El Caminito

La Boca is a neighborhood of Buenos Aires that is well known as the place to find two attractions which most visitors to Buenos Aires will want to see: the football stadium La Bombonera, and El Caminito, the colorful artists’ street. In this post, I’ll talk specifically about the famous Caminito. It’s quite possibly the biggest mainstream tourist hotspot in Buenos Aires. Though the place is crowded sometimes, this small road and the area around it do in fact have both an interesting history and the opportunity for taking some great photos. La Boca was originally a harbor in Buenos Aires. It was called that way because the Riachuelo River empties into the Río de la Plata in the shape of a big mouth. It was the place where many Italian immigrants settled down to build their houses on high sidewalks in the end of 19th century. Actually, the colorful street is the work of the local La Boca artist Benito Quinquela Martín. In 1960 he painted the walls of what was then an abandoned street and erected a makeshift stage for performances, and it quickly became a haven for artists. By the way, Benito Quinquela Martín became a very famous painter with his marvelous portraits of the harbor sceneries in that area of the city. There’s a lot of open-air tango on display to entertain the patrons at the outdoor cafes, which is nice if you haven’t seen it before. However, La Boca is a place to be visited only once during your stay in the city because it’s far to the other main attractions and there aren’t many other things to do after you’ve seen La Bombonera, and El Caminito.

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Comments (7)

  1. Bruno

    já fui nesse lugar perto do estádio do Boca! Tem uns barzinhos e um povo que dança tango ali por perto. Eu gostei muito!

    • Profile photo of mariana
      mariana

      thanks! Sim, é bem legal e muito típico de BAs. Temos que incluir obrigatoriamente em uma primeira visita à cidade. 😉

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