Archivo para la categoría ‘travel’
Enero 20, 2010 | Por hostel-colonial | Claves: argentina, Buenos Aires Blog, Buenos Aires Neighborhoods, Hostel Buenos Aires, Hostel Colonial | # Enlace permanente
The City of
Buenos Aires has
48 districts called barrios. The most important and visited are:
Microcentro Downtown, the Hostel Colonial neighborhood, an ideal location for visitors to be near to the main historical spots of the Argentinean capital. Florida Street is located downtown and is a famous pedestrian street of the city, where visitors can do window shopping and buy clothes and other usual city goods.
San Telmo This district preserves colonial-style houses along narrow cobblestone lanes, illuminated with pretty wrought iron lanterns. In San Telmo , one breathes the history of Buenos Aires. There is also a very exciting, underground nightlife scene.
La Boca Considered Buenos Aires’s most controversial neighborhood with an explosive personality. Tourists favor this picturesque district for its rich history and vibrant colors: greens, yellows, reds and purples highlight the urban scenery.
Palermo Hip residential neighborhood of tree-lined streets and intersections packed with restaurants and bars.
Recoleta One of the finest and most expensive areas of the city. It boasts many French style buildings, large green spaces and first class restaurants.
Belgrano A residential and peaceful neighborhood with silent streets that lead to different shops, restaurants, architectural relics and large green spaces. Belgrano’s one of the most distinguished districts, and it’s ideal for day walks along the wooded tile sidewalks.
Almagro An original middle-class neighborhood, unspoiled by tourists, Almagro is a calm barrio located in the very center of the capital, with cheap empanadas, chinese supermarkets, and greengrocer’s, the smell of grilled meat from plentiful parillas, and a very big circular park that transforms into a market on Sundays.
Boedo One of the main Tango and historical spots in the city, the streets of Boedo offer to native and tourist public a huge variety of cafes in the best “porteño” style, cultural centers , Tango houses, libraries, theaters and nice pubs and restaurants. Places that please people from all ages and tastes.
Caballito An average, middle-class neighborhood, the barrio has both plentiful amenities, spacious parks and a good selection of shops. On the other hand, there are dirty, noisy and unsafe areas of Caballito that should be avoided. Overall, it is a pleasant residential and commercial hub.
Congreso A dense downtown area that houses the legislative branch of government at the opposite end of Avenida de Mayo from the “pink house” seat of the executive branch.
Puerto Madero Just like the London docklands, the antique port of Buenos Aires has been renewed and now represents the latest architectural trends of the city. The Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur , an excellent alternative for nature lovers, lies nearby.
Retiro Literally spanning from shantytown, cardboard homes, to the most luxurious restaurants, shopping, and partying, in the expat-friendly border of Microcentro, Retiro still hasn’t really decided what its definitive identity will be.
Tribunales This part of town has many theater shows, especially on Avenida Corrientes.
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Enero 6, 2010 | Por hostel-colonial | Claves: argentina, Hostel Buenos Aires, Hostel Colonial | # Enlace permanente
This post is the first in a series on imperdibles of Buenos Aires and its surroundings so you can plan your stay in the city.
The famous “Calle Florida” is a pedestrian street without traffic where the passer-by may walk along looking into each of Buenos Aires most gorgeous shop windows.
Florida St. – 1888
Florida St. – 1901
Florida Street is located only one block from
Hostel Colonial and has many attractions for the tourist. It is a commercial showcase, offering any form of imaginable merchandise and in every possible price range. From departments stores and shopping arcades to regional gift shops, people pass by art galleries, records and bookstores and cannot resist a drink in one of the many quaint coffee shops, bars, tea-rooms or restaurants. Boutiques selling diamonds (jewellery), furs, and high quality clothes for ladies and men, leather clothing, shoes and furniture embellish the street with its fine quality.
Florida Street is a “must” for everybody. Apart from watching, or courting women-the beauty and elegance of the Argentine women are world known-there is always something new in its shop windows.
Born as a primitive path on June 11, 1580, when Buenos Aires city was founded, Florida Street started to be a commercial one around two centuries ago, advancing south to north from Rivadavia Street, and completing its eleven blocks while reaching beautiful San Martin Square. Usually a crowded street, with a million and a half daily passer-byes in high seasons, Florida St. requires an extra supervision, apart from that corresponding to the local government.
