Feb 15th

Today was our only full day in Buenos Aires - and we made the most of it.
We began by taking a cab to the Cafe Tortoni for breakfast. Apparently, Buenos Aires has a century old tradition of coffee houses; places where writers and artists used to gather to talk. The oldest of these, founded in 1858, is Cafe Tortoni. The period decor is still in place, with beautiful stained glass and polished wood. The local special is the hot chocolate and churros, but I had an iced coffee with dulce de leche with my churros instead. It was called dulce cabrales and it was the best iced coffee I've ever had. Starbucks has nothing like it.




After breakfast we made our way to the nearby Plaza De Mayo, which is pretty much the centre of the city.  We wandered around the Metropolitan Cathedral (where Pope Francis used to hang out before he was Pope).  This looks more like a Greek temple than a cathedral, but is very beautiful all the same. Also in the square is the Casa Rosada (presidential palace).


Around lunchtime we headed to the Plaza Dorrego in San Telmo, where the locals do Tango in the park.

Our last "tourist" stop of the day was the cementario La Recolleta. Like New Orleans, the water table here is too high to bury people underground, so instead it consists of mausoleums. Some of these places are the size of houses. It must be a case of macho patriarchs wanting to say "My mausoleum is bigger than yours" even after they are dead and gone. After a quick snack for supper (neither of us is very hungry in the heat and humidity of Buenos Aires) we headed back to the hotel for an early night. We have to have our cases outside the room by 5.15am tomorrow morning.

We've had an amazing time in Buenos Aires, but really this was just the precursor to our real vacation. This time tomorrow evening we will be aboard Silver Explorer and heading towards Antarctica.