I love to drink coffee here

This cafe is on Avenida de Mayo, one of my favourite avenues in Buenos Aires, and near the building of Congress.  This is a really old and traditional area of the city, where there are such gems as Cafe Tortoni, lovely old buildings, odd-characters in the street, the hotel Castelar (which looks super old-world cool) and many other old bars and pizza places.  In this particular cafe I love the wall texture and colour, the painting, the big mirror near the door and the smartly dressed old waiters (always men.  Actually, these placese are usually full of old men too, not sure where the women are...)

Congreso

The neighbourhood of Congreso takes it´s name from the building of Congress that is a focal point in this very old area of the city.  The grand avenue Avenida de Mayo is the heart of Congreso and it´s design was inspired by the avenues of Madrid, Barcelona and Paris and was constucted in 1894.  Walking it´s tree-lined streets today gives you a glimpse into the grand and splendid past that Buenos Aires once knew, and there are many buildings that will help to transport you back there.  These are some architectural features that i just love.

 

 

 

 

 

These days Congreso is a neighbourhood with a lot of character, mixing these beautiful architectural details from the past with a grittier reality.  There are many hotels, both upper and lower scale, and ofcourse many protests that occur infront of the congress building.  Avenida de Mayo links the Casada Rosada (the presidential palace) with the building of Congress, and many protests begin at one of these points and fill the streets inbetween.  I think the mix of all these elements gives you a great representation of what Buenos Aires is today: a rich past, a problematic present and a lot of attitude.