Page 156 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Argentina

154  ARGENTINA REGION B Y REGION

1940s and 50s. Founded
in 1944 by Belgian archi tect
Jorge Bunge, Pinamar was
built with a clear vision of
urban development. The
commercial center has a
good handicrafts market.
In the late 1980s, wealthy
porteños wanted a smarter
resort than Pinamar and so
Cariló was founded 4 miles
(6 km) away, a pretty village
of wooden houses and beach-
Sand dunes and pine trees behind the beach in Pinamar side bungalows.
5 Villa Gesell beach activities such as quad
biking and surfing. 7 Chapadmalal
Road map D3. 62 miles (100 km) NE
of Mar del Plata. * 30,000. ~ @ Road map C3. 14 miles (23 km) S
n Paseo 107 between Aves 2 & 3, Environs of Mar del Plata. * 2,000. @
(02255) 478-042. _ Patron Saint (Jul), Just 6 miles (10 km) south of ∑ chapadmalal.org.ar
Beer Festival (Aug). ∑ gesell.gob.ar Gesell is Faro Querandí, a light-
house built in 1922. At a height An indigenous name meaning
The beach resort of Gesell of 180 ft (55 m), with a total of “between streams,” Chapad-
was only a dream when 276 steps, this tower is malal is one of the greenest
Don Carlos Idaho Gesell still in service. About resorts on the Atlantic coast.
bought 7 sq miles 17 miles (27 km) south, At the end of the 19th cen tury,
(18 sq km) of sand Parque Natural Pinar the town was known mainly
dunes on the Atlantic del Norte has ancient for a ranch owned by founder
coast in 1931. Here, he wood lands and a dune and first president of the
built a house for his preserve. The striking then recently created Nueva
fam ily, now the Gesell expanse of slopes with Sociedad Rural Argentina,
Museum, and pro tected Portrait of Don its complex eco system José T. Martínez de Hoz. When
the dunes by plant ing Carlos Gesell supports diverse grasses he died in 1888, the ranch
several Australian acacia and mammals. was divi ded between his two
trees. By the 1950s, it had sons, one of whom built the
become a fledgling tourist resort, Estancia Santa Isabel. Most of
although the town was only 6 Pinamar the hotels here were built
officially founded in 1968. Road map D3. 12 miles (20 km) N of when Chapadmalal hosted
Now Villa Gesell is filled with Villa Gesell. * 25,000. £ ~ @ n some events in the 1955 Pan-
lively restaurants, bars, and Ave Shaw 18, (02254) 491-680. American Games. Golf and
nightclubs. There is a wide ∑ pinamar.gov.ar windsurfing are popular
range of hotels, from bed-and- activities here.
breakfasts to inns and hospedajes The resort town of Pinamar is
(lodges). Gesell is popular with surrounded by fragrant copses Estancia Santa Isabel
youngsters, as there are plenty of of pines planted during the ∑ santa-isabel.com.ar

One of the greener beach resorts in Argentina, Chapadmalal
For hotels and restaurants in this region see p280 and pp291–2

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Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm