside the old, polluting and noisy buses! A port was first constructed here in 1897, but then it became obsolete and abandoned for many decades till the 1990s when the government initiated a modern urbanization of the area. Today, office skyscrapers and hotels line one side of the river and ghost restaurants line on the other side.

The real estate in Puerto Madero is one of most highly priced in South American cities. We think they are way overpriced, relative to other major developed cities.

Wide boulevards, river views, modern buildings…this place doesn’t feel like Buenos Aires at all!

That gleaming tall building in the background is the just-constructed 36-storey-high Repsol YPF Building

 We like how this building looks; the bluish parts blend in with the sky!

The old red brick warehouses were refurbished into luxurious offices, apartments, restaurants and pubs. However, we wonder how these restaurants can make any profits at all when there’s hardly anyone in many of the restaurants except for one during meal times. These warehouses look absolutely gorgeous.

 An old crane from the past that is now a permanent fixture of Puerto Madero

Fragata Sarmiento (Sarmiento Frigate) is a floating museum in a century old Navy training vessel. The Fragata Sarmiento was in service until 1960.

Fragata Sarmiento

Two neon-colored cranes as part of the urban landscape. It’s a bold move to allow these cranes to remain in their original setting, even if they do look slightly out of place, but then again, their presence makes this waterfront place unique.

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 19th, 2008 at 12:31 am and is filed under Argentina. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.