After an enjoyable summer spent at home in Ealing working on the house (and recovering from a perforated ulcer), I have recommenced my travels. This time my first stop is in Buenos Aires.

Arrived here on Friday 13th October with my friend Jane from Ealing. We were due to join a 17 day organised tour of Patagonia and the Iguazu Falls. We arrived a day early in order to see more of the city. We started with the opera house – Teatro Colon (www.teatrocolon.org.ar/en/home).

The theatre is acoustically considered to be one of the top five opera houses in the world.

Following on with the theatrical theme, we visited El Ateneo Grand Splendid – a theatre that has been converted to a bookshop. It has been voted the second most beautiful bookshop in the world by The Guardian.

After coffee in the café on the stage, we went for lunch in one of Buenos Aires’ oldest cafes – Café Tortoni (www.cafetortoni.com.ar/en/).

After lunch we headed down to Plaza de Mayo, which is in front of the Pink House – the president’s office.

We also had a quick look in the very Roman looking Cathedral on the same square.

Our next stop was Port Madero, the restored dock yards. On our way we got lost in the very impressive Kirchner Cultural Centre.

The port is now a marina with shops and restaurants occupying the old warehouses.

That evening we ate steak at Cabana Las Lilas (www.restaurantlaslilas.com.ar/EN/) in the port.

The next day we started out in Plaza San Martin, one of parks in the city centre.

Nearby is the Torre Monumental, a present to the city from the local English community to celebrate the centenary of the May 1810 revolution. It was originally called Torre des los Ingleses (Tower of the English) but was renamed Torre Monumental in 1982 after the Falklands war.

We continued our walk around the city centre streets.

We passed the old Harrods store.  Originally established in 1914 as the only overseas branch of the London store, it was sold to local owners in 1922. It closed in 1998 over legal disputes between the local owners and Mohammed Al-Fayed. There are plans to reopen it, watch this space – www.harrodsbuenosaires.com.ar

We tried out some interesting seats which were not as comfortable as they look.

and enjoyed the café culture.

Buenos Aires has a rather unique cemetery which has become the resting place of the rich and famous.

The remains of Eva Peron have recently been returned to the cemetery after a very sad and complicated past. She is now buried in the tomb of her brother in law’s family.

After the cemetery, we went on to the much more colourful district of La Boca.

Our final stop was the market in San Telmo – the oldest part of the city.

We departed early on the 16th Oct to catch the 4.30am flight to Ushuaia in Patagonia.