Buenos Aires San Telmo

Though located only 10 minutes’ walk from Microcentro, San Telmo seems years away—around 140 years, to be exact. Once the city’s upper-class district, most of its original denizens left in 1871 to escape a yellow fever epidemic. Soon after, newly arrived immigrants and laborers moved into the abandoned mansions and converted them into tenements, giving the barrio a new, working-class character that later made it popular among bohemians, artists, and students. Since the change in ownership, little has been changed architecturally, and this results in a strange and strangely compelling mix. The vibe of the neighborhood is uneven, to say the least. Some of the streets are beautiful, adorable even, and have great atmosphere, while other areas have become so industrial and covered with graffiti that they’re just plain ugly. The barrio remains functional, though, and the decaying, grand mansions lining the cobblestone streets house a range of shops and restaurants. San Telmo’s new popularity among tourists is finally bringing about some changes, including the arrival of high-end boutiques, the restoration of some of the mansions, and a general increase in prices. These effects are most apparent along Defensa, the barrio ’s main north-south artery, and around Plaza Dorrego, its central square at the intersection of Defensa and Humberto Primo. Though most days the area is pleasantly quiet, Sundays bring a deluge of tourists and locals for the very popular (and very enjoyable) weekly feria, or flea market, which centers on Plaza Dorrego and spills out into the surrounding streets.

Plaza Dorrego And The Feria. Surrounded by antique shops, bars, and restaurants, Plaza Dorrego is the center of action in San Telmo. Most days, it hosts a variety of artisans peddling their wares around the tables set up by nearby restaurants. Klezmer and tango bands will occasionally set up shop, while at other times, the square will be filled with the sound of a solitary guitarist strumming everything from Bob Dylan to Sublime. The Plaza is best known, however, as the focus of the boisterous Feria de San Telmo. Every Sunday, the surrounding streets are blocked to traffic to make way for numerous street musicians and stalls, which start setting up around mid-morning and sell everything from souvenirs and T-shirts to local art, antiques, and old costume jewelry. Given its popularity with both locals and tourists, prices here are not particularly low, but almost everyone will find something unique to take home. At around 5pm, the stalls in the Plaza itself are torn down to make way for an informal milonga. Things start off with old porteños dressed to the nines and younger ones flashing their moves, but if you wait and watch long enough, it’s likely that professional dancers will show up at some point to strut their stuff, a great way to catch a high-quality tango show for free. (S Independencia.)

Iglesia De San Pedro Telmo. Just a block from Plaza Dorrego lies the lovely, ornate, blue-and-white facade of the Iglesia de San Pedro Telmo, founded by the Jesuits in 1734. Some parts of the church’s interior shows signs of wear, but the numerous gilded altars are certainly worth a look. To the left, just before the entrance, is a one-room museum devoted to the church’s history. The collection of relics, paintings, and documents is small, but of a very high quality. (Humberto Primo 340. S Independencia. ☎4361 1168. Open Sa 10am-3pm, Su 3:30-6:30pm. Captions in Spanish. Voluntary contribution AR$2. Guided tours Su 4pm. Free.)

Casa Mínima. Just off Defensa, about four blocks north of Plaza Dorrego, is one of San Telmo’s most appealing and well-restored streets, the Pasaje de San Lorenzo. Near the corner, on the right-hand side of the street, keep a sharp eye out for the Casa Mínima, which, at just over two meters wide, is Buenos Aires’ narrowest building, barely accommodating a doorway and a small balcony. Liberated slaves built the house on a tiny plot given to them by their former masters. It’s impossible to escape the irony of a charitable gift of land this small. You can’t go inside, but there probably wouldn’t be much to see anyway, given the minuscule size of the rooms. (S Independencia.)

El Zanjón. Only recently renovated, this pretty building recreates the classic San Telmo transformation of a mid-19th-century mansion into a tenement building. Guided tours visit the building’s foundations, a section of the underground tunnels that once held the city’s water, and a number of restored rooms. Considering the relatively high price of a tour, however, this sight may only be worthwhile for those interested in mansions turned tenements. There has to be one of you out there. (Defensa 755. S Independencia. ☎4361 3002. 1hr. English-language guided tours M-F 11am-2pm. AR$30. 30min. guided tours Su 2-6pm. AR$12.)

Parque Lezama. On San Telmo’s border with Boca, Parque Lezama provides a great spot to relax along with the porteños away from the bustle of Plaza Dorrego. Though it doesn’t have much in the way of grass, the palm-dotted expanse is nonetheless lovely and draws a good number of locals who come here to walk, chat, and play. At the park’s northwest corner stands a large concrete monument to Pedro de Mendoza, who reputedly founded the city on this spot in 1536 . Across the street from the park’s northern end, at Brasil 315, the sight of the ornate facade of the Russian Orthodox Church among the more sedate surrounding buildings can come as quite a shock. Built in 1904 in 17th-century Muscovite style, the frescoes and onion domes of the church are wonderfully incongruous and quite beautiful, though the church itself is only open for services on Saturdays at 6pm and Sundays at 10am. (S San Juan.)