Rosario - home of the Argentine flag

Rosario

When we were in South America back in 2012, we visited Rosario, but unfortunately it didn’t work out too well for us. Firstly, we arrived to discover that a booking error meant that our nice centrally located hostel didn’t have a room for us.

They were very apologetic, and very helpful in finding us a place to stay, but the fact that it was a major bank holiday weekend meant that the best they could do was a room back out by the bus station, a taxi ride away.

Rosario

That was inconvenient, but not nearly as problematic as the fact that I then managed to wake up in the morning with my back out. This actually made the room change a bit more welcome, as I could just about crawl to its en-suite bathroom, whereas the original booking would have seen us in a room where I would have had to make it either up or down a flight of stairs to one of the shared bathrooms. That would not have been good!

Whilst my back recovered quite quickly then, it still meant that we never got to see any of the city, so we decided that we would try again this time. Happily, second time around was rather more successful. Our Airbnb room was ready and waiting, and aside from Nic still having a little bit of a problem with his recovering ankle, there were no unexpected health issues, so we were able to get around and see the place.

Rosario

Rosario is a great little city, albeit in a rather understated and quiet way. There isn’t a great deal to ‘do’ in the way of tourist sights, but that also means that, especially as we drift into autumn, there aren’t that many tourists here either. Like Buenos Aires, it is a city that has lots of fabulous old buildings dotted along the streets, some of them well preserved, others faded and crumbling, but all of them adding to the character and feel of the streets.

Argentine Flag

I
It is slightly surprising, but also quite refreshing, that they don’t make more of the fact that Che Guevara was born here, but one thing that you can’t fail to notice here, is the preponderance of the Argentine flag. The people of Rosario are proud of their flag. This isn’t because they are that much more patriotic than their fellow countrymen, but rather because this was where the flag was first flown, by Manuel Belgrano, in 1812 during the Argentine War of Independence.

National Flag Memorial, Rosario

The Monumento National a la Bandera, or the National Flag Memorial, is a huge monolithic structure, which unfortunately was undergoing renovations while we were there, so the mirror pool was empty, and there was scaffolding on some of it. But still, there is no doubting that the people of Rosario wanted to celebrate their connection to the flag. There were a couple of school groups visiting in the time that we were there, so clearly it is still regarded as an important part of their history.

National Flag Memorial, Rosario

As well as the monument itself, there is a wall full of plaques that have been sent by other cities to commemorate various anniversaries of the flag. It is a strange concept to me, that so much time, effort and money should have been put into celebrating a flag. I grant that it is quite a pretty flag, but then I rather like the design of our own Union Flag, but I still wouldn’t want to see this kind of fuss made over it.

National Flag Memorial, Rosario

We visited a couple of museums here, but both were sadly a little disappointing. The Museo de la Memoria, was different to many, in that it used artworks to express some of the stories and emotions of the Dirty War, but it didn’t really add anything in terms of information. As in Cordoba, it is located in a building that was used to hold and torture those arrested, but here, you didn’t really get any sense of being in such a place, or at least we didn’t.

The Museo de la Ciudad, or City Museum was OK, but was a bit light on content. We had read that it looks at the history of the city, and at the people who have lived there, including the indigenous people. What was there was interesting, but it felt to us a bit like they had the nice extra bits, without having some of the more substantial fundamentals.

National Flag Memorial, Rosario

It didn’t help that it was entirely in Spanish, some of it quite complex, so although we understood a reasonable amount, we definitely didn’t get it all, and may have got the wrong end of the stick. On balance, I would say that if you are around the park area, and can speak some Spanish, it is worth dropping in for a while, but otherwise, it may not be the best way to spend your time. If you are there, there was quite a nice place to eat nearby, called Los Potrillos.

Talking of restaurants, we also took a wander along the waterfront, which is quite a popular activity amongst locals, and ended up in a swish place called Don Ferro. It is in an old railway building, and both looks good, and had excellent food.

Rosario

Rosario also had a number of that kind of nice relaxing café that we had found so lacking in Cordoba, though sadly we had to resist the tasty looking cakes in them. There was one café called Esperia, that we would have liked to have sampled more of, including the cocktails that they serve, had we not been back to being good on our diets.

Overall, we liked Rosario, even though there isn’t a huge amount in the way of good tourist attractions.

Waterfront venues, Rosario

Old Railway lines, Rosario

Rosario

Rosario

Rigid in Rosario

So having got to our replacement hotel it was already pretty late and we just had time to find a pizza place for dinner before everywhere closed up. Unfortunately the next I woke up the next morning with considerable back pain.  This is something that I get occasionally and I have considered myself lucky that so far on this trip, given all the lengthy truck and bus journeys, some camping and a few dodgy beds, I had only had one minor episode of back pain in Bogota.

Unfortunately, whilst I wasn't entirely immobile, this wasn't minor either.  I could just about hobble around the room to get to the bathroom etc and after some back exercises and a few painkillers I could walk a short distance as long as I took it slowly.  It would still spasm quite painfully though, and sightseeing wasn't really an option if I was to to be able to carry my rucksack in a few days.

So we didn't see much of Rosario and there are no photos.  We got a cab downtown each day and found places where I could reasonably comfortably sit and we could do some internet stuff.  I managed to catch up with some overdue blogs - I do keep falling behind at the moment, so will try to do better - and we got quite a bit of accommodation booked for the rest of our time in South America, so it was useful in that way, but it would have been nice to see a bit more of the city. On the morning we left my back was a bit better but still not better, so it was just as well it was only one block to the bus station.

More gauchos, but no room at the inn

We had a very civilised afternoon bus to our next destination, so we had time to have lunch before we left.  We found a great little 'boliche' which is a bar that serves food.  It is an old place and though well kept has not been modernized, so still has the old traditional counters and shelves with displays of various of the goods that they would once have sold alongside the beers.

It is also the hangout for the gauchos.  While we were there, many of those who work on local estancias came in for their lunch and a drink.  The food was good too. We concluded that even though there is not much to see here, San Antonio de Areco is a place that we could happily have stayed longer, and is a great place to eat and drink.

Our bus was an hour late arriving, so we arrived in Rosario somewhat later than expected and jumped in a cab for the fair distance to our hostel.  We arrived only to be told that they did not have our booking and as it was the bank holiday weekend, there was no room available.  They were able to find us spaces in a large dorm, but we weren't keen, so we asked them to keep looking. We did at least have a little kitten to keep us amused while we waited; it took quite a liking to playing on and around our rucksacks.

Eventually they found us a place right back near the bus station, which was a hotel room for only slightly more than the dorms would have cost.  They gave us some cab money and off we went.  In fact the place was quite nice, even if Nic did think that they might rent rooms by the hour.  And that was before we spotted the lights that glowed out from underneath the bed. As it turned out, the mistake probably worked to our advantage as the next day I awoke with a back problem.   I could move around, just, but it was very painful and I really needed to rest it fully.  Having a proper,l ensuite hotel room, rather than a hostel room with shared bathroom was so much better.