The initiative is part of the program of revitalization and value of Avenida de Mayo, pushed by Ente Turismo de Buenos Aires and Ministerio de Cultura. During six weekends, from April 12 thru May 18, the historical street will be stage -along with bookshops, notable cafes and historic buildings located there-, of a series of free guided tours, lyric concerts, an exhibition of incunable books, writers’ lectures, shows of tango, flamenco, Celtic folk and regional Spanish dances.
The avenue will become pedestrian during these six weekends and there will be booklets, tourist signs for the auto-guided tour, and sidewalks cafes. Bookshops, cafes and other buildings will be open during the weekends. Organizations such as the Asociación Amigos de la Avenida de Mayo, Asociación de Hoteles Restaurantes, Confiterías y Cafés (Ahrcc), Academia Nacional del Tango and Notable Cafes will take part with special activities planned for the event.
There will be cultural activites at Casa de la Cultura, Café Tortoni, Los 36 Billares, Iberia and London City cafés; flamenco’ cantao Cantares, café-concert La Clac, tapas’ restaurant El Avila, Teatro Avenida, bookstores El Túnel and El Ventanal, and Castelar hotel, among others. Besides, there will be open air stages in front of the Casa de la Cultura (Av. de Mayo 575) and in the corner of Avenida de Mayo and Salta St.
Tourist Information Centers, hotels and shops at Avenida de Mayo, the center of Gestión y Participación in Montserrat, Academia del Tango, Notable Cafés, Asociación Amigos de la Avenida de Mayo and Spanish organizations will provide free booklets to the people.
Those who wish to stroll around the avenue, from Plaza de Mayo up to Plaza Congreso, will be able to do it by different means:
1. Mobile Audio-guide: dialing *8283 from a cell phone, functions all day in Spanish, English and Portuguese, and costs the same as a local call. Every stop consists in a 1 & ½ minute-call, which tells the history of each place with voices, sounds and music. There are 13 stops, each one with a code to mark and listen to the characteristics of it.
2. Guided tours: From April 12 thru May 18, every weekend, in the afternoons, there will be free guided tours to the Palacio Municipal and Casa de la Cultura, in Spanish and in English. Meeting point: Bolívar 1.
3. Theme routes: also free and guided, they will have special topics: the Avenida de Mayo as icon of political, historical and institutional power in Argentina, at Palacio Municipal and Legislature; the Avenida de Mayo as Hispanic memory, spot for Spanish collectivity and beautiful testimony of early 20th century’s Argentina; and the Avenida de Mayo as evocation of poet Federico García Lorca, who lived at Castelar hotel in 1933.Cell phone autoguide can be also used at other touristic spots in town: Plaza de Mayo, Abasto, Palermo Viejo, Montserrat, Puerto Madero, San Telmo, avenida Corrientes, Palermo’ forests, Recoleta, Retiro and La Boca. Tours-routes can be printed from website. Circuits and its audios can also be downloaded in MP3 format.
To see the program in notable cafés, click here.
|
