Argentina - Buenos Aires & Iguassu Falls

So here I am again after a year off from blogging back to it with a new 'Travel' post.

2017 started off really rocky for me and in true Nic Saint fashion I sought comfort in travel. A way to declutter my brain, experience new adventures and heal myself.

So off I went to STA Travel and decided to tick off my 4th Wonder of the World and head to Brazil. With so many choice available I landed on the Iguassu and Beyond tour which would take me from Buenos Aires through to Iguassu Falls, hitting up a few places in Brazil before finishing in Rio.

I landed at around 6am on a cold Friday morning in Buenos Aires and boy was I totally unprepared for how cold it was going to be. The forecast said 18 degrees but with a cold wind chill it felt like less than 10.

About a ten minute walk from my hotel was Cafe Tortoni which is the oldest Cafe in all of Argentina and opened in 1858. With its mahogany interior and glass ceilings it is a place that feels like stepping back in time. Serving up hot coffee and breakfast there was only one thing I knew I wanted and that was Churros. Once the caffeine and sugar hit my system I knew I had enough fuel to spend a day sight seeing Buenos Aires.

Churros for Breakfast

Cafe Tortoni

As my tour with G Adventures was not starting until the evening I booked a city tour with Viator which promised to deliver the top sights of BA in a short space of time. As this was a private tour the mini van picked me up from my hotel and along with a handful of other tourists we set off to La Boca. This place is known as the birthplace of Tango and it didn't disappoint. Colourful houses, street art at every corner and bar and restaurants with live tango dancers entertaining the guests.

From here it was on to Casa Rosada which is the presidential palace situated next to the beautiful Buenos Aires cathedral.

Finishing up the tour it was on to La Recoleta cemetery, the final resting place of Evita. This place was so beautiful in an eerie (hairs on the back of your arm) kind of way. The decorative detail in the tombs was incredible and even in death these people are still worshipped by their loved ones.

I was dropped back off to my hotel for around 5pm and then it was time to meet the rest of my G Adventures tour and my travel companions for the next 11 days.

From Canadians, to Brits, South Africans and Germans the group was an eclectic mix and over the next 2 weeks we would form new friendships and share lots of laughs.

The majority of the group like me were desperate to eat some traditional Argentinian steak washed down with a glass of Malbec. Our tour guide Luz obliged by taking us to 'El Federal' in the district of San Telmo. After 36 hours of travel and tourism I devoured my dinner and then headed to bed ready for our early start to Foz de Iguacu the next day.

6am bleary eyed and half asleep we took a mini van to the airport and less than 2 hours of a flight later we arrived in humid and rainy Iguacu.

This tour was going to take us to see the falls from both the Argentinian and Brazilian side. Strangely we did the Brazilian side first but as this is a post about Argentina I have skipped forward a day to cover the second day at Iguassu.

Friends had told me they had preferred the views from the ARG side so expectations were high considering the Brazilian side had already blown me away the day before.

The great thing about the Argentinean side is that this is where you can get truly up close and personal with the ferocity of the falls and stand atop the Devils Throat.

This side of the National Park is accessible via a small train followed by a 15 minute walk. You can hear the falls before you can see them and standing next to this magnificent natural wonder I filled up my camera roll with so many photos.

After a quick lunch break of a Spinach Empanada (I ate far too much cheese and pastry on this trip) it was time to take the Iguazu Jungle speed boat right into the Devil's Throat. So once my plastic poncho was on and my valuables tucked safely away we made our way into the falls. This was probably one of my favourite trips during the tour, it was hilarious to get soaked to the bones with fresh natural water. It was surpassingly warmer than I expected but we all were laughing our heads off at how soaked we all were. Well worth the £30 ticket price.

If only the sun had broken through the clouds to give us some blue skies but alas it wasn't meant to be, however the sky did make for some great moody photos.

It was a short but sweet trip to Argentina but I have only scratched the surface and promise to be back some day.

Thanks for reading.

Nic x

Copenhagen

If you are prepared to get up a silly o'clock you can find return flights to Copenhagen for under £40 but that is where the low costs end as Copenhagen as beautiful as it is, is EXPENSIVE!!

I suppose I am still struggling to adjust to the fact that things in London cost more money then good ole Nottingham but blimey CPH certainly gave London prices a run for their money. 

However, a holiday is a holiday so here is my little blog post about 3 days spent in the Danish capital.

Arriving into CPH airport at 10.30am it took just four stops on the train to reach Central Station and another 10 minute bus ride to Vesterbro and our Air B'n'B in the heart of the meat packing district.

The afternoon we decided to get a feel for the city by taking part in a Sandemans free walking tour. After experiencing one of their tours in Berlin it made the most sense to do this on our first day and get a feel for the city.

Meeting at the Town Hall square at 2pm, our Canadian guide Tristan took us into the heart of the what is left of the medieval side of CPH. Much of the old historical town had been burnt down during two massive fires in the 1700's but there are still glimpses of the old architecture.

From here we walked to Nyhavn which is the colourful waterfront you see on most photos of Copenhagen and it does make for a very pretty picture with the old sail boats parked in the harbour. Nyhvn actually translates to New Harbour and is pronounced 'New Hound'.

