Meandering in Mendoza

Meandering in Mendoza wasn’t my primary objective for this morning. I intended to do some meandering, but I also planned to do considerable directed walking to specific sights that I would spend a little time in. It largely didn’t work out that way except for the meandering part.

On the tour I took out of Córdoba a couple of days ago, the guide casually mentioned that Monday (today) is a statutory holiday here in Argentina. I didn’t know that.

I locked that information away in my mental filing cabinet and soon lost the key to the cabinet. If anyone finds it, I think I’d be willing to pay a reward for its return. However, details of the reward are ensconced in the same cabinet, so I can’t tell you more about it.

In yesterday’s post, I said that I read and found it to be true that not much is open in Mendoza on Sundays. I can report that the same is true on national holidays or, at least, this one.

Meandering in Mendoza

I started by going to a sight recommended by my walking tour app as a must-see, the San Martin Passage (Spanish: Pasaje San Martin, but the app gave only the English name).

It’s allegedly a beautiful building with stained glass domes and is listed as a heritage building. It’s currently used for retail purposes.

The application did not provide any opening hours. Therefore, I consulted Google Maps. It indicated that the establishment is closed on Sundays but open every other day from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM. However, with today’s times, it added a qualifier stating, “Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice may impact opening hours.”

Oh, oh.

Despite the ambiguity of the phrase “might,” it provided a glimmer of hope. The proximity of my hotel, merely a few blocks away, ensured that I could easily ascertain the situation.

It was closed.

On the positive side, the city erected a sign on a pole in front of the building, comprising two paragraphs, one in Spanish and the other in English, which is exceptionally rare in this region.

From it, I learned that it was built in 1926, and was “the first storey-building in Mendoza.” I’m not sure what it meant by a “storey-building.” Was every structure in Mendoza before then a single floor, or maybe just an outline on the ground? I imagine it’s the former, but your guess is at least as good as mine. Probably better.

Yesterday, I talked about Mendoza’s main square, Plaza Independencia, and the four smaller squares that were a kitty-corner block away from the main square. I had been to the main square and two of the four smaller squares yesterday. Today, as part of my meandering in Mendoza, I visited the other two, Plaza San Martín and Plaza Chile.

The design elements of the two squares I visited today, Plaza Italia and Plaza España, are more polished and formal than those of the two I saw today. However, they are still very attractive and calming.

A large rock with a statue of General San Martín dominates the centre of Plaza San Martín. Plaza Chile has a fountain at its centre and a two-person statue off to the side.

After sitting for a spell in Plaza Chile, I decided to take a look at a church recommended by my walking tour app, San Francisco Basilica. Its exterior is handsome. But it was closed, so don’t ask me what it’s like inside.

The app also recommends a terrace on top of a municipal building that provides views of the city and surrounding area. It said it’s open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Saturdays and holidays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Not entirely trusting the app for opening times, I also consulted Google Maps for that information. It offered different operating hours. It said that the terrace is closed both days of the weekend, but it is open from 8:15 to 1:30 on weekdays. However, it added the above caveat of “Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice might affect opening hours.”

It was closed.

There was a small tourist office in front of the building that was open. With difficulty because of a language barrier, I found out that the terrace is only open to the public during public events up there, which aren’t every day. The next one is a wine tasting on the day after I leave Mendoza.

There were a couple of other sights recommended by my walking tour app that looked interesting. I checked their opening hours on Google Maps. For those times, Google Maps was more sure of itself. It said both were definitely closed for the Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice.

My meandering in Mendoza continued. I gave up and did some more random rambling, some sitting on benches in squares, and then headed back to my hotel to grab a bite before my pre-booked afternoon activity.

But before I end this, let me just say, yah, never have I seen a city close down so much because I’m there. Often, they close down a site or two, or portions thereof, allegedly for restorations or renovations when they learn I’m coming to town. But this is the first time I’ve had them shut down much of the city to shun me for two days in a row, first with the excuse of it being Sunday and then because it was a national holiday. Harrumph.

No, wait. I don’t want to end it with that whining paragraph. Like yesterday, while I didn’t find the architecture here as warm and friendly as I found Córdoba’s architecture, the tree-lined streets and the beautiful public squares more than make up for it.

Plus, not far from my hotel, there’s a pleasant shopping street that’s pedestrianized and decorated for a couple of blocks. Well, today it was a pedestrianized non-shopping street because the stores were closed, but I don’t want to whine.

I stumbled on one street today—well, not stumbled as in tripped; I stayed upright—that was wider than most of the inner city streets I’ve seen here. But the street was divided with a pedestrian promenade down the middle and two lanes of traffic, one in each direction. A double row of trees lined the promenade, and the sidewalks on either side of the road also had the dense rows of trees that are standard here. It’s almost like living in a forest, which is quite lovely.

Okay, with the whine dampened, it’s time to leave this post with that bit of foreshadowing. See you in my afternoon entry.