Page 133 - Off the Tourist Trail - 1000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives (Part 1 of 2)

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9 de Julio

vs Champs-Elysées

Buenos Aires takes on Paris as home to
the world’s greatest thoroughfare ARCHITECTURAL MARVELS

NEED TO KNOW
ABOVE Packed pavement cafés along the Champs-Elysées
LOCATION Avenida 9 de Julio runs
north–south through the center of FORGET THE
the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires
.FOEP[B $ØSEPCB CHAMPSELYSÉES?
VISITORS PER YEAR #6&/04
2,342,000 "*3&4
WEATHER Summer (Dec–Feb) "3(&/5*/" THE BUILD-UP The Champs-Elysées, Paris’
can be very hot and humid. Fall $)*-& most prestigious avenue, is celebrated for its
and spring are warm and sunny "UMBOUJD
0DFBO tree-lined beauty and elegant fountains and
DIMENSIONS 1BDJmD statues. Called “la plus belle avenue du monde”
1.6 miles (2.6 km) long and 0DFBO ABOVE Dazzling interior of the Teatro Colón
460 ft (140 m) wide by Parisians, it is marked at its eastern extreme
BELOW Avenida 9 de Julio ablaze with light after the sun has set
by the stately Place de la Concorde and at its
western limit by the glorious Arc de Triomphe.
Step out onto the Avenida 9 de Julio and you can’t echoes the grandeur of the great Roman baths;
fail to appreciate that you are on one of the world’s and to the Palacio Ortiz Basualdo, whose exquisite THE LETDOWN Once synonymous with high
greatest, most thrilling thoroughfares. Twenty lanes Beaux-Arts architecture recalls the palaces of Paris style and grand living, the Champs-Elysées has
of roaring traffic stand between you and the other and which houses the French Embassy. sacrificed its reputation in recent times. In a
side of an asphalt canyon claimed by Argentinians No visit to the Avenida should overlook its single trend decried as “banalization”by the Paris
as the widest avenue in the world. Gouged through greatest highlight, the magnificent Teatro Colón authorities, global chain stores and themed
restaurants now throng an avenue increasingly
the center of Buenos Aires in the 1930s to link the opera house. Built in 1908, this world-class venue’s
seen as a commercialized tourist trap.
city’s northern and southern limits, this extraordinary beautiful main entrance, fashioned in the French
feat of urban planning renders even the Champs- Renaissance style, conceals a still more ornate
GOING ANYWAY? Focus your visit on the less
Elysées a mere side street in comparison. Not only interior. Fascinating tours reveal marbled halls, a money-driven section of the avenue, east of
does it extend for over half-a-kilometer further majestically domed auditorium, and labyrinthine Rond-Point, where the majestic Grand Palais
than Europe’s most celebrated boulevard, but it is subterranean workshops. Underground, amid the and Palais de l’Elysée overlook lovely gardens.
also, incredibly, twice as wide. relics of performances past, not a whisper is heard To eat well and cheaply in true French style, try
It is not simply the dimensions of the 9 de Julio of the urban highway that roars just meters away. the side streets for little bistros and crêperies.
that amaze. Visitors walking its length soon realize Whether you stroll down the Avenida or zip
they are on one of the world’s greatest patriotic along it at breakneck speed in a taxi, the influence
thoroughfares, named in honor of Argentina’s of Europe is ever-present on an avenue built in the
Independence Day (9 July 1816) and studded with image of Paris’ great boulevards. But linger awhile, PRACTICAL INFORMATION
monumental architecture. Most iconic of all is the sip a leisurely cup of coffee at a pavement café,
soaring Obelisco, a 213-ft (65-m) needle that and still more vibrant images emerge – children Getting There and Around Where to Stay
reaches skywards at the Avenida’s midpoint. It was splashing in ornate fountains; huge neon billboards International flights to Buenos There are numerous top-quality
Aires land at Ezeiza Airport, hotels on the Avenida 9 de Julio.
built in 1936, to mark the 400th anniversary of the glowing atop crumbling belle époque façades –
35 miles (22 km) from the city Easily the most luxurious is the
city’s founding. From its base, broad sidewalks of all accompanied by the sound of tango music center (45 mins by shuttle bus or Four Seasons Hotel, an elegant
fancy statuary and ornate fountains strike out for drifting from open doors and windows. It is this taxi). All subway lines stop at the main tower and an adjacent
the southern and northern extremities of the heady mix of South American vitality and European 9 de Julio and numerous buses Belle-Epoque mansion, set in
run its length. The best way to classical gardens with a Roman
Avenida; to the British-built Estación Constitución grandeur that makes the 9 de Julio, like Buenos
get around is on foot, but take a pool (www.fourseasons.com).
(railway station), the vast, vaulted interior of which Aires itself, a uniquely intoxicating place to be.
taxi ride down the avenue at When to Go
night to see the neon billboards Springtime (Sep–Nov) is
and an illuminated Obelisco.
beautiful in Buenos Aires.
Where to Eat The weather is warm at 64°F
Buenos Aires is world-famous (17°C) and the trees lining the
for its steakhouses. Try a sizzling 9 de Julio gorgeously green.
lomo (tenderloin) with a bottle
Budget per Day for Two
of Malbec, Argentina’s best red
wine. El Mirasol de la Recova US$230 including four-star
(tel. + 54 11 4326-7323), accommodations and food.
just off the Avenida, serves Website
king-sized cuts. www.bue.gov.ar

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