To quote Ian, a former next door neighbour of our tourists, “When it rains, it rains”. Mr and Ms X now believe old Ian must have been referring to Buenos Aires as that was their experience across their whole visit. Like Eva Peron, they soldiered on, giving the city their commitment.

First stop La Boce, where the Italians settled many years ago. This area is bright and colourful, full of character. It isn’t neat and tidy, however you are drawn to it as it is kind of telling its story through its dwellings and artwork.

Any visit to Argentina is going to lead you down the Eva Peron/Evita path. To say they loved her would be an understatement- they ADORED her. Murals, statues, buildings and even the cemetery have Evita links. Juan Peron not so much. He seemed to be in and out of favour constantly and those sentiments are reflected in the absence of any of his monuments in the Buenos Aires area we saw (BA as is called by locals)

The famous pink palace has many balconies from where Evita and some dictators who followed the Perons addressed the Argentinians. Let’s all try and not think of Madonna’s version of Evita, please.

Unfortunately Ms X did take a moment to visualise Madonna singing “Don’t cry for me Argentina ” and continued to hum that for the rest of the visit.

Mr and Ms X have seen a lotta churches in their travels however the main cathedral in this very Catholic city was a bit of a surprise. More like a city hall with its Roman columns. But that was not all. Inside was the mausoleum of St Martin, who was responsible for Argentina’s independence. This guy even has two armed soldiers who stand guard inside this Catholic church! Now, Westminster Abbey is full of famous dead people but these two didn’t recall any soldiers within it.

If you like playing the “Name a famous Argentinian” game that our retirees love playing then I guess this place has a few: Maradona, David Nalbandian, Evita and of course, who can forget…..

Yep, Pope Francis! Double points if you got that one right.

Ms X and Mr X have frequented a few booky-places as well in their wanderings be they book towns, oldest book stores or the best looking book shops. They now have another to add to their list. According to National Geographic, Buenos Aires has the best looking one. Hmmmm. You be the judge.

Mr and Ms X thought this one was cheating as it was a former opera theatre, turned book store. The Forum in Melbourne could get this acclaim if it decided to reinvent itself. Our retirees thought the cafe on the stage was pretty cool though. However, they both still think the best looking one is in Porto, Portugal.

Did they have a boffee at this one you ask?

No. They sussed out the oldest cafe in town that reeked of history- Cafe Toroni in the downtown area.

and which just so happened to serve some delicious empanadas. These are becoming a little like their spring rolls throughout Vietnam a few years ago.

For such a big city, this place was clean and vibrant with lots of open green spaces.

If only Evita could see it now.