Wander Argentina

El Ateneo Grand Splendid: South America’s Most Beautiful Bookstore

Buenos Aires is a city full of not-to-missed attractions. Among them is South America’s most opulent bookstore, El Ateneo Grand Splendid. This book lover’s palace located in the old Grand Splendid Theater retains all the decadence of an Italian opera house and is the ideal place to revel in Buenos Aires’ celebrated literary tradition. The […]

The Teatro Colón: Argentina’s Most Resplendent Theater

One of Buenos Aires’ finest landmarks, the grand Teatro Colón occupies an entire city block and an even larger space in the hearts and minds of Argentines. The theater is rated as one of the best five opera houses in the world for acoustics and overall comes in at number three, after La Scala in […]

Galerías Pacífico: Florida Street’s Shopping Mall

The 1991 debut of the 180-store Galerías Pacífico shopping mall is what saved downtown’s Florida Street from becoming a complete ghost town in the 1990’s. Its opening was also a financial blow to the already hemorrhaging Harrods Buenos Aires a block away, and in part led to that department store’s closing in 1998. The 1889 […]

The Plaza de Mayo: Argentina’s Most Famous Square

The Plaza de Mayo is as fundamental to Argentine political history as La Boca and homesick immigrants are to tango. The square is a political hub, financial and administrative center and throughout history has been a symbol of disaster, rebellion and hope. In May 1810 the revolution began in what was then called the Plaza […]

Haunted Buenos Aires: Ghost Stories of the City

Buenos Aires is a lively metropolis but it has a spooky side. Parts of the city were constructed on top of old burial grounds, soldiers died on the streets of San Telmo while fighting the English, torture occurred in secret prisons during the Dirty War, and a central tourist attraction is a VIP cemetery. While […]

Florida Street: Galería Güemes Through the Years

Galería Güemes is another art nouveau jewel on downtown’s Florida Street, but you wouldn’t know it from glancing at it street side. After a 1971 fire caused serious damage to the exterior of the 1915 building it was modernized and rebuilt with a rather unfortunate glass façade, but the first floor retains the beautiful […]