2nd stop -Mendoza!
We are in Mendoza!! And honestly, this place is great!
After a short flight, private collection and shuttle to the hotel once again (you really have to love Kuoni!) we have arrived in Mendoza. We are staying at the 5* Sheraton http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1733&EM=VTY_SI_1733_MENDOZA_PROP_OVERVIEW . The hotel is gorgeous, we thought the Buenos Aires hotel was good however this one has lots of cool stuff. A full blown Casino for one. There are also two water walls and live singers at night. One full wall of our room on the 11th floor is window which is pretty amazing. The views over the city at night when we arrived were spectacular, you could see for miles and miles… Come morning and sunrise the view got even better – a huge pinky red sun breaking through the cloud – we have some amazing photos, the sky a mix of blues greys oranges pinks and red.
Another nice thing about this hotel was their wee gift – after 5 mins in our room we recieved a complimentary bottle of champers! Woo hoo!!
Mendoza is beautiful, and personally, I really think it´s way superior to Buenos Aires (BA). BA is such a large metropolis. Mendoza is smaller, quainter, prettier, more relaxed. The buildings are largely older (although there are a good few modern ones, especially where our hotel is in the heart of the financial district). You never walk far without coming across a square or a park. And all the parks have all of their main buildings surrouning them (town hall, church etc) I would actually love to live here given half the chance….
Today after breakfast we walked for 3 hours around the town. The sun was shining, there was a lovely breeze, it was heavenly. There are many small wineries, boutiques and specialist shops. I bought my first piece of holiday jewellery today from a wee silvermiths – a pair of silver dragonfly earings, they are very pretty and delicate. A bit like Mendoza. We spent a good chunk of the morning meandering around parks (Plaza Independcia and the very large Park San Martin) dotted with sculptures and statues. Very relaxing . We also had a strong coffee in a delightfully posh wee coffee house in one of the more affluent areas of older ladies made up to the nines reading daily papers. We visited the Italian and Spanish squares .. lots of squares!
I am currently in the Sheraton bar catching up on this lest I forget. The lighting is subdued, the air is filled with the aroma of Orchids and ambiant music is playing in the background. I am tempted to have a drink however am saving myself for later – we have booked a private wine tour for this afternoon, wine especially Malbec I believe is what Mendoza is primarly famous for. I am so looking forward to this tour as I am rather partail to a wee vino or 10 More to follow on our return …
So we went to two vineyards, Norton and Alta Vista. The tours are not unlike the whisky tours in Scotland. Large vats, casks and vaults. The highlight of both was obviously the tasting after each tour Argentina didnt really export wine until about 10 years ago, not so much anyroads. Then, due to increased beer, soft drink advertising consumtion internally dropped from 90 to 30 litres per person and they looked overeas. This is good news for us as the wine is good. We sampled a Norton fizzy and a premier Malbec. We came away with a pink Norton fizzy which you cant get in the UK. Alta Vista was smaller, french owned. The tasting there was unusal, I dont generally like white however there was an unsual white (Torrontes) which smelt like it should be sweet but was in fact very dry. There was a premier Malbec (light) and another older aged malbec. What a wonderful way to spend the afternoon! There are thousands of wineries and vineyards in Mendoza and we really wished we had more time to visit them…
Tonight we headed down to the Sheraton resturant for a Brazillain night, live music and Brazillain food. Early start tomorrow ( 6 am ) so quite and undescriptive short blog tonight.
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