Trip to La Plata city

On Saturday 18 th we went  to La Plata by bus.
La Plata is the capital city of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.  It is situated on the right bank of the Rio de la Plata, about  60 km. (35 miles) south-east of the city of Buenos Aires. The city was planned to serve as the capital of the province after the city of Buenos Aires was declared as the federal district in 1880. La Plata was officially founded by governor Dardo Rocha on November 19, 1882. The city  has the shape of a square with a central park and two diagonal avenues, north-south and east-west. This design is copied in a self-similar manner in small blocks of six by six blocks in length. There is a public square every seven blocks which act as green lungs for the city and as recreation places.  Other than the diagonals, all streets are on a rectangular grid, and are numbered consecutively. Thus, La Plata is nicknamed “la ciudad de las diagonales” (“city of diagonals”). It is also called “la ciudad de los tilos” (“city of tilia”) because of the large number of linden trees lining the streets.
The designs for the government buildings were chosen in an international architectural competition. Thus, the Governor Palace was designed by Italians, City Hall by Germans, etc.

 View of the city from the Cathedral

In front of the Governor Palace we visited the cathedral of La Plata. The cathedral of La Plata, in new Gothic style, is the largest church in Argentina and has 37 French and German vitreaux.

We also went up at the top of one of the towers of the Cathedral and were able to see the whole city from there.

 When we went down it was almost 1:30 pm and we decided to have a picnic at Pareyra Iraola Park. It is worth to visit Pereyra Iraola Park which has a surface of 600 hectares and the “Paseo del Bosque” (Wood Ride) where there is an Observatory and a Zoo.

 Picnic at Pereyra Iraola Park
Among the important buildings belonging to the town, we have visited  the National University of La Plata.
The La Plata University was founded in 1897 and nationalized in 1905. It is well-known for its observatory and paleontology museum. Containing 41,000 volumes, the Museo de la Plata, founded in 1877, has valuable anthropological, palaeontological, zoological, and mineral collections, and an astronomical observatory erected in 1882. The museum is very big and we spent the whole afternoon at the museum, watching extrange fossils and representations of the Universe, chatting and taking photos of us together with dinosaurs, primitive animals and birds. This Natural Sciences Museum is considered the fifth in importance in the whole world.

 
A few kilometers away from the city center, you can enjoy Punta Lara beaches where you can practice jet ski, windsurf, sailing or spend a beautiful country day in one of the farms that offer agrotourism services.
The city is home to two football (soccer) teams that play in the first division: Estudiantes de La Plata and Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata.

When we were coming back from La Plata, we stopped in Quilmes neighbourhood for a beer in the famous Quilmes café (Quilmes is a brand of beer very popular in Argentina!)  
You can get to La Plata by train departing from Constitucion Railway Station or by car through Nº36 National Route or Nº11 Provincial Route.