Of contradictions and curiosities

A century ago, Buenos Aires was the wealthiest city in the world, a place of fine boulevards, ornate architecture, and dazzling theatres. Residents absorbed European styles, laying out French parks, Spanish churches and working-class suburbs that look like Rome.

Since then, the city has been in slow decline. Residents knock around their palatial buildings, a little melancholy but still determined to enjoy the good life. Their city may look European, but their spirit is Latin – people giggle in parks, dine out on great shanks of beef and dance the tango far into the night. Visit Buenos Aires and you’ll find a place of contradictions and curiosities, but you’ll never be bored.

Plaza de Mayo – the town’s original square, first laid out in 1580 – reveals much about Argentine history. The Cabildo or town hall is one of the few Spanish colonial buildings left in the city. Over in the cathedral you’ll find the tomb of the famous liberator General José de San Martín, who brought independence to Argentina.

The square is dominated by the Presidential Palace, painted a gaudy salmon colour and known as the Pink House. From its balcony, a succession of presidents – and most famously the wife of one, Eva Perón or Evita – have addressed the crowds.

Museo Evita is worth visiting to learn more about Argentina’s iconic first lady, with collections of her clothes and other items associated with her personal and political life. A history of the city can be explored in the Museo de la Ciudad, which has disorganised but entertaining exhibits on subjects from dolls to tango and Italian immigrants. The best museum must be the Museo de Arte de Latinoamericano, which is fantastic just for its architecture, never mind its art collection. Its restaurant is also excellent.

Another must-see is the spectacular Teatro Colón, opened during Buenos Aires’ heyday in 1908. 

Every great name in opera and ballet – from Nijinsky to Caruso and Pavarotti – has performed here in the splendid five-tiered auditorium. The opera and ballet season, which runs from April to December, is terrific. Behind the scenes tours also allow you to wander through the theatre’s Greek columns and admire its Italian frescoes and stained glass.

When the upper classes aren’t at the theatre they’re haunting the well-heeled suburbs of Belgrano, Recoleta and Retiro, worth strolling around for their tree-lined boulevards, ambitious houses and shady parks. Recoleta in particular has a French-flavoured elegance and is full of fine restaurants and fashion boutiques. This is also the place to best appreciate café life – La Biela is the most famous establishment, but the most beautiful café in the city would have to be Café Tortoni near the Plaza de Mayo.

La Biela is just across from the Cemetery of La Recoleta, established in 1822 as the resting place of the city’s most eminent citizens. Eva Perón’s plain black granite vault is permanently piled with flowers and messages and there are thousands of other family tombs, some of which are national monuments. Every corner oozes bronze plaques, war memorials and statues of saints and winged Victories. Cats prowl among the tombstones in astonishment, sunning themselves on marble inscriptions.

Buenos Aires is full of bohemian neighbourhoods. In Caballito, you can rummage for old maps and stamps at stalls in the local park. Barrio Norte hides tranquil Japanese Gardens, with trickling streams and smug carp, while Palermo is the place to be for cutting-edge fashion without the attitude – boutique owners are happy to chat about their latest designs.

Palermo Viejo has cobblestone streets and plazas where teenagers play guitars and funky bars spill onto the pavement. This is now the city’s trendiest dining district, with restaurants showcasing the city’s top chefs.

In the nineteenth century, San Telmo was the foremost neighbourhood. These days, it’s scruffier. Artists and antique dealers have moved in, producing a raffish bohemian energy and at weekends, street performers swallow fire outside the church with its blue-and-white bell tower.

Plaza Dorrego hosts a busy Sunday antiques and handicrafts market where visitors can browse for silverware, leather good and curios. Locals sit at cafés under the trees and play chess and cards, then later in the evening, tango dancers emerge to strut their stuff across the cobblestones, accompanied by haunting music that drifts up with the cigarette smoke and conversations of the onlookers.

La Boca lays claim to being the place where tango started. The harbour-side neighbourhood, once mostly populated by Italian immigrants, is famous not only for tango but soccer. Many of La Boca’s houses are painted in the team colours to which the owners owe passionate allegiance.

Life here is centred on the Caminito, a pedestrian thoroughfare whose odd-shaped houses are painted in vivid, clashing colours, giving the impression of a cubist collection put together by a kindergarten class. The atmosphere is still Italian, with many excellent pizzerias. Customers in bars argue about soccer over the Chianti and the atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming.

Artists have also colonised La Boca’s streets, working at easels on pictures that often have political or social themes. One of the best-known is Guillermo Alio, whose unique approach sees  tango performers dance on huge canvasses laid out on the cobbles, with the man’s feet dipped in black paint and the woman’s in red, so that they form designs of abstract paint and passion. The result is a vibrant and swirling work, that is at once harmonious and yet seemingly diving off in different directions – much like the city itself. There’s nothing better than to linger here, talking to the artists and watching the tango dancers twirl – Buenos Aires at its brilliant best.