The Japanese Garden opened in 1967, and it was designed and constructed by the Japanese community in Buenos Aires as a tribute to the first visit of the Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko to Argentina.
Argentine residents pay $4,500 to enter the garden (about 3 dollars), non-residents pay $13,500
There is a small cafe on site that has typical Argentine lunch fare, and the visitor center also has a restaurant with sushi and sashimi. We didn’t eat there, but we spent a morning strolling around and enjoying the garden and the views.
View across the gardenAnother viewCan you spot the bird in the water?The garden is in the middle of the cityInteresting plantsA waterfall
There were interesting sculptures throughout the garden.
A stone sculptureA samuraiIn 2023, a storm felled some eucalyptus trees in the nearby botanical garden, and the government salvaged the tree trunks and hired artists to create sculptures for this garden
There was a small exhibit of bonsai trees.
The visitor center had an exhibit of kimonos, parasols, and musical instruments.
Exhibit roomExhibit room
There were also examples of origami in the visitor center.
Paper cranes hanging from the ceilingChristmas tree decorated with paper cranesGuests could make a paper crane and write their wishes for the holiday seasonAnd last but not least, origami Santa and reindeer
There is so much to see and do in Palermo, we spent another day exploring our neighborhood. We started with breakfast at a cafe down the street.
Dos medialunas y dos cortados
We took a 30-minute walk north to the Japanese Garden. I’ll give the garden its own blog post since there was so much to see there.
The Japanese Garden
On the way to the garden, we crossed Avenida del Libertador. Buenos Aires has several grand avenues, and this is one of them. It is 11 lanes wide, all going in the same direction. It was mind-boggling.
The crosswalk at Av del LibertadorOncoming trafficOur view of the crosswalk on the way back from the Japanese Garden
Believe it or not, this is not the widest avenue in the city. That title goes to Avenida 9 de Julio which was modeled after the Champs-Elysees in Paris and, at 14 lanes wide, is the widest street in the world. That one takes a pedestrian two traffic cycles to cross the street, and that’s only if they don’t dilly-dally.
Walking around today, we also saw lots of dog-walkers. Portenos (people in Buenos Aires) love their dogs, and dog-walkers take the pooches out during the day when their owners are at work. This guy had 8 or 9 dogs. When he got to the crosswalk of Avenida de Libertador, he untangled all of the leashes and took pictures all around to prove that he took the dogs out, and then he crossed the street with both hands in the air so the cars knew to give him a wide berth with all of those dogs.
A dogwalkerUntangling leashesPreparing to cross the street
We stopped at a pharmacy to get some cold medicine for Chad. I only know very basic Spanish, so I used google translate on my phone and typed, “My husband has a cold. Do you have decongestant?” and showed it to the pharmacist. The pharmacist handed some medicine to me and used his own phone to translate and showed me, “Take this every 4 to 5 hours.” Thanks, Technology!
Afterwards, lunch was at a little bistro called Kajue.
Chad had a saladI ordered the menu del dia which started with roasted potatoes with a sauce of mayo, dill, and cucumber – delicious!My main course – there was a large influx of Italian immigrants to Argentina in the early 20th century, so pasta and pizza are part of the culture
After lunch, we strolled around some more and found the hipster part of the neighborhood with lots of stylish shops. Chad pointed out that this area was for “hipsters with money.” Things seemed expensive in these shops.
Cute shopping areaInteresting streetscapeHipster shopStreet art
At this point, we were hot, tired, and sweaty, so we got some gelato and then headed home to rest. We knew it would be summer here, but we didn’t really think about how exhausting the weather would be. When it’s 85 degrees and 85% humidity in Atlanta, it doesn’t seem bad, but we’re not usually walking around for hours in that weather. We’re at the point here where we want to take multiple showers a day.
So after resting, we thought, let’s go walk around in the heat some more. We explored another part of the neighborhood and stopped for a cocktail at Tres Monos. This place has been voted the best bar in Latin America and one of the 50 best bars in the world, and the cocktails were very interesting.
Tres Monos sidewalk seating – urban aesthetic vibeChad’s cocktail was a riff on a Negroni with flowers in it, mine was sweet and bitter and sour and I had to shake it like a bartender and then drink it through a metal straw from this martini shaker
On the way back to our apartment, we popped into a little neighborhood shop to buy a bottle of wine. We left the shop with wine, a very interesting cheese, olives, salami, and a local beer. Chad is so good at asking for local recommendations and a taste of this and a taste of that, and then we have a full grocery bag of local treats. And then we stopped into a panaderia to get some bread, and this panaderia also had a lot of delicious pastries and cakes.
A little neighborhood shopThe cheese selection in this little shopChad spotted this green cheese in the cooler – we tasted it and it was delicious so we bought itThe meat cooler with salami and ham and other thingsPastries at the panaderiaDesserts at the panaderia
Dinner was a combination of restaurant leftovers and miscellaneous groceries as we watched the evening turn into night over the botanical gardens.
