Liat Clark finds exquisite graves, smart boutiques and vintage wines in the Argentine city.
Plaza de Mayo
Buenos Aires’ main square is the perfect place to get your bearings. Palm trees, fountains and high-flying flags are all bordered by 19th-century government buildings, while in the centre is the Piramide de Mayo monument consecrating Argentina’s 1810 independence revolution. Surrounding it, in a perfect circle, white scarves are painted on the ground. They are a memorial to the unionists, Marxists and students who died or went missing during the military intervention of 1976-83 (a figure that swings unnervingly between 9,000 and 30,000), as well as a testimony to the scarf-wearing mothers and grandmothers who march here every Thursday in remembrance. The spot in front of Casa Rosada, where President Juan Peron welcomed his supporters’ adulation with wife Eva, is these days used for demonstrations.
Recoleta Cemetery
The best way to get around the city quickly is by car, so flag down a taxi (they’re cheap) and head to Recoleta and its sprawling 1820s cemetery, ten minutes away. Shaded by towering, spiky-branched palo borracho trees and blossoming lilac jacarandas, the maze of mausoleums – from art deco black marble giants to Renaissance-style structures covered in ghostly cherubs – is worth a visit. If time is short, bypass the queues by Eva Peron’s relatively low-key marker, as well as the graves of former presidents, generals, writer Jose Hernandez and Nobel peace prize winner Carlos Saavedra Lamas, for some lesser-known souls’ resting places. The neo-Gothic memorial for Liliana Crociati de Szaszak is impossible to pass. The young bride was honeymooning in Austria when she was killed in an avalanche in 1970 and her tomb, a melancholic figure of a woman clothed in a simple wedding dress, is haunting.
Algodon Mansion
Pass the blinding white Iglesia del Pilar flanking the cemetery’s entrance – one of the city’s oldest churches, built in 1732 – and walk down leafy Avenida Presidente Manuel Quintana, turning right at Montevideo. Recoleta is typified by its grand Belle Epoque architecture and Algodon Mansion hotel, at number 1,647, is a great example. The 1912 white-fronted townhouse was restored in 2010 to become the city’s first Relais and Châteaux property. It has a traditional Cognac bar if you only have time for a tipple, but if you can stretch to a meal, try the superb food at Chez Nous restaurant. Chef Antonio Soriano creates regional specialities using French techniques – the gravlax salmon (85 pesos/£12) comes with organic flowers, manchego cream cheese and toasted almonds, and the ribeye (149 pesos/£21) is grilled over quebracho red wood. The glass-covered patio is a great spot for a glass of Argentine red. Open Sun-Wed 7am-12am, Thurs-Sat 7am-1am; tel +54 11 3530 7777; algodonmansion.com
Palermo
A ten-minute drive west and the mood takes a U-turn in Palermo, where 1920s European Buenos Aires is replaced with a very contemporary Argentine ethos. It’s a great district to wander around – new houses stand next to crumbling, brightly painted colonial remnants on wide avenues, which are broken up by green spaces rammed with handicraft stalls and musicians. Most of the buildings have been converted into boutiques, such as Dam (damboutique.com.ar), at Honduras number 4,775. The clothing store, opened by an art graduate in 1998, has survived the emergence of big brands such as Diesel, Levi’s and Miss Sixty in the neighbourhood, and its handmade pieces – an eclectic collection of feminine cuts in bright prints – are all designed by the owner.
Off Honduras, at 1,418 Gurruchaga, is Pehache (pictured left, pehache.com), a lifestyle store that feels more like a home than a shop, with an atrium garden, living room and kitchen area. Brightly coloured art, furniture and clothing overflow, sometimes making it difficult to tell what’s for sale and what’s decoration. If the shops get too much, grab a coffee on one of the cafés’ outdoor terraces and watch the impossibly glamorous portenos go about their business.
Lo de Joaquin Alberdi
Finish by sampling one of the country’s best-known exports. Head back to Honduras and turn left, then take a right at Plaza Cortazar on to Jorge Luis Borges, where, at number 1,772, this discreet shop sells some of the finest wines Argentina produces. With vintages stacked high on shelves covering every wall, it’s a little like entering an old-world bookshop where the vendor – in this case, senor Alberdi – has his favourite volumes and spends all day dusting off and rediscovering rare finds.
Spontaneous wine tastings are not unknown, with enthusiastic sommelier-trained staff encouraging browsers to get stuck in, but if you have time, you can also request a tasting session in the back room (call ahead to arrange – it costs 80 pesos/£11 for about 30 minutes, although session length can be tailored). For beginners, the staff will give an overview of the regions – from high-altitude Salta in the north, where the torrontes grape produces excellent Cabernet Sauvignon, to icy Patagonia in the south, with its crisp Rieslings and, most famous of all, the violet Malbecs produced in the foothills of the Andes. It’s just a shame you won’t be able to carry them in your hand luggage. Tel +54 11 4832 5329; lodejoaquinalberdi.com.ar