As an essential part of the country, Florida St. is deeply connected to the ups and downs of the Argentines economy, to which any decision related to the growth of the street is actually submitted. Two hundred years of an always increasing commercial life are the evidence that Florida St. overcomes all kind of difficulties and remains as a symbol in the heart of the Argentine people that feel proud that “Calle Florida” is considered as one of the most important streets around the world.
Diciembre 10, 2009 | Por hostel-colonial | Claves: argentina, Hostel Blog, Hostel Buenos Aires, Hostel Colonial | # Enlace permanente
Brilliant, dirty, messy, noisy, exciting, Argentines are Italians who speak Spanish, for all that…I love Buenos Aires, I love Argentina, I love the Malbec wine, I love….Too many streets to walk. Too many things to see and admire. Buenos Aires, a city of contrasts, a city of extremes. The good, the bad. The beautiful, the ugly. Trends, cool things and bizarre things. The cheap and the expensive. People, a day in their lives. The opulence and the misery. Feelings, love, madness, joy, anger, the best and the worst of beings who wander through a big city.
Buenos Aires as I can tell. Buenos Aires depicted in hundreds of images. The vision goes beyond the doors of Hostel Colonial. It also goes beyond my ability to surprise.
A different approach, my approach. Buenos Aires is my whim, you know. I take pictures with my cameras and my iPhone. A complex act of love and urban hunting.
I´m a businessman, I know, but I have not lost the animal instinct. I love the game of being an urban animal and
Buenos Aires is my jungle. I offer images that capture everyday and also I’m looking for on the
Internet.
Want to see more
Buenos Aires?
Porteño´s (are the least dare) or tourist, this is the
SITE All these images have been published in the Tumblelog of Hostel Colonial, every day, many more.
For contact with us or make your reservation: info@hostelcolonial.com.ar
Diciembre 1, 2009 | Por hostel-colonial | Claves: Accomodation in Buenos Aires, argentina, Hostel Buenos Aires, Hostel in South America | # Enlace permanente
“IT is better to look good than to feel good,” the Argentine actor Fernando Lamas once remarked. He could have been talking about Buenos Aires after its 2002 peso crisis. The financial meltdown emasculated the Argentine economy, but it also made Buenos Aires, the expensive cosmopolitan capital, an attractive and suddenly affordable destination. Now largely recovered from “La Crisis,” the city is being energized by an influx of tourists, expatriates and returning Argentine émigrés, and its glamorous night life and conspicuous consumption have reached a fever pitch. While inflation is now reappearing, Buenos Aires, at least for the moment, not only looks good but feels that way too.
Friday
2 p.m.
1) UNDERGROUND CITY
For a fascinating peek into Buenos Aires’s history, start at El Zanjón de Granados (Defensa 755; 54-11-4361-3002), a 175-year-old mansion that leads to a series of underground tunnels that go back to the city’s early settlements. (The city was founded in 1536.) Now a museum, El Zanjón offers intriguing one-hour tours (20 pesos, or about $6.30 at 3.16 pesos to the dollar) through a cross section of the city’s archaeological layers.
4 p.m.
2) ICE CREAM AND ART
Explore present-day Buenos Aires in the cobblestoned district of San Telmo. While best known for its weekend antiques market, the neighborhood now has plenty of cool shops and restaurants. The ice cream parlor Nonna Bianca (Estados Unidos 407; 54-11-4362-0604) balances rustic Patagonian décor with adventurous flavors like kumquats in whiskey (small cone: 3 pesos). San Telmo is also home to a growing gallery scene including the swank Wussman Gallery (Venezuela 574; 54-11-4343-4707; www.wussmann.com) and Appetite (Chacabuco 551; 54-9-11-6112-9975; www.appetite.com.ar), which specializes in punk-rock-style art.
9:30 p.m.
3) LITTLE ITALY, ARGENTINA
More than a third of Argentina’s population is of Italian descent, and Guido’s Bar (República de la India 2843; 54-11-4802-2391) fulfills all the Little Italy tropes, from “Volare” on the stereo to the New York City skyline on the ceiling. But the crowd is Argentine and the food is varied and tasty. There is no menu and after one question — “Red or white?” — the waiters bring a seemingly random assortment of plates, like a cold appetizer of spinach and red bell peppers in a paprika mayonnaise sauce, followed by Spanish tortillas, stuffed eggplants, penne in red sauce and pignoli nuts. How the waiter figures your bill (45 to 60 pesos a person) remains a mystery.
11:45 p.m.
