Happy Tuesday, friends! I spent yesterday celebrating MLK day with my sweet mom as we attempted to organize my life/condo this weekend. Needless to say, I feel much better now that my place isn’t quite as cluttered as before, and I’m kinda-sorta-maybe ready to get back to the grind now that my life is a little less all over the place. I’m sure I might change my mind by tomorrow, but at least I’m feeling more refreshed today!

As your sipping your morning coffee and getting into your day, I am excited to share with you the last part of our recent trip to Chile and Argentina {you can see the first part about Puerto Natales, and our trip to Patagonia here too}. One of the best parts of the trip was taking a few days to enjoy coming back to civilization in Buenos Aires, a city I had always wanted to visit but since it was such a long flight to get there, it always seemed a little out of reach. Since we were already trekking all the way down to Patagonia it seemed like a good time to check out Buneos Aires, and believe me when I say that the city delivered. I knew from reading books and hearing from friends that Buenos Aires was a colorful, vibrant and welcoming city, but I had no idea just how true that was until I experienced it for myself. And while I was only there for 4 days, I’m already dreaming of when I’ll be able to go back…hopefully it will be sooner than later.

While Tom was able to spend a full week in BA, I had to hop back to the states to finish up work – so I savored the few days I had by packing in as much as possible. We stayed in the neighborhood of Palermo, which is full of cute restaurants, coffee shops and is in walking distance to a lot of other fun neighborhoods in the city.  While there were so many highlights from the trip {I seriously enjoyed every second walking around and exploring the city}, here were a few of my favorite places we explored while in Buenos Aires.   Day 1: Casa Cavia + Palermo

Tom and I completely lucked out because one of his best friends from college has lived in Buenos Aires for years, so she had all the intel of great places to explore in the city. She gave us the tip to stay in Palermo {we stayed at Casa Sur Bellini} while we were in town, which was a cute and happening area of the city. On the first day we walked around and explored the neighborhood, stopping at Casa Cavia {featured in the photos above}, an upscale coffee, flower and perfume shop known to be a favorite place for locals and tourists alike {the Obamas spent time at Casa Cavia when they visited Buenos Aires, which the waiters adorably loved talking about}. It was the perfect place to grab a coffee, check out a book from their library and feel a little fancy. Needless to say I got a bit more of a kick out of it than Tom did, but we both enjoyed checking it out 🙂  Palermo is also full of adorable coffee shops {I loved BIRKIN coffee bar above}, shops, restaurants and more. It was nice to slow down and not walk 15 miles a day after Patagonia, so we took the first day in the city pretty easy. We somehow made it into Las Pizarras on Tom’s friend Paige’s recommendation, and the dinner was one of the best meals we had while in South America. Las Pizarras is a mix of farm to table and Italian-inspired dishes that switch up every day, and they had a bunch of veggie forward and vegetarian plates too, which was much needed after eating so much red meat earlier during our trip. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good steak, but veggies are sometimes hard to come by when exploring South America 😉 Day 2: Exploring Downtown Buenos Aires 

The second day we hit the ground running and started our day by walking down to Recoleta, another cute neighborhood in Buenos Aires. We grabbed a coffee and quick bite at La Panera Rosa, a cute {and very pink!} bakery that was basically a bloggers dream. And while Tom went in a little begrudgingly, he had to admit the food and drinks were pretty darn delicious. Plus, we even had a minor brush with fame because a famous Argentinian TV star stopped in to get her morning coffee and everyone around us suddenly became the paparazzi, taking out their iPhones to attempt to get the perfect snap. It was pretty entertaining, and also a good reminder that I would never want to be famous 😉  After easing into the morning, we stopped at La Recoleta Cemetery, one of the most famous cemeteries in all of Argentina. It’s famous for a variety of reasons – the gorgeous mausoleums, statues, and sculptures – but mostly because Eva Perone was buried there with her family after she died in 1952. And while my knowledge of Eva Perone’s life goes just as far as Madonna and a vague understanding of the musical Evita, it was interesting seeing her grave and reading up about her incredible {and incredibly short} life while in Buenos Aires.

