sights uncovered
Travel with Tessa

Buenos Aires- San Telmo

Tango in San Telmo-Buenos Aires

San Telmo – the oldest neighborhood in Buenos Aires was home to the city’s upper class elite in the 1800’s, until a yellow fever epidemic struck in 1870 and people fled the area leaving it to fall into disrepair. Today it is one of the most alluring neighborhoods in the city attracting visitors and locals alike with its superb antique stores and a vast indoor antique market; trendy young designers of clothing, shoes, and jewelry; cafés, bars, restaurants, boutique hotels, and tango halls; all housed in rejuvenated European, colonial style buildings.

1AColonial-style-buildings
1BColonial-style-buildings

Plaza Dorrego has always been the heart and soul of San Telmo. Prior to it becoming a public square in the 1800’s, it was the central area where wagons delivered produce to the city. Now on any given day of the week, one is likely to be enchanted by the sensuous performance of dancers who perform the tango for which Buenos Aires has an international reputation. Settle down in the plaza for a glass of wine and a meal, or a fabulous cappuccino and chocolate dessert at Havana cafe and chocolate shop, while away a few languid hours in the dappled shade of the trees, and savor the delightful ambiance.

On Sundays, Plaza Dorrego is THE place to be in Buenos Aires. Antique and craft merchants line the square and spill into the streets, musicians, singers, and an array of sensual tango dancers perform the tango with their partners – their supple bodies, intertwining and separating as they perform the romantic dance that originated in the 1880’s along the River Plata, which forms a border between Argentina and Uruguay.

2AArgentina-and-Uraguay
2BArgentina-and-Uraguay

San Telmo is one of those rare neighborhoods that for now, still retains the authentic charm of a bygone era.