Early sunset over the botanical gardensNight view over the botanical gardens
Buenos Aires has been on our list of places to visit for years. Our primary purpose of this trip was the Antarctica cruise, but we figured, as long as we’re traveling all the way to the southern end of the globe, we might as well take advantage and spend a week in Buenos Aires. I can already tell that one week is not enough time, a month would be better, but we’ll certainly enjoy it while we’re here.
Our apartment is in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. The metro area of Buenos Aires has 17 million people, and Palermo is the most populated neighborhood. It is just northwest of the historic city center. It is a very hip neighborhood with lots of shops, boutiques, restaurants, and nightlife.
Palermo is a stately old neighborhood with some beautiful buildings from the 19th century. Our building, however, is only a couple of years old.
Our high-rise apartment building – our square balcony is the one just above the trees, we are on floor 9 out of 13, the angled balconies are the building next doorWe’ve seen a lot of residential buildings with virtual security guards – it seems that a guard sits remotely and monitors the lobbies of several buildings at once – our remote guy is on the TV right next to the physical security deskWe have a bright and airy studio apartmentOur sitting areaOur little kitchenOur bathroom has a bidet
Palermo has several huge gardens and parks, and our apartment is right across the street from the Botanical Garden. Just beyond the Botanical Garden is a series of other gardens that stretch to the river’s edge.
View from our balconyLooking the other direction
We spent the day exploring the neighborhood with no particular destination in mind. We found lots of cafes, restaurants, gelato shops, little grocery stores, and other shops with everything from shoes to clothes to toys to gifts and more. This is a very vibrant neighborhood.
Typical local breakfast, coffee and medialuna pastryA little produce storeRestaurant across the street from our apartment
While this is a very stately old-world kind of neighborhood, most of the buildings are 20th century. Every once in a while you can spot one from the late 1800s when the city built rich, opulent houses and other structures.
An older buildingAnother 19th century buildingAn interesting houseAnother interesting houseAn older historic building nestled next to new high-rises
We had a superb lunch at a small restaurant with lots of character. We each ordered a beef dish and shared a salad. Argentina is known for its beef, and this meal did not disappoint. Yum!
Charming lunch spot called Lo De BebeLionel Messi is everywhere – here he is right next to my face while I was eating lunchBread service, chimichurri and criolla sauces, and water in a canMilanesa napoletana – beef cutlet with tomato and cheese – I could only eat half of thisChad’s steak with cheese and onions on topMilanesa, bread, and salad for twoChad fake sleeping after eating too much
In the evening, we explored another area of the neighborhood and stopped for a cocktail and some people watching. There is no shortage of people walking their dogs, and there is a surprising number of dachshunds. So many wiener dogs, everywhere.
This little doggy in the window watching the world go byThis doggy came to happy hour
At some point, Chad realized that it was the solstice and, since we’re in the southern hemisphere, we got to experience our second summer solstice of 2025. We had two longest days of the year!
After the cold and dry climate of Antarctica, we’re enjoying the heat and humidity of summer in Argentina. The weather is great, perfect for walking around and exploring or just for sitting and watching people go by.
After spending one last night on the boat in the port of Ushuaia, we woke up and vacated our stateroom at 7:30 am. We took a 20-minute shuttle bus ride to the airport to catch our charter flight.
Imagine a small local airport that has only 6 gates, and then a series of shuttle buses drops off 200+ people at the front door all at the same time. Needless to say, the line for security was insanely long. The airport is relatively new, and it is a beautiful design, all heavy timber construction.
All of these people were on our cruise, now waiting for the charter flight back to Buenos Aires
There were several Viking crew members that were headed home for the holidays, and they were at the gate with us. They were the last ones to board the plane and their seats were in the very back, and as they walked through the plane to their seats, all of us Viking guests gave them a long round of applause. It was well deserved. All of the crew were really amazing on this voyage.
The flight was annoying because we were tired and hungry. The food and drink service was minimal, and there was enough turbulence that we were cranky when we landed. Plus, Chad had developed a terrible head cold the last two days on the ship, so he was feeling really miserable and dealing with lots of congestion and pressure from the altitude.
We landed at 2 pm and went to baggage claim. As the bags came around, Chad grabbed his backpack, but mine never showed up. Apparently, only half of the passenger bags made it onto the plane. Viking didn’t know where the bags were. The airline didn’t know where the bags were. Nobody knew when the bags would arrive.
The second charter plane arrived late that afternoon, and some of the missing luggage (but not all) was on that plane. Luckily, my backpack was on that flight, and after standing around the airport for 4-1/2 hours, I finally had my bag. But you can imagine the epic amounts of crankiness at this point.
We hopped into a taxi to go to our AirBnB, and the 25-minute ride took over an hour. In the end, we made it into our apartment just before 8 pm and had to rest and decompress for a bit.
I knew that we needed to get to a grocery store to get a few things like bottled water. (Visitors aren’t supposed to drink the tap water here because our bodies aren’t used to the local water.) There is a huge supermarket a couple of blocks away, so we got water, a bottle of wine, and some prepared foods for dinner. We didn’t have the energy for a restaurant meal.
