Buenos Aires, a big and beautiful city, worth to be explored! (By Andrea Monti Hughes & Andrés Kreiner)
Dear PTCOG community,
It will be a huge honour to have you here, in Buenos Aires, to share and discuss our latest results in the field of Particle therapy, at the PTCOG 63rd Congress. However, you cannot leave Buenos Aires without being a tourist! We encourage you to explore our “Buenos Aires Querido” (Dear Buenos Aires), as it says one of our most famous Tango singers, Carlos Gardel. Plenty of activities are waiting for you. Buenos Aires is a big city, but bus and metro (called here “colectivo” and “subte”) and the touristic city bus can help you to explore it. To have a quick overview of what to do in Buenos Aires, here we are sharing with you some of the most famous spots, from the Hilton Hotel in Puerto Madero (the Congress venue):
- A nice walk around Puerto Madero: it is a very nice corner in this big city, full of nice restaurants and parks to walk around. You can find the Woman Bridge, the Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat Art Collection Museum and the Costanera Ecological Reserve, a place “full of nature” inside this big city.
- Government House – Plaza de Mayo – Cabildo – Buenos Aires Cathedral (15 min walking distance): The Government House is called the “Pink” house. It is located on one of the sides of Plaza de Mayo, the oldest square in Buenos Aires, famous due to big popular demonstrations and Mothers of Plaza de Mayo. Its name is a tribute to the Revolution of May 25th, in 1810, which took place in this same square and which started the Argentinean Independence. Around, you can find the Buenos Aires Cathedral and the Cabildo building. In the Spanish-American colonial context, the Cabildo was a municipal institution that exercised functions of local government, administration and justice. In all these important buildings very nice museums full of our national history can be found.
- The quarter of San Telmo (12 min by car): It is one of the oldest and most traditional neighborhoods in Buenos Aires that preserves much of its architectural heritage. If you want to listen and /or see a tango show, this is the place!
- Plaza de Mayo – Mayo Avenue – Café Tortoni (Tortoni Bar) – Argentinian Congress (2 hs walking tour): Maybe it is a long walk, but it is worth making the effort! So nice due to the outstanding buildings elevated there, from an architectural point of view. You can have a nice coffee at Café Tortoni (a traditional Buenos Aires bar founded in 1858), finishing at the Monumental Argentinian Congress.
- 9 de Julio Avenue – Obelisco – Colon Theater – Lavalle square (30 min walking distance): 9 de Julio Avenue is well-known as one of the widest (or maybe the widest one!) avenues in the World. There you can find the Obelisk erected in 1936 to commemorate the fourth centenary of the first foundation of Buenos Aires, and where the Argentine national flag was raised in the city for the first time. To make this walking amazing, beautiful decorative fonts can be found in the boulevards but the Colon Theater takes all the attention. It was funded in 1908, and it is one of the best opera and ballet houses in the World, mainly due to its acoustics, its architecture and the artistic legends who were here. You can get tickets to make a nice tour inside, we totally recommend it. Lavalle square is behind the Colon Theatre, and it is a nice place to admire impressive architectural buildings, like the Colon and the National Cervantes theatres, the Palacio de Justicia (Palace of Justice) amongothers.
- Want to do some shopping near the Congress venue? Galerías Pacífico is the place! (9 min by car): if you want to do some shopping near the congress venue, Galerías Pacífico mall is the perfect choice. It was built in the 19th century, and houses not only well-known stores but also series of famous murals painted in 1945-1947 by the most outstanding Argentine painters (Antonio Berni, Lino Spilimbergo, Juan Carlos Castagnino and Demetrio Urruchúa) and the Spanish Manuel Colmeiro Guimarás.
- Recoleta square – Recoleta Cemetery – Floralis generica park and arounds – Faculty of Law, Univeristy of Buenos Aires – Museum of Fine arts (Museo de Bellas Artes) (20 min by car): Recoleta quarter is a very beautiful place to walk around, with many restaurants and bars, but also full of history. It is one of the most beautiful neighbourhoods in town. You can find the well-known cemetery of Recoleta where famous tombs are there (like the tomb of Evita) where you can make an interesting tour inside. If you like artwork, you can dive into the Fine Art Museum, and afterwards have a nice walk around the Floralis generic park. The Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires will take your attention, famous due to its impressive architecture. Maybe want to add some shopping to this tour… yes! You can find a nice shopping mall too.
- Palermo parks – Museum of Latin American Arts (MALBA): Nice walks in huge, beautiful parks with lakes, with places like a Planetarium, a Japanese Park and a Botanic Garden can be found in the Palermo neighbourhood. If you want to learn about Latinoamerican Art, the MALBA museum is a must, in which famous painters like Frida Kahlo, Roberto Matta, Diego Rivera, Joaquín Torres-García, Antonio Berni, Jorge de la Vega, Tarsila do Amaral, Pedro Figari, Lygia Clark y Guillermo Kuitca can be found.
- Tigre—Delta of Paraná River (1 hour by car): For those who love nature, an excursion to the delta of the Paraná River, in a town called Tigre (Tiger), is worthwhile. There, you can find the Tigre Art Museum, and if it is a nice sunny day, you can enjoy a Tigre Delta Boat excursion!
Buenos Aires offers a tourist bus that has different routes, in which all these sites are included. Maybe, if you do not have so much time in our City, this could help to have a nice and complete overview of our Buenos Aires Querido. Of course, this is a snapshot of some of the most important and nice places in Buenos Aires, but there are a lot more to do, and corners worth exploring. You can find this and more tourist information (places description, tours and different advices) in the following link: https://turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar/en
Hope you will enjoy BUENOS AIRES!
Andrea Monti Hughes and Andrés J. Kreiner
National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA) / CONICET, ARGENTINA
