Cordoba, Argentina
August 18th - September 15th [2024]
Cordoba represents a last minute side trip. It was an idea I hatched while researching alternative cities of interest during a retreat to my adopted base camp in Buenos Aires. My interest in the city was primary focused on its architecture but ultimately expanded to include the surrounding nature after speaking to natives who vacation in the region often. Cordoba is located due west of Buenos Aires along the foothills of the Sierra Chicas and named after its sister city in Spain. This is Argentina's second largest city featuring the Suquía River and beautifully preserved Spanish Colonial architecture including a World Heritage Site (The Jesuit Bloc) near its historic center. I decided to spend a month of exploration while placing a focused effort on my art without the distraction of friends and events in the big city.
Cordoba is an attractive, very livable city built around a major river with associated green belts, canals, plazas and parks. Unfortunately, the timing of my stay coincided with low water levels so the normally beautiful aesthetics of running rivers was reduced to dry beds and a trickle of movement. Never the less, it wasn't difficult to visualize what it might look like during peak summer months when snow melt from the nearby Sierras reaches peak flow.
Architecturally, the city is a potpourri of styles including Beaux Arts, Neo Classical, Industrial, Modern and Post Modern. But for most, the attraction of Cordoba resides within its Spanish Colonial collection centered around its primary Cathedral. This is an area where you can meander for hours enjoying street artists, beautifully textured corridors, grandiose open squares and well preseerved world class architecture from the Spanish Colonialists.
As for the surrounding nature, I never made the visit. It might have been the ten hour bus ride from CABA but I wasn't willing to spend the additonal travel time needed to explore the beauty of Argentina's outdoors. Instead, I stayed focused on my daily hikes searching for urban treasures. In retrospect, a mistake. But this gives me an excuse to revisit and for that, my decision might have been more conscious than acknowledged.
