“Well they have loved to wander, Their feet they have not restrained.”
– Jeremiah 14:10, Old Testament Bible
As long as I was headed out to the far west, I planned out a bit of a wander to see some of the barrio of Monte Castro, and the neighboring barrio of Versailles as well. The former, a seemingly solid middle class neighborhood, with well kept, small homes, nice gardens, some truly beautiful plazas, and inexpensive shopping. The latter, a weird mix of what appears to be some quite upscale parts bordered by sections that have a dubious look to them in terms of wandering about solo, especially with camera at the ready. Not surprising when I realized that as one reaches the far western part, it’s leading into the barrio of Liniers, which while great for ingredient shopping, does require one to keep a sharp eye about.
You can spot Monte Castro and Versailles along the western edge of the city.
I realize the convention of north being the top of a map page, or sometimes south, is arbitrary, but here, they’re at random, this one has west at the top… ignore the repeated barrio name, I had to piece this together from four different pages of the mapbook, as the barrio happens to fall at the corner of four of them. My wander outlined in green, with purple dots for my stop at El Fortín, then a bit of gelato later at Sandro, where “everything is natural”, and then some final shopping in Liniers along Suarez.
The old Mercado Jonte, which is now a supermarket, so has at least kept its purpose about it…
Beautifully landscaped gardens seem to abound in the area.
Probably the prettiest plaza in the zone, the Plaza Monseñor Fermín Lafitte, planted with lots of palm trees, and lined with wandering little walkways.
Tomatoes just aren’t so pricey as everyone makes them out to be… even the non-sale price, on a board on the wall, is $3.50 for 2 kilos.
Artwork of various sorts is everywhere on the streets – these colorful hands decorating the security pilons that surround the local synagogue.
A local rehab hospital gets into the act with artwork posted along its fences surrounding an entire block area.
Even the electric company gets with the program, adorning its walls with local artwork.
In Versailles, a mid-street plaza with a statue to Ceferino Namuncurá, a mestizo religious student who is venerated in various parts of Argentina, especially Patagonia, and who was recently beatified as saint, a century after his death.
The beautiful tree-lined curved sweep of Calle París.