4) PLAY IT AGAIN, CARLOS
The spirit of Carlos Gardel, the godfather of Argentine tango, lives on in the Almagro neighborhood, where Bar 12 de Octubre (Bulnes 331; 54-11-4862-0415; www.barderoberto.com.ar) offers weekly music shows. Started in the mid-90s when the famed tangoist Roberto Medina stopped in to play a few songs, the shows run Tuesday to Friday nights between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. Arrive early to get a good spot, before the crowds of tattooed 20- and 30-somethings jam the tiny, grungy space.
Saturday
11 a.m.
5) CAFE CULTURE
With its prime location and literary clientele that included Jorge Luis Borges, Café Tortoni (Avenida de Mayo 825; 54-11-4342-4328; www.cafetortoni.com.ar) is the most famous of the cafes from Buenos Aires’s belle époque. But more magnificent is Las Violetas (Avenida Rivadavia 3899; 54-11-4958-7387; www.lasvioletas.com), a 123-year-old French-style cafe. After closing briefly in the late 1990s, Las Violetas’s interior, including its gorgeous stained glass, has been restored. The white-jacketed waiters serve the classic breakfast of café con leche with three croissants (5.40 pesos), but the shocker of the menu is the María Cala tea service, an eye-popping pile of cakes, scones, finger sandwiches and pan dulce pastries (29 pesos for three people).
1 p.m.
6) DON’T CRY FOR HER
To most visitors, the Recoleta Cemetery in the upscale Recoleta district (intersection of Junín and Guido) is known as the place where Eva Perón’s body is buried. But the graveyard is also the final home of several presidents, scientists and other influential Argentines. Urban Explorer (54-11-4813-0385; www.urbex.com.ar) offers a history-filled recorded tour through the Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Modernist-style mausoleums ($20 for 90 minutes). Highlights include the tomb of Luis Ángel Firpo, an Argentine heavyweight who once knocked Jack Dempsey out of the ring.
3 p.m.
7) THE LAND OF POLO
To marvel at Argentina’s longtime obsession with horses, head to the Hipódromo Argentino de Palermo (Avenida del Libertador 4101; 54-11-4778-2800; www.palermo.com.ar; entrance fee 5 pesos). Opened in 1876, the elegant racetrack has a French neo-Classical grandstand, the Confitería París restaurant and a basement casino. For up-close action, sit at the wooden tables that dot the flowery lawn. There are 10 race days a month.
In
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here in your original version published by
The New Yor Times – Travel
Noviembre 24, 2009 | Por hostel-colonial | Claves: argentina, Hostel Blog, Hostel Buenos Aires, Hostel Colonial | # Enlace permanente
According to a study by international consultancy FutureBrand, analyzing the most powerful brands in the world, Argentina’s top ten in the categories “Food”, “Nightlife” and “Best Place to Travel”.
Argentina was able to rejoin and to position this year among the top 10 world destinations in three categories in the 2009 Country Brand Index developed by FutureBrand.
This study examines, from the opinion of 3,000 international travelers and tourism experts, as the countries make your brand as well as performing the identification of industry trends.
In the fifth edition of this study, Argentina is ranked 38 of 102 overall ranking country brands (advancing 18 positions on 2008) and is located in the 6th place in the ranking of 17 American countries, except those in the Caribbean.
In the category “Food” – which supply and distinguished dining experience of each country, the Argentina is in 4th place behind France, Italy and Japan.
In the category “Best Place to Travel” is measured by the ease of entry, go, in and out of countries, and Argentina reached the 7th position and shares the ranking with Germany, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, Bermuda, France, Belgium, Finland, and Spain.
Finally, the Argentina occupies the 10th place to enjoy nightlife, by noted bars, nightclubs and late night activities.
Never was I told? Hostel Colonial – 509 Tucumán St. – Buenos Aires – Argentina
Original post in Spanish: Clarín – Travel – Printed Edition
Noviembre 21, 2009 | Por hostel-colonial | Claves: argentina, Hostel Colonial | # Enlace permanente
Today I read this note in The Guardian and I really liked. Here you can read some paragraph or can click on the title of this post and go to original full post.
I like recommending things to my city in this blog of Hostel Colonial and this is one of them
In Buenos Aires chefs are turning their own homes into restaurants – offering affordable dining and the perfect place to meet locals.
Across Buenos Aires, behind nondescript front doors and in family living rooms, a host of homespun restaurants are the latest foodie fad. The tricky bit is finding them – and I fall at the first hurdle.
