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About the tours
Plaza San Martin
Retiro Grand Central Station,
Plaza San Martin Malvinas war Memorial , Plaza de Mayo, Café Tortoni,
visiting Retiro
Train station and walk over to Plaza de Mayo (about a ten block walk). Visit
Plaza de Mayo to our final stop, Café Tortoni
Introduction
At the
turn of the 20th century, some of Buenos Aires's most fabulous mansions were
built overlooking Plaza San Martín, and quite a few remain. The enormous
plaza, with its overgrown trees and lazy atmosphere. The Retiro area spreads
down a gentle hill from the plaza and encompasses the train station complex
built by the British, once the main entrance to this grand city
1. Círculo Militar &
Palacio Paz
 Perhaps
the most beautiful of the Beaux Arts mansions in Buenos Aires, the Círculo
Militar looks plucked from the Loire Valley. It was the home of the Paz
family and took almost 12 years to build. The family
owned the La Prensa newspaper. The Palacio Paz is now home to the Círculo
Militar, an elite organization for retired military officers that bought the
building in 1938. The Museo de las Armas, is also in the building
2. Islas Malvinas-Falkland Islands Memorial
This monument honors the more than 700 Argentines who died in the war over
the Islas Malvinas/Falkland Islands chain in the brief war with Great
Britain in early 1982. The war was treated as almost silly by most
English-speaking countries who sided with Great Britain, including the
United States. Argentina lost the war, but became a democracy once again in
the process.
3 Torre Monumental
(British Clock Tower)
This
1916 gift from the British community in Buenos Aires. Inside the tower
you'll find a small Buenos Aires City Tourism Information Office as well as
an elevator you can ride to the top for an excellent view of the city. The
tower was placed here to celebrate the completion of the nearby Retiro
station, which was built with British technology.
4. Retiro Station
Retiro
Station was opened in 1915 and built with British technological assistance.
Four British architects designed it, and the steel structure was made in
Liverpool, England, and shipped to Argentina to be assembled. The mint-green
circular ticketing area is particularly distinctive, among the many
interesting details in this station. The central hallway is enormous, and
while some of the interior ornamentation has disappeared, you'll still see
some bronze lighting fixtures adorning the walls
5-Plaza de Mayo and
surrounding areas
Juan de
Garay founded the historic core of Buenos Aires, the Plaza de Mayo, upon the
city's second founding in 1580. The plaza's prominent buildings create an
architectural timeline: the Cabildo, or Old City Hall, and Metropolitan
Cathedral are vestiges of the colonial period (18th and early 19th c.),
while the Pirámide de Mayo (Pyramid of May) and the buildings of the
national and local government reflect the styles of the late 19th and early
20th centuries
Café Tortoni
As
the city's most famous cafe, this establishment has been graced by numerous
political, intellectual, and historic figures from Argentina and from around
the world. There are tango shows here every night, but the real treat is the
ornate interior of the building itself. Above the cafe is the office of the
National Tango Academy, which also offers lessons.
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