San Telmo Market & La Boca
January 21st 2026
Today we got to sleep in and enjoy the morning. The hotel had a nice breakfast that is included in the stay.
We decided to take the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus to explore the city today. It was a bit of debacle. Even though the website and signage at the bus stops all state you can purchase tickets on the bus, the bus driver did not allow us to, we had to find a kiosk to get tickets. Once we got there the person manning the booth just left and we had to wait to for her to return. Eventually we got our tickets and caught the next bus.
View of obelisk from the top of the bus.
We got seats on the top level. They had ear phones to listen to a guided tour as the bus drove around the city. We got off at the San Telmo Market. This market is the oldest market in the city. It opened in 1897 as a market for the new European immigrants. It has evolved over the years, but is still a market but has food stalls, coffee shops, antiques and more.
View just as we walked into the market.
So many places to eat and drink. We found a table at a booth with a nice wine list. Sandy picked a La Flor Pulenta Sauvignon Blanc that the server recommended. It was a warm day, so I actually got one as well. It was light and refreshing!
We wandered some more and found all kinds of shops. It is not just food and drinks. There were many other shops selling most anything you might need, including penguin pitchers!
I had heard that there was a “Wine Window” in the market. Wine Windows are from late 1500 Italy as a way for a way to sell wine during the Plague. This practice returned during COVID. There are two wine windows in the market and one in Palermo. I was determined to find one to experience it myself. It did not take long before I found one in the market.
Wine Window
We got a glass of wine from the wine window in the market. you simply ring the bell, order a wine and it is handed to you through the window. You get to keep the glass and walk about the market with your wine.
Throughout the market you would see pictures of Lionel Messi. He is more of a religion here than anything else.
Portrait of Messi in a bar at the market.
We tried to hop back on the bus, but they limited the number of people allowed on and there was a long line to get back on. We decided to catch a cab as we wanted to get to La Boca next.
La Boca is a small artsy area known for its colorful corrugated metal houses. The area was inhabited by Italian immigrants that built their houses using wood and sheets of metal recovered from the ships. They only had leftover marine paint to use, never enough to cover an entire house, so all the homes are a hodge podge of multiple colors.
La Boca
As we walked into the main streets of LaBoca, we met some volunteer Fire Fighters. They provided safety information on where to walk and not walk in t his area. La Boca is basically one square block. Outside that area, it can be not safe. We had heard this from many sources before we came and it was confirmed by the fire fighters. They were also looking for donations, so I gave him a few bucks.
Local Fire Fighter.
Here is a sample of many of the buildings in La Boca.
The Tango is deeply rooted here and there are murals painted along Caminito street as well as tango dancers. It was not hard to find a spontaneous tango dancers. Of coarse they do it for tips.
Street Tango dancers
There are also plenty of art shops here as well. I will definitely be coming back to pick up some art after the cruise! We were feeling a bit famished, so we found a sidewalk table restaurant.
La Perla Bar and Restaurant
It was a warm day, so we stopped at a street cafe to watch the tango dancers and have a small lunch of pizza and Aperol Spritz.
One quick note. As we finished and paid for our meal, a stranger approached us and asked if we were going to eat the last piece of pizza. We said no, as we were leaving and he picked it up and walked away. Not sure if this is typical, but i do not like to see food wasted, so I was good with it.
We returned to our hotel to meet up with our friend Amy, who flew in today to join us on the cruise. She had taken the Recolata Cemetery tour near our hotel and stopped by for a quick visit. We had cocktails on the Roof Top bar of the hotel.
Roof Top Bar at Alvear Palace Hotel
Fervor
Sandy had made a reservation at Fervor, a local Michelin steakhouse close to our hotel.
We arrived at 6:55pm for a 7:00pm reservation. The restaurant does not open until 7:00, so we ordered drinks at the bar and waited. It did no take long for the place to fill up. We were seated at a small table on an interior balcony. the place was very nice with white table cloths and servers in black tie. The customers were dressed in casual as well as suit and ties. The place was packed! We had the best steaks I have ever had here! Sandy had the NY Strip and I had the Ribeye. The steaks came sizzling on a metal plate and were cooked to perfection. They really know how to cook their steaks here! Both were outstanding. There was a variety of sauces to put on the steaks as well. They did not need them, but it did enhance the flavors!
For desert, we had the Dulce de Leche Lava Cake. As expected, it was wonderful.
After dinner, we headed out to Presedente Bar. We had heard about a drink they make with Van Goghs Starry Night painted on the egg white foam of a drink. We ordered the Starry night drink and the Pantegonia Fix. Both the were delicious. The painting on the drink was amazing. You could see all the details of the buildings from the painting in the drink. See photo below.
Van Gogh’s Starry Night on egg white of a cocktail.
Starry Night and Pantegonia Fix
Another long day and we need to b=get back to our hotel to pack up for our next days journey. We decided to keep our packing light for this next segment and only took our small bags. We left our big bags at the hotel to hold until we returned. Good Night!
