On January 23, we disembarked in Buenos Aires and went through a very long line at immigration. After watching the immigration officer get annoyed at someone for not knowing the address of her hotel, we were prepared.

All we usually concern ourself with is how to locate our driver and the name of the hotel to confirm with the driver. The address is always in the paperwork, but not in my head!

We ended up with the same immigration officer but she must have gotten her annoyance out of her system because she only asked how long we were going to be in Argentina and the name of the hotel.

Our passports were stamped which happens sometimes and not others. We don’t tend to pay much attention to our passport stamps but we are required to have ten empty pages for a trip this summer so wasn’t happy when she stamped a new page. (Post trip – we both still have 12 empty pages.)

Then we picked up our luggage and walked straight through customs. 

We connected with our driver and began an hour commute to our hotel, the Alvear Palace. His teenage son found an English music playlist on his phone. It was a nice gesture.  

The driver chatted along the way and described Buenos Aires as having: French architecture, Italian food and Spanish language.  That definitely sounds like a place worth exploring!

Buenos Aires was not bombed during either World War so the old world architecture has lasted.  The city also takes pride in its green spaces with mature trees and clean grounds.  

On the downside, political corruption has been, and continues to be, a problem.

We traveled along an avenue he described as the widest road in the world.  The avenue has twenty lanes of traffic if you include the side roads that run parallel and must be crossed in order to get from one side to the other.

The avenue is named  “Avenida 9 de Julio”, which  means “the 9th of July Avenue” – the date of the Argentina’s Independence Day.

The large white building along the avenue, built in 1936, houses the Ministry of Health. Two different representations of Evita Peron were attached to two facades of the building in 2011. It is now commonly called the Evita Building.

The Obelisco de Buenos Aires is at an intersection along Avenida 9 de Julio.  It was completed in 1936 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the city’s founding.  The obelisk serves as a gathering point for celebrations and protests.  It is possible to go to the top but we did not. 

It sits on the site of a former church, significant in that it was where the Argentine flag was raised for the first time in 1812.

Our driver said that our hotel, Alvear Palace, was one of the nicest in town. 

It is the hotel Seabourn uses for their guests prior to leaving on their Antarctica cruises.  

Our travel agent booked us at the Palace for this segment of our trip so the hotel would hold our luggage while we went to Iguaźu. We brought along a duffle to use for that side trip.

We had nothing to compare the hotel with in Buenos Aires, but it certainly was lovely, one of the nicest we’ve been to anywhere.

And best of all, a room was available at 11:30 am.    

We have a collection of international power adaptors and I was glad I brought the ones that worked in Argentina.

There were a few North American and USB outlets in the room but we always seem to need more!

At the concierge desk, we traded $140 USD for 200,000 Argentine pesos. Those are some bizarre numbers!  Ongoing inflation has impacted the currency dramatically.

A few weeks later, when I took the screen shot showing the currency exchange to write this post, it was less than 200,000. It seems that is the way of things in Argentina.

While doing the transaction, the concierge rejected two of our $20 bills for very minor tears.  He said they were “broken.” I had read other travelers commenting on the need for flawless bills, but this was our first experience.  (We exchange currency every year in Mexico and it has never been an issue.)

We napped for a couple hours, cleaned up, and walked around the block to a recommended steakhouse. Argentina beef is a thing!

We were there about 2:30 because the restaurant closed at 4:00 and didn’t open again until 8:00 pm. Staying awake, let alone eating that late, wasn’t happening – especially after an overnight flight.    Note to self: Stop taking overnight flights.

Fervor is a Michelin Star restaurant. Our experience was very good. I was hungry and tired enough to forget to take pictures. Our meal was a little pricey, but it also felt like a small celebration after arriving in a new country and being at the beginning of a new adventure!

Next Up: We have a full day in Buenos Aires.