Buenos Aires - Recoleta District

We are enjoying how each of the Buenos Aires' (BA) neighborhoods have unique characteristics that distinguish themselves from the others.  Over the weekend, we took another self-guided walking tour of another district, Recoleta.

Recoleta is just north of downtown, and according to Lonely Planet, "the Rolls Royce of BA.  It's where the rich live in luxury apartments and mansions while spending their free time shopping in expensive boutiques such as Cartier and Armani.  It's where the privileged proudly walk their purebred dogs and have their hair dyed an even bluer hue.  It's where the elite sip at elegant cafes in their best Sunday threads, even on Thursdays.  And, it's where they're all finally put to rest."

Yes, the Recoleta cemetery takes up a large portion of this district.   We expected to walk around a "regular" cemetery, never anticipating we would be sucked in to another "city" of sorts.  This cemetery is a labyrinth of many streets flanked by impressive statues and marble sarcophagi.  In the crypts lie many of the city's elite and famous, including past presidents, military heroes, politicians, and the rich and famous, including Evita.  We thought you would have to be quite rich to have one of these sarcophagus built for yourself.  Some of them were bigger than our house, and definitely more ornate than many churches we've seen!  A photographer could spend hours wandering around this place. It's one of those moments that I actually wished I carried around a real camera. It was that amazing.

Besides the cemetery, Recoleta is the home to the National Library of Argentina (in the ugliest building we've ever witnessed), National Art Museum, plenty of bronze monuments to military heroes, parks, and university schools.

Like any major city with wonderful parks, Argentines love to be outdoors with their families and dogs, taking long walks, drinking maté with their friends, kissing on the lawns, etc.  It is technically the dead of winter and around 40F degrees when we were walking around, but you wouldn't know that from all the people out-and-about.

10 WORDS RECOLETA
Monuments > Maté > Library > Museum > Rest-in-Peace > For-Dog-Lovers > Ritzy > Mansions > Sculptures > Pleasant

THINGS TO DO
1.  Wander through the Recoleta Cemetery
2.  Enjoy the huge Sunday artisan market and music at Plaza Intendente Torcuato de Alvear.
3.  Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (we didn't go inside)
4.  Take a look at the Floris Genérica giant metal floral sculpture in United Nations Plaza.
5.  Check out the "interesting" looking National Library architecture.
6.  Chase down all ?-teen monuments to military heroes (Okay, not all of them are military hero monuments, but many are)!  We saw about 5 of them before we were monumented-out.
7.  Visit the Buenos Aires Design mall - a furniture and home decor mecca.  Ironically, in the most plain, concrete building, reminiscent of communist-era construction.
8.  If you must (as we did), enjoy a meal catering to the American palate at the Hard Rock Cafe.

HISTORY
"When don Juan de Garay founded Buenos Aires in 1580, he distributed the land among the members of his expedition. The area which is included in current Recoleta District was granted to Rodrigo Ortiz de Zárate. This district is named after the Convent and Church settled here by the secluded friars at the turn of the 18th century. Religious orders used to build their convents away from the town center - by then limited to the surroundings of Plaza de Mayo - for their retreats and contemplation practices. By the end of that century, large farms and estates, together with wastelands, began to be divided and settled. The only way to join this area with the center of the town was a long road, present-day Quintana Avenue. By 1830 Recoleta District underwent significant urban development changes, such as the opening of Callao Avenue. After frequent cholera outbreaks, together with the epidemic of yellow fever in 1871, the wealthier families from the south of the town moved northwards, thus settling the area. The final consolidation of the district was attributed to the first major of Buenos Aires, don Torcuato de Alvear. From then on, huge stately palaces were built, surrounded by gardens resembling those in Europe, especially in France. Both architects and workers were generally foreigners, and the building materials were brought from overseas. Today, Recoleta District stands out for the quality of its architecture, the aristocratic character of its residences and palaces, and its gorgeous squares. The Church, the Cemetery, and the present Cultural Center constitute a set of noteworthy historical buildings. A series of inviting amusement spots attract visitors combining music, food and leisure. The parks and squares, profuse in their vegetation and old trees, hold a wide range of activities, from art, recreation and concerts to fairs and exhibitions." --Sitio oficial de turismo de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, http://bue.gov.ar/

[Below: Note the "interesting" architecture of the National Library since 1992. The library was founded in 1811 and just celebrated it's bicentennial. It houses important historical documents and appears to be similar to the Library of Congress in the States.]

[Below: one of the many monuments in Recoleta and BA. First, the equestrian monument of General Bartolome Mitre, former President, writer, speaker, archeologist, and founder of the Argentine newspaper La Nación. Then, Pope John Paul II, donated to Argentine by Poland. One of several monuments around the world, dedicated to the efforts of Swedish Raoul Wallenberg who saved tens of thousands of Jews from the holocaust.]

[Below: Outdoor sculpture display scattered around Plaza Justo de Urquiza. Also, people playing with their remote controlled yachts in the pond at the park.]

[Below: Floris Genérica, the big metal floral sculpture in Plaza United Nations. It works on hydraulics where the petals actually open in the morning and closes at night.]

[Below: Nokia had an outdoor, life size, Angry Birds game set up! Hilarious. People couldn't figure out the sling shot very well...]

[Below: Basilica Nuestra Señora del Pilar, built by the Jesuits, and inaugurated in 1732.]

[Below: lots of photos (apologies in advance) of Recoleta Cemetery, designed in 1881. The main entrance to the "city."]

[Below: brick wall surrounding the cemetery.]

[Below: The "streets" of the cemetery.]

[Below: examples of very ornate sarcophagi.]

[Below: was surprised to see the caskets visible. Even the interior of the sarcophagi looked like mini-chapels, nicely decorated. Some had obvious stairs down to the underground crypt. One old wooden urn exposed as the marble door appeared to be broken.]

[Below: fascinated by the intricacy and designs of the many different doors to the sarcophagi.]

[Below: Evita's family plot, and her final resting place after a 16-year period where her body was missing.]

[Below: there is no better contrast after walking around the cemetery than to step foot in the Hard Rock Cafe, right around the corner from the cemetery. On extended trips, we like to visit one because the food is usually close to what we can get in the States. It's difficult to find an All-American Cobb salad and we know that Hard Rock does a decent job of making one. Akiko has satisfied her Cobb salad cravings at the Hard Rock in Amsterdam, Tokyo, even Nashville, to name a few. Add Buenos Aires to the list.]

[Below: ...but of course they wouldn't stay true to Argentina without including the "bife de chorizo" on the menu! American sides, however.]

Well, that concludes our day in Recoleta. We walked for about 3-4 hours so we never made it down Avenue Alvear where all the mansions and high-end boutique stores line. Perhaps we'll check out how the rich survive in this town, next time.