Friday March 29, another beautiful, sunny day- high of 31C. Good Friday, so most of the shops were closed. Restaurants, wine stores and some bakeries were open. It was our last full day in Mendoza before we start our trek home. We walked downtown, checking out the crafts fair in Plaza Independencia and then walking to a recommended wine shop.
"Winery" is a beautiful wine store located in part of what used to be the Governor's House and more recently a school. It has a number of rooms each with different types of wine; i.e. a Malbec room, a cabernet sauvignon room, etc.
 |
| Winery |
 |
| Ceiling in main room in Winery |
 |
| Top Ten |
 |
| One of the rooms in the wine store (with Alano)
There was a museum next door in another part of the former Governor's House that focused on the history of the area (Museum of the Past of Cuyo). It was closed. The Italian style building dates to 1873 and Governors Francisco and Emilio Civit lived there during their governorships.
Museum beside wine store
After wandering around the town some more, we went for a late lunch at La Florencia. It was busy and lots of locals were eating huge meals.
 
We ate outside on the patio. The inside was also busy.
After lunch we headed up to Parque General San Martin, the 350 hectare park not too far from our B&B. The park was full and we walked to the Lake which we ran around on Wednesday.
Elaborate entrance to Parque General San Martin
 
Fountain near park entrance
We saw lots of people drinking yerba mate in the park. It is a real ritual with the gourds, metal straws and thermoses of hot water.
Yerba mate in the park
 
View of the Andes from the park
Fun topiary animal
We sat in the park for a while and then came back to the B&B for coffee and a rest.
Dinner was at 10:00 p.m. at a restaurant called 1884. We took a cab there as it was in a nearby town. It is run by Argentinian celebrity chef Francis Mallmann (he had a TV show in Argentina called Fires of the South). The restaurant is located in a beautiful winery (Bodega) called Escorihuela Gascon that dates back to 1884. The restaurant opened in 1996 and features food grilled outside in huge clay ovens. We sat in an absolutely gorgeous garden and saw stars for the first time in the trip. Beautiful trees with pink flowers lined the wall. I had baby goat (chivito) for the first time ever--- it was grilled and melted in your mouth. Alano had 7 1/2 hour lamb. A great meal to end a great trip.
Outside the entrance to 1884
Where we ate- beautiful pink flowers
The amuse-bouche of fish and eggplant
Another outdoor view
Ready to eat
The bottle we had our glasses of wine from---
a Malbec from grapes in the winery where we were
Salad with grilled pear and burrata cheese
 
Alano's lamb and mashed potatoes with arugula
What a night! It is now Saturday March 30 and we just got back from a run in the park. Alano ran 8.9 km and I did 6.5 km. The Andes were in sharp focus this morning and it's going to be a gorgeous day. We head to the airport at around noon and start our journey home (Mendoza to BA to Newark to Toronto). We'll be back in Toronto on Sunday morning. The trip far exceeded our expectations. We highly recommend both BA and Mendoza to fellow travellers. This is our last blog of the trip. Chao! |
No comments:
Post a Comment