San Telmo: the Sunday market and other stuff

San Telmo, the oldest barrio in Buenos Aires, has a famous market every Sunday. If you decide to explore the area, I would definitely go to see the market, and skip any other day of the week. The market is a bit of a mish-mash, between antique stalls, wandering food vendors, fruit and veggie sellers, and modern day flea-market finds. The main square is Plaza Dorrego, which is so crowded with antiques that it’s hard to see the cobblestones beneath your feet. I can’t really speak to the quality of the antiques – it all looked like much of the same stuff to me, but I’m sure if you know your candlesticks you can find some good bargains.

Looking down the street toward Plaza Dorrego. It’s a narrow street, with stalls set up on both sides. There were lots of leather goods, jewelry, art, sculpture, antiques, knick-knacks, wine accessories, and other stuff.

Walking through the market – wall to wall people!

 

This is a very classic sign – with traditional paints, colors, and decoratif elements. Personally, I like the thought of a fundamental sombrero. What could be better?  (Not sure why they have an image of a moustache on it, though….)

 

The entrance to the covered market.

 

The covered market sells more flea-market items, old clothes, etc. There are also a few fresh fruit stalls in the center.

 

The narrowest house in Buenos Aires happens to be in San Telmo. I really dislike the faux rendering on the front – it’s made to look like it’s old and falling off, but it just looks tacky and fake.

The night before going to the market, we were walking the streets of San Telmo on our way to dinner. And we happened across this, which I’m having a hard time describing. It’s an old military vehicle that has been retrofitted with bookshelves. A tank/library? A Tankabrary? They were projecting a film onto the side of the building, but we couldn’t figure out what was going on.

 

San Telmo’s market is supposed to be famous for the tango. We didn’t see any dancers, but we did see this accordion band. At one point there were 8 accordionists playing at the same time!

 

Just a cute little walkway near Plaza Dorrego. It was a nice bit-of-quiet in the middle of the market, and we spent quite a few minutes relaxing in the shade of the tree.

 

Almacen, where we saw a much-overrated tango show. I was hoping it would be a highlight of the trip, but it was a serious disappointment. Very touristy, quite expensive, and full of annoying tour groups. The facilities/dinner weren’t even all that good.

 

Dinner at Almacen. The steak was so-so, but the worst bit was the tour group behind us. They were Americans, and I think they must have been a group of lawyers or accountants or something on a junket. Luckily I had a very handsome date to keep me distracted. 🙂