Sightseeing tour in the 130 bus II

We are passing through Palermo neighborhood. Enjoy the green view this part of Libertador Ave. has to offer. Lots of parks, trees and nature surrounded with magnificent French buildings.

In this 130 tour we have reach the territory of Recoleta neighborhood the most elegant and French spot of the city. The name comes from the name of the Recoletos Franciscan priests convent and the Pilar Church from 1732. The convent went through different functions, Buenos Aires Hospital, Beggars Asylum, and since 1990s is the Centro Cultural Recoleta.

Don’t miss the Museo de Bellas Artes building over the left hand. From the architect Alejandro Bustillo (designer of many other buildings in Recoleta area) and the painter Jorge Soto, was built in 1933. Its collections of international art are from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth century. On the second floor you will find the best of Argentine Art from XIX and XX century.

Plaza Francia takes its name due to the monument Francia a la Argentina that was given as a present for the century anniversary of the May Revolution, in 1910.

You may buy good quality crafts and you’ll observe different kind of shows, painters and groups of young people just drinking mate and chatting. If you take this bus during a weekend you’ll be impressed by the amount of peoples that gathers in Plaza Francia and other Parks of the area.

After the park and the Alvear Monument, the round structure on your right is the Palais de Glace, first an ice skating ring -1910-(that’s where its name comes from), then transformed into an elegant dance ball room during the tango thrive. Gardel was a regular costumer; the story tells that one night he received a gun shot there during a gang fight. He carried the bullet in its left lung for the rest of his life.

Since the 60s this place has been used as an exhibition center, for painture, photography, fairs and other cultural events.

After you have seen the Palais de Glace on your right, observe on your left the Thays Park, in memoir of the French landscape architect Charles Thays (1849-1934) who crated the Botanical Garden and designed the Palermo Parks, Rosedal, and many of Buenos Aires Parks.

Keep an eye on the sculptures of this park. You may catch a glimpse of Venus Fragmentado, of a renowned Argentine artist, Marta Minujin, and Torso Masculino, of the Colombian sculpture well known for his overweight figures, Fernando Botero. It weights more than 120 tons.

This bus tour will continue…