Toby and Allan in Argentina: Getting to Know Mendoza

On Monday March 25, we flew to Mendoza. It was a pleasant flight, just under two hours. We got to our B&B at around 2:00 p.m. Casa Lila is a lovely spot in a residential area hidden behind an unmarked door. It is run by a Mendocina with experience working in hotels. The place opened three years ago and has four rooms.

The unmarked door to Casa Lila

The view from just outside our room-- lots of green

Our bedroom

The first thing we noticed about Mendoza was the clean air, especially compared to BA. It is the land of sunshine and wine (it only receives about 15 cm of rain per year). The temperature is perfect- about 24C and no humidity. The housing and look of Mendoza is more country and it reminded us a bit of the look of some of the towns in the Napa area, though Mendoza is much larger (city population around 110,000; greater Mendoza around 880,000). We walked downtown and had lunch outside at Maria Antoneta.

Maria Antoneta

Alano looking relaxed

After lunch we walked to Independence Plaza, a lovely square in the middle of town. Fountains, sculptures and a small museum that was closed today are located in this rather large square. The square dates back to 1863, with updates in both 1944 and 1995.

Fountains at Independence Plaza

Welcome to the City of Mendoza

We continued to walk down a pedestrian street. Always some politics in Argentina too.

Alano walking down street

No to Discrimination

We stopped at the Tourist office to pick up some material. There was a beautiful stained glass window featuring grapes and the Andes mountains which are nearby.

Alano (bus lover that he is) was thrilled to see a New Flyer trolley bus (built in Winnipeg in the 1980s) that has been previously used in Vancouver until about five years ago, when the City changed the fleet. Now the trolleys are happy in warm Mendoza.

Flyer bus from Vancouver fleet retired to Mendoza

The housing that we have seen in the residential area we are staying in is very unique. Here is an example.

Interesting house

We walked by the Hyatt Hotel, where the Security guy asked if I wanted to take a picture. Guess he wanted to be in it.

What is now the Hyatt Hotel, formerly the Plaza Hotel

We also learned that there is a vast network of aqueducts and dikes which run through the vineyards and through the centre of Mendoza. The water was running quite fast. Very interesting system.

Aqueducts in downtown Mendoza

At about 9:00 p.m. we went to The Vines of Mendoza, a tasting room. to sample some flights of Mendoza wines. We had two flights: Las Muestras (five regional specialties) and Los Malbecs, a flight of five Malbecs. Most were from wineries we had never heard of and most were excellent.

In Flight: one down and one to go

Alano before the flights

Display of local wines

Just after 10:00 we went for dinner at Azafran (Saffron) a wonderful, innovative restaurant on par with any in NYC or San Francisco/Napa. Alano and I shared an Ensalada Mixte and Chilean Salmon, which was superb. While we didn't have any desert, we sat next to someone who had an awesome chocolate goody.