Buenos Aires, Argentina - day 2

We dock in many ports for just one day. However, we're spending 2 days and nights here in Buenos Aires, and I wouldn’t mind staying longer if we could. Buenos Aires is a huge, impressive city. Of all the cruise ports we’ve seen (on this and our last trip as well), I don’t remember ever seeing a larger or busier port than the Port of Buenos Aires. It's one of the most important ports in Latin America, and it covers 220 acres - pretty amazing in size! It's a constant beehive of activity with stack after stack of colorful shipping containers spreading in all directions. I wonder what’s inside all these containers? Probably anything and everything!

Today was a turnaround day on the ship with lots of people getting off and lots of new passengers getting on. The ship personnel work so hard on these days! Even though we know relatively few persons on the ship at this point, it’s still fairly easy to spot the incoming passengers.

We didn’t have an excursion today so we decided to catch the Oceania shuttle downtown. Buenos Aires is a huge and beautiful city and the downtown was bustling. We were dropped off just a couple of blocks from the Galerías Pacífico, an upscale, historic shopping center. Designed in 1889, it features impressive frescos and a central dome painted by prominent artists. The murals were painted in 1945-46 by a group of artists known as the Tucaman Group. 

We walked around for a while and ended up eating lunch in the food court before catching the shuttle back to the ship. 

So I don't have anything very exciting to tell today, but I'll share a few pictures from this amazing shopping mall. By the way, we didn't feel at all unsafe while walking downtown. It seemed to be mostly locals shopping in the mall or perhaps a few folks we recognized from the ship.

 

busy downtown Buenos Aires

shoe shine man

exterior Galerias Pacifico

view from main entrance

food court lower level

close up of painted dome

Here are a few photos of shops and items for sale. Not surprisingly, there were a number of shops selling fine leather products. Guess that makes sense since Argentina is known for its beef!

 

men's clothing

 

silver metal on mates made of copper, nickel and zinc (won't tarnish)

evening purse, anyone?

one of a number of stores selling leather goods

mall home to over 150 retailers