One night this week we went for a tour of Puerto Madero with Julio Iannetta and his daughter. Julio is a brother of Albert Iannetta, one of my real estate agents. It is a beautiful, clean, new area of the city down where the old docks of Buenos Aires use to be. When the city outgrew the area the old warehouse and granaries were abandoned for a while. But recently the shells of the old buildings have been turned into apartments, lofts, offices and of course restaurants and shops. Very High Scale.
We toured the streets that are all named after famous Argentine women. There are great places to stroll, along the riverfront and around the four large diques (basins) of the former port, with many moving bridges, including this one:
This bridge which opens to let ships through, is a work of art.
In the area there are also two of the most exclusive hotels, the Faena Hotel and the Universe and the Hilton Buenos Aires. On the outside the Faena is all old brick, it used to be the Edificio El Portino (the main port building) but inside…an exclusive 83 room hotel costing from 300 to $1200 US per night. Each of the rooms has a home theatre and large totally mirrored bathrooms with a spa. When you check in, you are assigned and experience manager who takes care of all your needs while in the city. There are many treatment rooms, a huge health club area, and experiences such as polo with the pros and painting classes with a famous artist. On Friday John and I walked through the public area of the Faena – a very impressive swimming pool area with a swim-up bar, beautiful dining rooms and nightclubs, the lighting was truly an art in itself.
We also walked through the Reserva Ecological Costanera Sur, once a landfill that nature has taken back over and is now a protected area for migratory waterfowl, swans, coots, flamingos, and other little animals and reptiles.
We found a relative of Skippy (Judy’s turtle at home in California) just strolling across the path, and redirected (him/her) back toward the water.
Our apartment is very centrally located within 1 1/2 blocks of one of the main Subtre (subway) lines. These are our main method of transportation around the city, although taxies are cheap and extremely readily available. It is the black glass front building you can see in this picture, just past the statue of Man of La Mancha – Don Quixote and his house.
A view towards our apartment from the Av. 9 de Juilo, the widest street in the world