And being treated to a complimentary glass of sparkling white wine. A great way to finish a delicious dinner.


Dessert was just short walk away at an ice cream / helado parlour.


I decided to indulge in the impossibly rich dulce de leche (caramel) along with the chocolate helado.


While Rianda settled on the passionfruit sorbet.


At our final stop, Café La Biela (in English: The Connecting-rod Café). Two of their past frequent patrons had been immortalised with their very own statues.


Café La Biela first opened in 1850 as La Viridita. It acquired its present name in the 1950s when it became a popular meeting place for racing car champions, including five times Formula One world champion, Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio.


Other notable former guests include José Froilán González, Emerson Fittipaldi, Jackie Stewart, Robert Duvall and Francis Ford Coppola.

And enjoying some coffee at the end of a very enjoyable culinary tour through Recoleta. After thanking Jorge for the pleasant evening, we caught an Uber back to Palermo.


And back at the Dazzler Palermo at the end of a great first day in Argentina.



Day 3.

The view from our balcony at 7:30am at dawn on the morning of day 2.


Breakfast again on the top floor of the hotel.


After checking out, we walked north along Calle Humboldt for some more sightseeing in the city.


And back underground again at Palermo Station, ready to catch the rain east.


In Barrio Norte after alighting at Callao Station.


After a short walk we arrived at El Ateneo Grand Splendid.


Originally a theatre when it opened in May 1919, it was subsequently converted into a bookstore in 2000.


Most of the books were in Spanish but it was a delight to just wander about and take in the amazing and delightful store.


Often described as one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world, it definitely didn't disappoint!


Passing a very busy dog walker as walked through the streets of Recoleta again.


Outside La Recoleta Cemetery with a black Toyota Corolla hearse parked out front.


Dating from 1822, it contains the graves of several notable people, including Eva Perón and a granddaughter of Napoleon.


The cemetery is set on a 5.5 hectare (14 acres) site and contains 4691 vaults, of which 94 have been declared National Historical Monuments.


It was quite unusual to peer into some of the vaults and see multiple coffins stacked together, knowing that each one was home to the remains of someone's late family member.


Alot of the vaults were very grand and must have cost a small fortune to construct and maintain.


Café La Biela was only a short walk away so we returned for a second visit. While Rianda had a café doble I decided to indulge in a submarino. A hot drink originating in Argentina and Uruguay, it consists of a glass of hot milkbar with a dark chocolate bar melted inside.


Just after 1pm we caught a taxi for the short drive to Aeroparque Jorge Newbery to catch our afternoon flight to Puerto Iguazú.


A quick look at the flight info board showed that our 3pm flight still showed that it was ontime, but all the prior Aerolíneas Argentinas flights were showing 1-2 hour delays. A little concerning but figured there wasn't much we could do.

We used the kiosks to check-in and then headed through security.


Airside with out boarding passes. The 12:30pm flight to Puerto Iguazú still hadn't boarded yet despite being close to 2pm so although our 3pm flight was still showing ontime, we were resigned to a having bit of a delay.


Our 3pm departure time came and went so we retreated to a Havanna café for a bite to eat.


After a rolling delay, we finally boarded just after 5:30pm for our flight to Puerto Iguazú. A little frustrating but we didn't have any plans for this afternoon and were just glad to be on our way again.


Glass of lemonade served on the ~2 hour flight north.


And outside Cataratas del Iguazú International Airport which was undergoing a bit of expansion and refurbishment.


We then caught a prepaid taxi for 500 pesos for the 20 kilometre ride to Puerto Iguazú.


And getting a buggy ride to our room at the Iguazu Jungle Lodge just after 8pm.


Our room was quite large and included a sizable kitchen and lounge. We were only going to be here for less than 12 hours unfortunately though.


For the dinner we headed to the lodge restaurant. It was quite busy but luckily they still had room and we were quickly seated.


Some warm fresh bread and condiments to start.


For the entrée we shared the smoked Surubi and marinated Pacu on toasted focaccia bread. Both Surubi and Pacu are riverfish, with Surubi being a South American catfish and Pacu being related to the piranha and with teeth that are eerily similar to humans but mainly feed on plant material. Both were very tasty and it was great to taste something both local and a bit exotic.


For the main I had the herb crusted lamb ribs, stuffed with bacon and sun-dried tomatoes with quinoa risotto.


While Rianda had the very tasty Filet Mignon, wrapped in Parma ham and smoke cooked in herbs with potatoes, mandioc, sweet potatoes and malbec sauce.


We then headed back to our room to get some rest before an early morning start tomorrow for a day at Iguazu Falls.