At the end of December 2007, Luis and me went to Villa General Belgrano.
Villa general Belgrano, , a small mountain village of 6,260 inhabitants, is located about 800 km from Buenos Aires (8 hours by bus or by car), 87 km away from the Provincial Capital City (Córdoba city) and 110 km away from pajas Blancas International Airport in a privileged site in the Valley of Calamuchita.
Villa General Belgrano, is known as “pueblo de las culturas” (Town of the Cultures). Most of the inhabitants belong to native groups or descendants of Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Hungary and Spain.
Architecturally, this city is quite similar to an Alpine village and displays some features typical of Central Europe, with red tiled roofs, flowered gardens and plenty of wood.
In 1940 British seaman sunk the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee off the coast of the Montevideo harbour and 130 of its surviving crew members moved to the village and gave it its current aspect and customs. In order to keep these traditions alive, three important festivities take place annually: The National Beer Festivity in October, remembering the German Oktoberfest; that of the Viennese paste in the Holy Week and that of the Alpine Chocolate, in July.
The National Beer Festivity is the most well-known celebration, is hailed as the third-most important Oktoberfest site after Munich and Blumenal in Brazil, Oktoberfest here is hailed as the third-most important Oktoberfest site after Munich and Blumenal in Brazil and has taken place since 1964 and in 1980 became a national event.
Over eleven days, parades, bands, beer tasting, dance exhibitions, beer tasting, eating, beer drinking, and crowning of the Queen of Oktoberfest, this is a huge, international celebration.
Music and dance groups from Europe, other Latin American countries, even Arabia entertain the crowds. Several of the days are designated, such as Swiss/Argentine/Germanic, Italian/Argentine/Germanic and Hispanic/Argentine/Germanic when the program is dedicated to the beer and cultures of those countries.
Other days are a mix of cultural influences, with music and dance performances by international groups from Greece, Croatia, Scotland, Ireland, Lithuania and other countries, all wearing national costumes, as well as Argentine groups.
As a vast natural beach resort, there is the Reartes rivers located a few kilometres far from the city surrounded by beautiful landscapes.
The flora is varied and was introduced from other places in the world. It is made up of pines, cedars, cypresses and oaks combining with autochthonous vegetation made up of hackberry trees and carob trees among others. This place really offers the possibility to be in contact with nature and there are also many sheeps.
I do do do love animals!
This city offers the tourist an excellent infrastructure such as first categories hotels, hostelries and cabins; excellent camp grounds; restaurants, beer saloons and cafeterias with a large variety of typical dishes from Central Europe and tea houses.
The strategic location of Villa General Belgrano allows the tourist to go on different excursions and visit the attractions of the Valley to go back to the Village during the same day.