I’m not usually a fan of cemeteries, but the Recoleta Cemetery was really an incredible place to spend a few hours. It was eerie and beautiful walking around the expansive cemetery, snapping photos and reminding myself how small we are and how short life really is. Nothing like a cemetery to make you a little more grateful, eh? If you find yourself in BA, definitely make sure to stop at Recoleta for a few hours while exploring the city.     Day 3: Flea Market Finds at Feria De San Telmo

Buenos Aires is famous for their flea markets, so on Sunday we stopped by the Feria De San Telmo to see what all the fuss was about. While we had heard mixed reviews about the flea markets {tourists love them, locals – not so much…} we actually really loved walking around the flea market and attempting to barter with the owners for cute souvenirs. The flea market has everything from home decor, antique jewelry, and a treasure trove of old odds and ends, and we spent a few hours walking along the street stopping at every booth to see what they had to offer. I ended up picking up a gold feather bowl that I bartered down to 300 pesos, which is about $20 USD. I still think the vendor got a pretty good deal, but I was happy to walk away with a little treasure I could add to my coffee table.  We then stopped over at Cafe Rivas, an adorable cafe and restaurant close to the flea market that Paige recommended we stop into. It’s perfectly quaint and the definition of charming – from the cute bar to the Parisian inspired tables and chairs. Even better, the food was amazing – and I had the best french onion soup of my life and a tasty white fish special that they bake with cheese and veggies {sounds maybe kinda gross, but it was so incredibly delicious!}. It was one of my favorite meals in BA, so if you’re looking for the perfect spot for lunch or an early dinner, I’d definitely recommend checking out Rivas.

After we had eaten more than we planned, we walked off our lunch by checking out the historic center of town, with the beautiful Casa Rosada, or Argentina’s version of the white house…but pink! Evidently there’s also a museum inside {which was under construction while we were there}, so we relaxed on the grass across from the capital building and watched cute families picnicking and kicking back on a sunny afternoon.

After going back to our hotel room and resting our feet, we headed out to dinner at La Mar, a seafood, Asian and South American restaurant that had the most beautiful patio and delicious food – we ordered octopus a la plancha, fried rice and salmon negiri {which I’m still dreaming about, it was just that good}. A bottle of rosé and a few cocktails later, we had quite the epic night catching up with Paige and swapping stories, including a few embarrassing stories of Tom in college which totally made my night. It’s always nice to hear about your boyfriend before you knew them and get the highlights of what you missed 😉  Day 4: Shopping and Exploring in Palermo Viejo 

On our last day in Buenos Aires, Tom and I rented bikes to explore some other areas of Palermo, including both Palermo Viejo and Palermo Soho, which were some of the trendiest areas to shop and dine in the city. As usual, I had put off buying any souvenirs until the very last day of our trip, so we spent the afternoon stopping into shops to find little treasures for my friends {and a little too many goodies for myself!}. Since I only had my backpack with me and a 30 hour trip ahead, I did a better job than usual selectively picking a few things for my best friends before heading back to the states!

There were so many adorable shops and restaurants in Palermo that I had to take a few photos of my favorites below. I love how all the store-fronts are bright and colorful, and even the streets are filled with beautiful murals and paintings that make the city feel so vibrant and fun. Since I had to catch a plane at 3PM we were a little crunched for time, but we managed to grab lunch at a cute restaurant called Felicidad, which had a bunch of delicious veggie dishes, like the squash and quinoa salad below!  Leaving Buenos Aires was much more bittersweet than I had anticipated, and I’m already planning my next trip to South America and BA soon! It was such a warm, beautiful and colorful town, and I could easily see myself staying for a few months to take Spanish classes down the line if I ever have the time – we’ll see! If you’re thinking about visiting Buenos Aires, I’d definitely recommend taking the trip, you won’t regret it. And if you do, make sure to spend at least 5-7 days there, there are so many beautiful places to explore that you can easily fill up a whole week discovering all the neighborhoods in the city.