What was interesting, is that we were at the store at 9 pm on a Saturday night, and it was packed! People generally eat the evening meal here at 9 pm or later, so maybe everyone was picking up some stuff for dinner.
We came back to our little apartment, had some food, and went to bed. After a long day, we were wiped out and ready to get some rest and wake up and start anew in the morning.
We got up at 5 am on Tuesday morning so we could eat a quick breakfast and then board the shuttle bus at 5:45 to head back to the airport. We were lucky to be in Viking Group 2 heading back to the airport. Group 1 left at 3:10 am.
Viking had put all of its guests and crew in two hotels, the Intercontinental and the Hilton. There were several shuttle busses taking everyone back to the airport on Tuesday morning where Viking had chartered two commercial planes to take all of us to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, to meet up with the cruise ship. It was kind of strange to think that everyone on our plane was headed to Antarctica – a plane full of intrepid explorers!
The Viking Octantis
Our 3-1/2-hour flight landed in Ushuaia at noon. We checked in on the ship and went through safety training. We had a few hours to kill, so the four of us walked into town and strolled around. We were expecting a quaint little village and instead discovered a city of 82,000 people nestled in a little bay. The town is a jumping off point for several cruise companies and is also a stopover for South American cruises that are sailing around Cape Horn. As a result, the town is chock full of tourist shops, souvenirs, and restaurants. I don’t think we got to see the “real” Ushuaia.
View of Ushuaia from the portCruise ships in the portwalking into town from the porttourist selfie spotI have no words…
We were all back on the ship for the 5 pm daily briefing. The daily briefings give updates on what to expect the following day – weather, boat and land excursions, on-board activities, lectures, musical performances, films. Then we headed to the Explorer’s Lounge at the bow of the ship to have a cocktail, bid adieu to the Americas, and watch Ushuaia disappear as the ship set sail.
in the Explorer’s LoungeGood-bye, Ashuaia!
We had dinner together and then headed to bed. After a shortened sleep the night before in Buenos Aires and then the red-eye flight the night before that, we were ready to hit the hay. We were a little nervous about rough waters on the Drake Passage, but we managed to get to sleep. Now did we stay asleep all night? Hmmm…
Our flight from Atlanta to Buenos Aires was long (10 hours) but uneventful. And, yes, I did manage to pack everything in carry-on. Here’s proof:
We did see some interesting things during the flight including orange lightning off in the distance. We also sighted many lights in the water off the coast of Chile. We thought maybe they were oil rigs or other permanent structures in the sea, because they were too regular to be ships. And then, a beautiful sunrise over the Andes.
Sunrise over the Andes
We’re on a trip with Viking Cruises, so representatives met us at the airport when we arrived and guided us to the transportation shuttle. Viking had booked hotel rooms for everyone, so we hopped onto a shuttle with 30 other people and headed to the Intercontinental Hotel. We checked in, got our daily download from Viking, and then headed out to explore the city.
Monday was a public holiday to honor the Immaculate Conception. Our hotel was in a business district and, since it was a holiday, almost everything was closed.
Our Viking rep told us to go to Puerto Madero neighborhood and assured us that lots of people would be strolling along the canal on this holiday day, and that there would plenty of restaurants open for lunch. As it turns out, Jolie and Lucy got booked into a hotel in that area, so off we went to meet up and spend the afternoon together.
There is a large canal there that the federal government constructed to act as a shipping port, but either it was never used as a port or only used for a couple of years. The shipping needs outgrew the size of the port, and the area was essentially abandoned. Fast forward several years, and this area is Buenos Aires’ newest neighborhood with lots of recent development, pedestrian zones, apartment buildings, hotels, restaurants and bars.
The canal in Puerto MaderoLots of new buildings in the neighborhood Famous bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava – it is an abstraction of a couple dancing the tangoWalking on the bridge – you can see a mural painted on old grain silos that pays tribute to the women of Argentina
The four of us walked around for a little, exploring the area, and then stopped for a leisurely lunch of typical Argentine food – steak, pasta, grilled veggies, empanada, and a couple of apps.
After lunch, we visited an old ship that had been decommissioned and was now a museum. After paying 70 cents each for admission, we climbed aboard and explored the ship. It’s always interesting to check out ships and submarines and imagine what it’s like to live on those vessels for months at a time.
The ARA Presidente Sarmiento – old sailing ship now converted into a museumWalking through the shipThe mess hallAll of the routes the ship took around the world
And once upon a time, there was a dog that boarded this particular ship and became the crew mascot and was so beloved that, when he died, he was taxidermied and kept on ship as an honorary sailor.
Lampazo the sailor dog
After an afternoon of exploration and catching up with friends, we headed back to the hotel for a light dinner. Due to the red-eye flight to Buenos Aires, we went to bed at 9 pm. We also had to get up at 5 am the next morning, so we wanted to get some good sleep. We will return to Buenos Aires on Dec 13, and we’re looking forward to a week in the city so we can explore its various neighborhoods.
