| If
there is one place in Buenos Aires that is synonymous with serious wealth
it is Recoleta, the name given both to the barrio to the
North West of Retiro and to one of Buenos Aires’ most astonishing
tourist attractions, the Cementerio de la Recoleta (Avenida Junín
1760; daily 7am-6pm; buses #17 and #124) - many of the suburbs and
motorways in the city are named after those who lie in its elaborate
mausoleums. The tomb that most people go to see, of course, is that of
Evita. Simple in comparison with the flights of marble fantasy that
surround it, the mausoleum is marked by her maiden name "Duarte"
and a small plaque inscribed with her most celebrated phrase "volveré
y seré millones" ("I will return and be millions"). |
|
| The
area surrounding the cemetery is home to one of Buenos Aires’s oldest
and architecturally most harmonious churches, the Basílica Nuestra Señora
del Pilar as well as the Centro Cultural de la Ciudad de Buenos
Aires (Mon-Fri 2-9pm; Sat & Sun 10am-9pm). Proof of Recoleta’s
rather refined tastes is provided by the Buenos Aires Design Centre
- a whole shopping centre devoted to interior design. The sloping Plaza
Intendente Alvear is the scene for the city’s liveliest feria
artesanal (Sat & Sun 11am-6pm). But, after the Cemetery, the
area’s best free attractions are undoubtedly the professional dog
walkers who, with up to ten dogs apiece and an air of supreme nonchalance,
somehow manage to avoid ending in a tangled heap on the grass. |