I know that I left your mouth watering from my last post on steak (for those meat-eaters anyway), so I thought I would endulge you further with Phil's steak in Montevideo. First of all and as a side note, it is important to recognize that eating is perhaps our main activity, it consumes are days while we wonder around a town or travel between places. The food we eat is a cultural symbol of where we are, teaching us about the people, the geography and it's history. And if we don't eat we get cranky. So we have become a custom to looking out for eating opportunities everywhere. And on that note, back to Montevideo. We just had a very nice cafe con leche, in the old part of town as we made our way to the water in Montevideo, when we stumbled upon Marchado del Puerto, which from what we saw, was a market of steakhouses, all with wood buring barbecues and grills absolutely packed with different kinds of meat. It was close to lunch and the place was busy. mostly with locals, so we pulled up a stool and ordred right from the grill. I went with pollo (chicken) and Phil with a steak, and it was absolutely huge, it took up the whole plate, and as Phil would say, enough to feed a family (but he managed to eat every last piece). For the rest of the day and night, we walked off our meals and visited a couple museos, the waterfront, banks (we had trouble finding an open one), and finally restaurants for dinner. We eventaully found one and had lovely fresh pasta, which they are also known for here. It was an interesting day, perhaps the most variable weather day we have every experienced (sun, rain, wind, warm, cold, changing every 5 minutes, a reminder of Halifax but even more variable). Here are a few pictures of what we saw (and eat), the ones of the costumes and the paper mache head are from a colourful Carnival Museo. Friday, 7 March 2008
Steak in Montevideo
I know that I left your mouth watering from my last post on steak (for those meat-eaters anyway), so I thought I would endulge you further with Phil's steak in Montevideo. First of all and as a side note, it is important to recognize that eating is perhaps our main activity, it consumes are days while we wonder around a town or travel between places. The food we eat is a cultural symbol of where we are, teaching us about the people, the geography and it's history. And if we don't eat we get cranky. So we have become a custom to looking out for eating opportunities everywhere. And on that note, back to Montevideo. We just had a very nice cafe con leche, in the old part of town as we made our way to the water in Montevideo, when we stumbled upon Marchado del Puerto, which from what we saw, was a market of steakhouses, all with wood buring barbecues and grills absolutely packed with different kinds of meat. It was close to lunch and the place was busy. mostly with locals, so we pulled up a stool and ordred right from the grill. I went with pollo (chicken) and Phil with a steak, and it was absolutely huge, it took up the whole plate, and as Phil would say, enough to feed a family (but he managed to eat every last piece). For the rest of the day and night, we walked off our meals and visited a couple museos, the waterfront, banks (we had trouble finding an open one), and finally restaurants for dinner. We eventaully found one and had lovely fresh pasta, which they are also known for here. It was an interesting day, perhaps the most variable weather day we have every experienced (sun, rain, wind, warm, cold, changing every 5 minutes, a reminder of Halifax but even more variable). Here are a few pictures of what we saw (and eat), the ones of the costumes and the paper mache head are from a colourful Carnival Museo. Montevideo, Uruguay
We arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay by ferry/bus from Buenos Aires late at night on Monday, March 4. Upon arrival, we realized that the our reservation was in another town and we had to scramble to find another place to sleep. We found the Hotel Alcazaba at 2AM (strange spot). There were no rooms available upon arrival, but we were assured that if we waited for 20 minutes, we could get one (only had to pay the "half night price") that's great we thought.Hotel Alcazaba
Mario Cassinoni Nº 1669
Montevideo, Uruguay
Tel. 4080915, 9000063
River State vs. San Juan