However the harsh reality of this area is that it is in fact one of the most seedy areas of the city. Despite being the birth place of famous children's author Hans Christian Anderson, the area consists of strip clubs and over priced restaurants. This area is great for photos but probably not the nicest of areas to linger around in CPH.

Next up was the Royal Palace and the home of Queen Margrethe and a walk in the royal gardens.

Finally we headed to one of the top tourist spots in the city and the Little Mermaid statue. The almost lifesize statue sits in the Langeline harbour. She looks awfully sad though sat on her rock. it turns out that the Little Mermaid in HCA's stories actually kills herself at the end of the story. I think I will stick to the Disney version where she marries handsome Prince Eric (what a hottie he was).

After the tour we found what was to be our favourite hangout in the city - The Taphouse. A bar serving up 61 different European craft beers.

The next morning we headed to Norreboro for brunch. Our Air BnB host had kindly recommended this place as THE BEST BREAKFAST in all of CPH. Molle - Kaffe og Koffen is a little gem of a find. From its cool scandinavian decor to its delicious scrambled eggs on sour dough. I could have easily stolen all of the furniture and shipped it back to London.

Fuelled by coffee we headed to the Carlsberg Museum as it had started to rain.

It was really interesting to see the humble story or Carl Jacobsen the founding father of the beer. Who back in 1847 unlike other brewers of his time was fascinated more with the science and alchemy of beer and it was this that became the significance behind Carlsberg becoming one of the largest commercial beers in the world.

The name Carlsberg actually comes from Carl himself and Berg means little hill which is where Gamle Carlsberg actually was situated.

For around £8.85 your ticket will gain you entrance into the museum and entitle you to two free beers. The first we drank as we started the museum and the last was at the end. After all of the history and walking it was much needed let me tell you.

One of my favourite parts of the museum being an animal lover was the stables which is home to around 8 shire horses who are used for carriage rides but are really to symbolise the fact that back in the 1800's these types of horses were used to transport the Carlsberg barrels across the city.

The museum is well worth a visit and combining history with beer was enough to keep my attention and ensure I didn't become too bored.

From here on I will admit we did spend the rest of the day back in the Tap House due to the rain before heading back to Vesterbro for dinner and cocktails at Von Fressen. This cosy and shabby restaurant serves up THE most amazing gin cocktails and with Happy hour between 6-9 it was rude not to have a few of these.

An Engels cocktail is Bulldog gin with ginger, honey and lemonade. It was divine, coupled with a big juicy burger I was well and truly stuffed.

For our final day in Copenhagen we started out with breakfast at the Laundromat Cafe before a visit to Rosenborg Slot which is one of Europe's most famous renaissance castles and it is free to enter the grounds and walk around the gardens. The castle even has its own moat.

Next to the castle is the stunning Botanical Gardens and this beautiful greenhouse.Again this is free to enter and you can come across all manner of exotic plants and flowers. 

From here we headed back to Central CPH with a quick hot dog pitstop before making a quick trip to the Lego store. You cant come to Denmark and not see some Lego after all.

After playing with little coloured bricks we took the Metro to Christiana.

Christiana is a self proclaimed autonomous neighbourhood to around 900 residents just west of CPH city.

Christiana is a somewhat controversial part of CPH since its creation from a squatted military base back in the 1970s. This place is exactly what you would expect from a commune, the smell of cannabis is rife and art is freely expressed from murals, to mosaics to a house made entirely out of window frames.

The residents keep themselves to themselves and we didn't see any trouble whilst on the island but it definitely had a different feel to that of central CPH.

From here our afternoon highlight had to be Tivoli. We had passed this place so much during our time in CPH that I couldn't wait to go inside.

Tivoli is the second oldest theme park in the world and was opened to the public in 1843. It is the prettiest theme park I have ever been to and the designers obviously have drawn influence from Moroccan and Souther European architectural influence.

We had 2 things we wanted to get out of our trip to Tivoli the first was to ride the Demon Rollercoaster which is the red flashy loop the loop rollercoaster which was a lot of fun, however perhaps even more fun was the old rickety runaway train that was built in 1914 so over a hundred years old.

It was hilarious and surprisingly fast. We managed to snag the front cart and we sped through the wooden snowcapped mountain, round sharp bends before being plunged into darkness for around 10 seconds. 

It just goes to show you don't need to ride the expensive flashy ones to have a good time.

From then on we walked around the rest of the park before settling down with a bottle of wine and two glasses in the pavilion with the sun on our faces.

After working up an appetite for dinner with all the fun of the theme park we had our final dinner at the UH-MAZING Madklubben in Vesterbro. This huge but unfussy restaurant had such a cool atmosphere.

Pumping out great music to the backdrop of exposed brick walls and a table facing the open kitchen the place was buzzing with atmosphere.

We threw the budget out of the window for our final dinner and pigged out on chilli prawns started before the prettiest steak I have ever eaten.

All washed down with several glasses of red wine and a final treat of a Peruvian pisco sour.

I seriously fell in love with Copenhagen and it was definitely the kind of city I could imagine living in.

Thanks for reading.

Nic