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 | Buenos Aires La Boca Reviews | Tips 1 - 10 of 145 |  |
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This is a contrasting port neighborhood with a very characteristic atmosphere: wood and metal low houses painted in very bright colors. The use of colour and the area’s artistic tradition, which is still in evidence today, was heavily influenced by Benito Quinquela Martín – one of Argentina’s most famous painters – who used his artwork as a form of social protest. His powerful images of this working-class neighbourhood can be seen at the recently renovated Museo de Bellas Artes Quinquela Martín, along with the work of other local artists. Wall paintings and sculptures ornament Caminito Street where you can find painters as well as dancers and singers performing tango music. In the XIX century this area was the settlement of genoese sailors and port workers who founded a friendly society structure that originated poets, musicians and plastic artists. You will be surprised by the typical canteens of La Boca where you can still enjoy traditional dishes while you listen to a tarantella or a nostalgic canzonetta. This barrio is best known for its football team, Boca Juniors, for whom the legendary Diego Maradona played, but also for its multi-coloured wooden and corrugated iron houses. The houses were built and painted by the resident dock-workers, of mainly Italian descent, who used leftover materials and paint from the ships. The most famous street, Calle Caminito, possesses the best of the painted houses and is where artists, street performers and tango dancers congregate daily. It is also worth exploring the temporary exhibits of Argentine artists at the modern Fundación Proa museum. Tango was developed in this neighbourhood and, in the 1920s, children from wealthy families would come here to dance the dance banned elsewhere in Buenos Aires. Many restaurants provide daily lunchtime tango shows for tourists. Directions: It's a pintoresque neighborhood in Buenos Aires
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| | | | La Boca: Caminito + Boca Juniors Stadium | Tip Rating: | | | | |
This is one of the classic places to go. The catch is the colorful houses which used to be ghettos in the past for the immigrants coming from Europe. Most of them Spanish, Italian and German. Why are the houses painted like tha you may ask? Well, in the past the people who lived there didn't have enough money to paint their houses. So they used to go to the dock (a few meters away) and ask the people working with the ships to give them some of the paint they used for the ships. So they would get a bit of orange, a bit of blue, a bit of red, etc. That's why they had to paint their housed with different colours. As you may imagine nowadays this houses are still painted like that because they have a sponsor: Alba, the most famous paint brand. Walking around caminito and perhaps going into the shops and having a look at the market, will not take you more than 2 hours. After that you might want to visit the Boca Juniors football stadium, 8 blocks away. If this is the case try to get a taxi to go there, just in case. La Boca is a poor neighbourhood so you don't want to run any risks. Also you may want to visit the Quinquela Martin museum, a few meters away from Caminito. This painter is one of our most important. He used to paint scenes from the dock. Oh, for you to get into the mood beforehand: the oudor of the river (Riachuelo) there is unbearable sometimes! But you get used to it after the first 10 minutes! :) Leave a Comment Address: La Boca neighbourhood.Directions: You can get there with the 152 bus. You can't get lost as it leaves you right at the beginning of Caminito.
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| | | | La Boca: Calle Caminito | Tip Rating: | | | | |
Of course, the main reason folks go to La Boca is to take a walk down Calle Caminito. And despite the usual hucksters and vendors, the street really is like an open-air museum. Evidently, the street used to be a detour of the General Roca rail system line going from the Yellow House (Casa Amarilla) to the port. The passenger train discontinued service in 1954 and the street started its transformation. A group of residents, among them the painter Quinquela Martin, proposed the name Caminita in honor of Juan de Dios Filberto, author of the tango of the same name. Theatrical plays were presented using the facades of the brightly painted houses as their backdrops and stage sets. Take a walk around and don't forget to walk down the Calle Garibaldi, where you'll find the 3 original buildings of the neighborhood. Also, near the corners of Garibaldi and Caminito there is a little square where you'll find vendors and if you're lucky enough the Parrilla Caminito will be open and you'll have a chance to taste a real Choripan, the way the locals do. Leave a Comment Directions: La Boca, can't miss it!
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| | | | La Boca: a MUST See!! | Tip Rating: | | | | |
La Boca is a district of the city of Buenos Aires located near the mouth of Rio de la Plata. It has been in the past the first place of landing for the immigrants coming from Europe, mostly Italians. Lots of them settled there. La Boca is now an abandoned port. The inhabitants have created an unofficial 'Republic de La Boca' to preserve their cultural heritage. The district of La Boca has a triband horizontal blue-yellow-blue flag, the blue being darker than the Argentinian blue. I am not aware of the status, origin and meaning of this flag. It is also used by the supporters of the famous football/soccer club Boca Junior. Such a flag, with inscription, was used during the match Argentina-Japan in Mondial'98 in France. It was my last day in Buenos Aires, only hours away from being at the airport, when I decided I should not, COULD not, leave the city without visiting La Boca! I can tell you no regrets there! La Boca is so colorful and beautiful. I was amazed by it although the area is not very big. It was one of those moments where I saw myself walking into a postcard (That doesn't happen very often). Since I was only there for a short amount of time, there isn't very much I could recommend, except that the best day to go is on Sunday. Also, the Feria (marketplace) of San Telmo is very nearby La Boca (10 min taxi ride), which gives you a nice option of what-to-do afterwards. Make sure to bring lots of film for La Boca! Leave a Comment Address: Barrio La Boca, Calle CaminitoWebsite: http://www.ddbstock.com/largeimage/laboca.html
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Buenos Aires
on December 12, 2004
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