We found Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Express train in Buenos Aires! - Or something that resembles it.  The Subte (subway) in Buenos Aires is the oldest in South America and also in the Southern Hemisphere. One of our favorite things to do was taking the historical Linea A Subte which was built in 1913.  Taking a subway? Yes! Subte tickets are very cheap, a one-way ticket costs less than 30 US cents per person.

Sure, the taxis are more comfortable and are cheap too (flagdown rates start at 3 pesos, which is US$1), but we just love taking the Subte, especially Linea A! The carriage cars on this line are the oldest in South America. Inside the train, there are the very old wooden seats, wood-panneled walls, dining-car-like ceiling lights and even mirrors! At the end of each car, we also saw a closed door. Was it a toilet in the olden days?

Lovers kissing passionately on the train (couples are very passionate in Buenos Aires)

Grace and her favorite subway

 

 

La Casa Rosada (’The Pink House’) is the official presidential residence and Argentine government headquarters. The first-floor balcony on the building’s northern wing is used by the country’s leaders, and once by Eva Perón, to speak to the enormous crowds that gather below. 

The Casa Rosada was built at the eastern end of the Plaza de Mayo, a large square which since the founding of the city of Buenos Aires has contained the top political institutions of Argentina. The current building, however, dates back only to 1873 and was constructed over the foundations of an earlier customs house, post office, and fortress.

Plaza de Mayo

 This is Plaza San Martín, in the neighborhood of Retiro, a 12-minute walk from our apartment. You can see the Torre de los Ingleses (The English Tower) in the background. It was a gift from the United Kingdom and is a small replica of the Big Ben.

  This botanical garden is a welcome carbon dioxide absorber

Porteños lying on the slope that leads to the fenced and guarded memorial honoring Argentines who died in the 1982 Falklands War

One of the many trees in the park. We don’t know what tree this is, but if you do, let us know!

On the left is the church “The Basilica of the Santisimo Sacramento”. On the right is the Kavanagh building, which was the tallest building in South America in the 1940s.

 Quiet downtown street on a Sunday

The European and rich architecture of this neighborhood

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.

Tigre is such a lovely place, and is a good weekend retreat for those who want to escape the monotony of city living and the bad air pollution. The boat ride is a dream; just stick your head out and breathe in the fresh country air, and with olden-day scenes of wooden cabins, long grasses and tall trees everywhere, you might just imagine you were back in the olden days.

 Grace enjoying the scenery from the boat

 Small trees

 Big trees

 Many of these holiday cabins looked like they haven’t been used for years

 This delta has many different turns

 A rowing club

 Lush greenery

 Moon high up in the sky

 A vintage-looking docking area

Nowadays Tigre is regarded as “Argentine’s Rowing Cradle”

Here you can see the ferris wheel from the amusement park

 Interesting trivia:

Tigre has a current population of 3000 inhabitants and its “isles” are exploited mainly to supply the paper industry with cellulose and agglomerate. The markets here are famous for their wicker products, and the cultivation of wicker for craftsmanship purposes represent between 80 and 90% of the entire production of Argentina.

Buenos Aires isn’t just a concrete city. During the weekends, many locals wander off to the north of Greater Buenos Aires to a quaint and scenic town called Tigre, which lies on the Paraná Delta, to relax. We took a 30-min train from Mitre station to Maipu station, where we alighted and crossed over to another building to take the Tren de la Costa to Tigre.

 First we took this train from Mitre to Maipu station

 The main San Martin train station

 The train platform

At Maipu, we took another train called the Tren de la Costa (Train of the Coast) to Tigre. This train is more expensive than the city train because it goes through a more scenic route to Tigre. The journey takes around 20 minutes.

Parque de la Costa is the largest amusement park in Argentina, and was inaugurated in the year 1997. We skipped this and headed straight to the river promenade where it’s more exciting!

There are rowing clubs and recreational areas in Tigre

 You could row in one of those boats along the Delta if you want to!

 

Tigre sits on an island created by several small streams and rivers and was founded in 1820, after floods had destroyed other settlements in the area, then known as the Las Conchas Partido. The only means of transportation that connects the islanders with the mainland are motorboat. All the stuff and food supplies you need have to be transported from the mainland.

We took a ride in a local passenger boat to tour the many rivers and streams of the Delta of the Paraná.

 Argentinians take this boat to and fro their summer houses in Tigre

A rowing club

 

Museo de Arte

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We alighted from the boat after 45 minutes to explore this little nook around here. This is how a pickup point looks like!

Looks like a nice place to have a picnic, but alas, there are tons of mozzies buzzing around everywhere.

A leisurely stroll along the river

 A makeshift wooden bridge connecting two islets

A winding path

 These boat pickup points connect people from their holiday cabins to the town of Tigre

 A resting dog

Towards 1880, Buenos Aires’ social upper class chose Tigre as their summer base.

The typical island constructions are something worth observing; houses are often raised several meters above ground, and the landscape looks idyllic as the dwellings are separated from one another by dense vegetation.

 Another waterway

 Horses on someone’s property

 You can canoe or travel by your own motorboat to explore the surroundings

 Marvelous autumn colors

The area’s name is derived from the tigres (Spanish for Tigers) or jaguars that were hunted there on occasions, in its early years. The area was first settled by Europeans who came to farm the land, and the port developed to serve the Delta and to bring fruit and wood from the Delta and ports upstream on the Paraná river.

The local boat ride was so relaxing; every few meters we passed, the scenery would change. You never know what you are going to see next.

 A man stepping into his canoe

Many people who own houses there have their own motorboats to go from place to place