It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new.
But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful.
There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
Alan Cohen
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx
The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

House Hunting in BA.

House hunting in Buenos Aires

First you figure out what style you like.

Modern ? French ? Antique ?

Brand new ? High rise ? Petit hotel?
PB ... planta baja ( ground floor with garden) ?


Then you figure out how much you can afford.

Then you decide which neighbourhood suits you.

Recoleta, old beautiful buildings , embassies, grand museums, grand hotels, grand parks, grand avenues, Hippie Feria each weekend.
Sort of like NYC Upper East side.


Palermo, with its Botanical Gardens, parks, charming small neighborhood feel, a tiny bit more family neighbourhood feeling.
If you are from NY, the Upper Westside might come to mind.

Palermo Viejo/Soho/Hollywood ... funky boutiques, weekend flea markets, cool eateries, definitely good shopping, eating and artsy.
Imagine NY Soho.

San Telmo, one antique shop after another, cobble stone streets, old style buildings, private homes behind walls with bougainvillaea spilling over, parrots and little birds busy in the trees on the other side of high pink walls. Good cafes.
Very Old-World Buenos Aires.

Puerto Madero , they took the old waterfront and tore down ancient old buildings and Phillipe Stark and others came in and built fabulous , very expensive hotels, restaurants and lots of nice shops and cafes and bars.
Now it is the place to go on a Sunday for Brunch, or dinner at night with the lights from the city reflected in the water, or for an afternoons hike through the  , Reserve Ecologica Castenera Sur
better known to us as the Puerto Madero Reserve. There you can take a walk, with only the sounds of birds and water lapping the shore, see some wildlife .... I could live without seeing a snake again, thank you very much ... and breathe fresh air and see just how brown the river is.
But a tiny apartment will cost around one million USD so let's keep looking .

There is Retiro, which is where there are government buildings and parks .

Belgrano ... beautiful streets lined with huge plane trees, gardens in front and behind the apartment buildings, wonderful old homes, fabulous examples of Argentine architecture .. and quiet and green.
Nearby is Chinatown. Which is only a couple of blocks of shops and restaurants but it is a China town.. so no complaining here !


Now make a choice.






5 comments:

  1. I love this post! I have a rented apartment in Palermo Soho but my partner really wants to live in Puerto Madero. The thing is, most of the things we do are closer to Recoleta and Palermo. But I think he loves the park right behind the apartment buildings in PM and also the quais with all the shops & restaurants, and imagines having children there!

    Milsters

    (www.littlepiecesoflight.com)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you ! We fell in love with Recoleta on our visit here and this is where I dreamt we would live. After ... we saw Puerto Madero lol.. but we are very happy with our choice. It is very Paris- like here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ack! I want to live in all of those neighborhoods!

    Pearl

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think this post leaves out a lot of great places in Capital! What about the more residential neighborhoods? One example I can think of is La Paternal. or some other neighborhoods in the west of the city.
    Additionally Nunez- past Belgrano is an upper class neighborhood on the edge of the city.

    Or if you want a true Argentine neighborhood- Parque Patricios or Boedo. Now there you are less likely to find tourists/ ex-pats but could be an amazing experience.

    Just some thought from a student who studied abroad in BA.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pearl, It can be a hard choice to make ! If we were staying, I think Belgrano with all those trees would be our choice.

    Grace, I am sure there are many many wonderful neighborhoods here that I could have mentioned but I have no knowledge of them. I only talked about what I have experienced, here in the city .. although I would not have said no to living in San Isidro either.
    They are all true Argentine neighborhoods, we are in Argentina...

    ReplyDelete

Comments are welcome..Thank you.

Living in Argentina

Living in Argentina

Blog Archive

Pages

And Don't Forget To Visit Me Here Too !

See more photos here

sunset in Buenos Aires

Powered By Blogger