Burning the Inheritance

Buenos Aires is the first big South American city we have encountered – 15.5 million people, second only to Sao Paulo, Brazil. For perspective, almost twice the size of New York City and almost ten times the size of Philadelphia. Perhaps more interestingly, it was founded in 1636, almost 100 years before NYC and almost 150 years before Philly.

Although colonized by Spain, we were surprised to find that Buenos Aires has an equally strong Italian heritage. Similar to New York City, it experienced a big influx of Italian immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th century. This influence shows in its buildings, its food, and its culture in general.

We scheduled a four hour bicycle tour of the northern part of the city on our first morning. Below are some of the sights from that tour.

(Clockwise from upper left) 1. Puerto Madero a new (almost Corbusien?) residential development next to San Telmo (more in a future installment). 2. Atlas holding up a branch of the largest and oldest tree in Buenos Aires in the plaza outside Recoleta Cemetery. 3. Central Cultural Center (also in Recoleta). 4. There are a lot of dogs in Buenos Aires and a lot of dog walkers! 5. An example of some of the beautiful neoclassical architecture juxtaposed with the new. 6. La Casa Rosa, former residence of President Juan and Eva Peron on the Plaza de Mayo (pronounced ma-sho in Buenos Aires!) 7. View from Plaza de Mayo to the Obelisk where they celebrated their World Cup victory! 8. Floralis Generica, a gift from successful architect Eduardo Catalano to his home city. (Catalano studied at U Penn and Harvard and taught at MIT.) 9. An old train viaduct in Palermo which now houses bars, restaurants, and shops below.