After canceling the cruise to Antarctica, the cruise company flew us back to Buenos Aires and put us up in a five-star luxury hotel in the center of the city. Our flight back to Houston didn’t leave until 10:00 PM the next day so we had plenty of time to do some exploring in Buenos Aires and the Recoleta cemetery was high on our list. It was an easy but hot (88 degree) 25 minute walk from the hotel to the cemetery along tree lined streets.
With over 6,400 statues, sarcophagi, coffins, and crypts, the Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires is ranked as the second most haunting cemetery in the world. It is considered second to the Pere-Lachaise cemetery in Paris because of the notoriety of the people interred there. However, Recoleta has many interesting internments not the least of which is Eva “Evita” Perón.
It’s like a miniature city within the city, a labyrinthine city of the dead. One could spend hours wandering through its narrow streets and still never see all that there is to see. Argentina’s most celebrated sons and daughters are buried here and many of the tombs describe the lives of the people interred.
It is an eerily beautiful place, with shadowed walkways and towering marble mausoleums rich in Art Deco, Art Nouveau, baroque and neo-gothic architectural styles, Masonic symbols, and powerful religious iconography. Over 90 tombs are listed as national historical monuments.
Travels with RK Caton 