Whenever those days of saudade hit, I often remember the flavors of Portugal. Like most people who enjoy food, memories & meals go hand in hand. Tastes are a vivid part of the travel experience & adopting a new diet is one of the best ways to experience a country. The variety of Portuguese gastronomy would provide enough material for an entire blog, so just consider this post a taste of what Portugal has to offer…
Read More »portugal: hungry?
Parque 3 de Febrero commemorates the Battle of Caseros where Confederate forces defeated Juan Manuel de Rosas in 1852. Ending 17 years of what many historians call Argentina’s first dictatorship, the victors forced Rosas to leave the country & confiscated his land. This singular act would transform Buenos Aires in ways unimaginable at the time. Technically, Rosas had lived outside the city limits (which only extended to Avenida Callao). In fact, the town of Belgrano had not even been incorporated… that would happen a few years later in 1857.
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Nestled into the center of a busy intersection in Caballito, surrounding buildings dwarf a statue of El Cid Campeador by American sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington. Traffic noise also prevents any quiet contemplation of my personal favorite statue… but that can be avoided by going early on Sunday mornings for a look at this fantastic piece of public art, cleaned & restored in 2006:
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In the past ten years, Buenos Aires has come a long way in terms of preserving city heritage. New organizations have formed, especially on neighborhood level, keeping watch over the city’s buildings & blowing the whistle when sneaky developers try to destroy what makes BA so unique. That said, one particular building sums up everything wrong about the city’s attitude toward conservation: the Confitería del Molino.
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Since I’ve become such a fan of Buenos Aires architecture, I’ll begin a series of posts about our best architects in order to highlight who have made BA such a joy to walk around. There’s no better place to start than the grandfather of all BA architects, Alejandro Christophersen.
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Some places defy description. Historical summaries & cultural briefs tell the facts but fail to convey how a place feels… sometimes that’s more important. The city of Évora has long been one of my favorite spots in Portugal, but it is also one of the most difficult for me to describe.
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Although new to writing book reviews, “Radiografía de la Pampa” by Ezequiel Martínez Estrada left such an impact on me that I feel obliged to discuss it here. The book is filled with complicated ideas & is notoriously difficult to read, so maybe I can gain some insight by writing about it… as well as get ideas from others who read this post.
Read More »argentine literature: radiografía de la pampa
Europe’s third oldest university has old traditions to match. If you’re lucky enough to be in Coimbra at the end of the academic year (usually the last week of May), there’s a big party that’s not to be missed.
Read More »portugal: queima das fitas
Being Easter Sunday, what better time to write about churches in Buenos Aires? Easter is probably my least favorite holiday of the year as it brings back memories of being dragged unwillingly to church… be it Lutheran, Methodist or Presbyterian. It never mattered much since we didn’t attend service any other day of the year. Seriously. However, after 12 years of extended stays in Spain & Portugal —plus living in Argentina for over 10 years— I may as well be Catholic by default.
Read More »buenos aires: churches