Almacen Secreto, or the Secret Store (+54 911 4854 9131), is – as its name suggests – virtually impossible to locate. Admittedly, I’ve forgotten to write down the street number, but it’s also because it’s on an unremarkable road in the residential Villa Crespo neighbourhood. I stride straight past. It’s easily done. The anodyne corrugated door, framed by two lonely pot plants and some graffiti, is a stone’s throw from a tatty antiques warehouse and railway line.
This is just one of a growing number of puertas cerradas, or closed-door restaurants, springing up across Buenos Aires. “Before, it was all about being seen,” says Almacen Secreto founder Maria Morales, “Everyone wanted flashy restaurants with floor-to-ceiling windows onto the street. Now it seems people want something more intimate, much more personal.”
And that’s exactly what she provides. Almacen Secreto offers a shaded courtyard and simple dining room with so few tables that guests mingle naturally. At lunch I find myself next to some circus school students. Maria’s menu divides the country into three regions and I opt for a tender braised Patagonian lamb with rosemary and roast potatoes. Like the food, earthenware crockery, and artwork lining the walls and gallery, the wine is home grown, from small bodegas whose “wines you won’t find in any supermarket.”
“You hear about these restaurants by word of mouth,” says the circus school teacher Hernan Carbon. “A friend sent me an email about this place, and I’ve been coming ever since.”
Fortunately, from their highly secretive beginnings, increasing popularity has earned the closed-door restaurants mentions in Time Out Buenos Aires and other guides, and most hotels can now help too – so you need neither local contacts nor advanced Spanish to seek them out. Alternatively, an internet search for “puertas cerradas Buenos Aires” brings up blogs and Facebook fan clubs…….More? Go to the original post
Noviembre 13, 2009 | Por hostel-colonial | Claves: argentina, Hostel Buenos Aires, Hostel Colonial | # Enlace permanente
The sixth edition, November 14 th,“The Night of Museums”, this year named “Culture under the Moonlight”
This is a very popular date celebrated like in many cities in the world around 130, now this is!
The sixth edition in Buenos Aires from the participation from 150 centers to museums at a festival that will lasts until early Sunday, one of the most awaited dates of the cultural calendar is near: from next Saturday with free admission 08.00 p.m. since. Last year the number of museums has increased by more than 20.
Exhibitions, dance, theater, guided tours, films, alive music and many other activities, all free. Complete as well invite more neighborhoods to celebrate their history for the sixth edition add their contributions others neighborhoods too.
Just as the museums of Madrid will make a sample outdoor promenade in Puerto Madero in the art, and the event will share time and activities with the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Promoted and launched by the Culture Minister in Argentina, Mr. Hernán Lombardi: “Night of Museums is a format imported. Each city was reinvented to reflect it´s own identity and we are very happy about how Buenos Aires took part at citizenship and institutional level”. Those are words of the Minister.
The central deployment of the edition will be a production of newsreels named “Sucesos Argentinos”, at the headquarters of the General Directorate of Museums, Puerto Madero / South coast with Music by Juana Molina the Argentinean actress more known for her comedies in the 90th. The public can enjoy in the closure of this city party several local DJs, such as Leo Garcia y VJ Sol del Rio, DJ Nico Cota and VJ Matapixels. Popular in the “Porteños” nightlife.
If you need any information just contact the Hostel Colonial reception 011 4 312 6417. We here to help you out. If you need a long staying in Buenos Aires contact us we have an affordable promotion for you paying in advance for the cheap price of $210 for one week plus one night FREE.
Noviembre 3, 2009 | Por hostel-colonial | Claves: argentina, Hostel Buenos Aires, Hostel Colonial, Tumblr | # Enlace permanente
Hace meses que vengo publicando en Tumblr imágenes de Buenos Aires, imágenes propias y de otros autores, incluso hace unos días incorporé una sección llamada #Folder Argentina, con la idea de no sólo difundir el hostel y la ciudad de Buenos Aires, sino también mi país, Argentina, de punta punta.
Las fotos publicadas superan las 7000 y creo que son un gran material de difusión y un gran complemento para una desición, sobre todo a la hora de viajar.
El material pueden apreciarlo en su totalidad en Tumblr (hagan click en el título de este post), aquí, sólo una selección de las que más me gustan. 100% Buenos Aires.
Espero que las disfruten tanto como yo, sacándolas o buscando intensamente.
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