One of our priorities in Buenos Aires was to go to a futbol game, and last Sunday we were fortunate enough to catch a River Plate home game. They were playing San Martín de San Juan, from the North West of Argentina. There were 35,000 in attendence, most in the third level of the stadium, and most wearing red and white. Just watching the fans was enough to entertain me; they sang and chanted, hung over the railings, waved flags, danced – it was spectacular. And the futbol game, of course, was entertaining with lots of close calls, men diving all over the place, dramatically recovering from trips and falls, and a score of 3 to 2 for River Plate. It started raining during the second part of the second half, and it just poured which made the crowd sing and chant louder (and take their shirts off, the men anyway). It was great, quite an experience. The only unfortunate thing was the rain was so heavy they did call it off ten mintues before the end, so there will be a rematch (maybe a good thing, it means another game in the season for River Plate fans, which I now consider myself a part of).Sunday, 2 March 2008
La Boca
Yesterday, we ventured south-east to a very interesting area in Buenos Aires called La Boca (the mouth) located near the city's port. It retains a strong European flavour, with many of its early settlers being from the Italian city of Genoa. La Boca is a popular destination for tourists visiting Argentina, with its colourful houses and main street, the Caminito. We walked from shop to shop, admired all the multi-couloured buildings, listened to music coming from the open-air bars, and watched tango in its abundance throughout the streets. La Boca, is also known throughout the sporting world as the home of Boca Juniors, one of South America's top football clubs. The large yellow stadium lies just a few blocks from the Caminito. We made our way home late in the afternoon and picked up some fresh pasta for dinner.Tango
Our plan on Friday night was to find some live Jazz for the evening. So we checked the old guidebook and headed to Café Tortoni, the oldest café in Buenos Aires. When we got there we were told that Jazz was off and a tango show was starting in 30 minutes. So we jumped on the opportunity and settled into our front row seats for a night of tango (watching). It was a very entertaining show, that took the form of a dancing musical, with a traditional drumming act thrown in the middle. One of our favourite parts was the live band that played passionately throughout the whole evening. And of course, the amazing footwork and emotion of the tango, beautiful! Recoleta and Palermo
Our days here in Buenos Aires seem to start off slowly, as it is impossible to go to bed before 2AM. However, it stays light until 9ish at night, so we have lots of daylight to walk around and see the sights. We had one of these days on Thursday. In the early afternoon we jumped on the subway and headed for an area called Recoleta, which is the wealthiest neighbourhood here, and is known for elegant cafes, unique boutiques, and the Recoleta cemetery where the wealthy and famous people of BA are buried, including Evita. After strolling around the elaborate sarcophagi, we made our way to the Museo National de Bellas Arts, to see an amazing collection of classical and modern Argentinian art. Next it was off to a huge metal flower sculpture, that actually opens and closes. At this point it was about 6:30PM, so we decided to head up to Palermo, a nearby neighbourhood, where we were planning to have an Argentina Steak dinner, at a famous grill. I was feeling a little under dressed, so we popped into a salon for a haircut and a boutique for a little black dress. Now, all dolled up, I was ready for my fancy steak dinner!! We got to La Cabera Restuarant at 8:15PM and the place was completely empty, but it turend out they had reservations for every table starting at 8:30PM. So we were directed down the street to the second La Cabera, opened to deal with this overflow issue. We sat down at 8:30PM, and within minutes the whole second restaurant was packed. And completely understandably, this meal was absolutely outstanding. The best example is perhaps Phil's Argentina Steak dinner, that cost around $45 pesos, expensive for us, but included 3, yes three (including bacon), of the best steaks Phil has ever had, and about 20 little salads and condiments to dress the steak. Essentially every bite could be different. I never thought I would be going on about steaks like this!! But to tell you the truth, and to reassure you that it is me writing this, my favourite part was the condiment/salad tray. Once again, we ate and drank the night away, caught a late night bus home and were in bed by 2, I think...The Clan House Bed & Breakfast
We have moved locations, yet again, in Buenos Aires and have relocated at the following bed & breakfast. It is quiet, clean, and we get to fry our own eggs in the morning.The Clan House Bed & Breakfast
Alsina 917 - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tel. (54 11) 4331 4448
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