Podworld - Exploring interesting places

A day trip to Uruguay from Buenos Aires, it was an opportunity too good to miss. Okay not all of Uruguay and not even the capital Montevideo. Instead a one hour ferry ride to Colonia de Sacramento from BA. And here's a tip. You can join the throng of tourists at the Buquebus terminal and buy your ticket for your journey: Or you can buy your passage via Seacat Seacat Website  . For some reason this is much cheaper and yet still gets you aboard the Buquebus service. I bought directly from the Seacat, saved a lot of money, walked upto the terminal and boarded the service. From the ferry terminal in Colonia walk to your left and within ten minutes you are entering the old town, a world heritage site. You are greeted by cobbled streets and buildings which date back to the late years of the 19th century or early days of the 20th. To one side of the central square is a lighthouse (faro) which you can ascend for a couple of dollars. Do not worry about getting your money exchang...

It is one of the great capitals of the world with a rich and controversial twentieth century history. Buenos Aires was the launching pad for all of the other journey's made in Argentina. Because of its vastness and diversity, it would not be right to sum it up in a single post. Instead, it will be broken up into episodes with later postings covering other aspects of this great city. Post one here will deal with the central area, what the Americans might describe as downtown. The first impressions of Buenos Aires, once one had negotiated the astonishing traffic chaos, was that despite travelling 13 hours from Europe to get here was that it still felt like a European city. For me, Buenos Aires most resembled Madrid. In terms of layout and architecture the two cities, certainly in the metropolitan areas, felt like twins. With the high number of immigrants from the Iberian peninsular and native language being Spanish, this was not a huge surprise to me. The old Naval buildi...

In one of the earlier postings I mentioned that the initial motivation for travelling to Argentina was to see football. That is not to say the other natural wonders did not stimulate and amaze but it was football that drew me there. My first exposure to the seemingly extraordinary nature of Argentine football was from my sitting room as a child watching the 1978 World Cup hosted and won by Argentina. I loved Mario Kempes and his flamboyant playing style Mural of Diego Maradona If you are a visitor to Argentina and would like to see a game read the blog carefully as I guide you through the a few pitfalls. Going to a match in Argentina is not like visiting your local game in Europe or the USA. First a little background. Our trip was in the Argentine spring or northern hemisphere autumn (fall.) Reading up on the Argentine league I learned that the authorities had decided to move the league to run in parallel to the major European leagues, i.e. during the Argentine summe...

On a bright a beautiful Sunday morning here was one of Buenos Aires most colourful neighbourhoods of barrios. Read any literature about the area and it seems to have two personalities. The painted splendour or a rejuvenated area underpinned by petty crime. What were we to discover? From the centre of BA getting to the Boca is not problem. Taxi or bus will get you there, our choice was the 152 from the Correos or Post office on Leonardo Alem close to the junction with Correntes. Bombonera We were early. The market stalls which attract visitors on Sunday's were just beginning to open. They mainly sold poor quality replica shirts and designer goods. There, two blocks away and towering like the mightiest cathedral, a remarkable building. The Bombonera is home to the local football side, the world famous Boca Juniors. Here was the place were Diego Maradona and Antonio Ratin, colourful and controversial captains of Argentina plied their trade.  It was match day and fiv...

It is not a country that features heavily in the travel sections of British Sunday newspapers. You will never see it shining down from the shelves of your local travel agent. Most of you friends will never have been there. Yet there is sits this vast country at the foot of the Americas. Argentina has been on my agenda since 1978 and I am happy to explain why. In that year the county played host to the globe's major single sport event the football (soccer for Aussie and USA readers) World Cup. I remember as young viewer being mesmerised by the colour, ticker-tape and joie de vie of the host nation as they swept to victory led by the charismatic forward Mario Kempes. Mario, I thought, I am coming to see your country. 38 years later sitting on the tarmac at Heathrow airport instead of the usual joy and pleasure of an anticipated trip I was griped with an unusual anxiety. What if Argentina failed to deliver? What if it had nothing to offer? Perhaps the travel writers had fail...

It is a long time since this blog was added to, too long in truth. There is a reason for this. The blog is a record of my travels around the world. The trouble has been that since the northern hemisphere spring I have only travelled to Spain and I have blogged ad nauseum about that. So little travel for a travel blogger might seem like a gross over sight but it is not. That is because the next adventure represents a major investment in travel and it begins a only a few days time. It is the culmination of a near-lifelong dream. Let me tell you the story about it. In 1978 as a child in Europe I sat transfixed as a remarkable spectacle unfolded before my eyes on the television. This was the World Cup final in which the hosts Argentina were playing the Netherlands. The Argentines was truly passionate about what they were witnessing and thousands of miles away I was with them. Driven by their clever midfield player Osvaldo Ardiles, led superbly by skipper Daniel Passarella and ...