San Martin Park-La Isla de Inmigrantes (Immigrant Island)
If you’re staying in Mendoza city center with an extra afternoon on your hands, it can be difficult to know where to start in exploring the city. While many of Mendoza’s main attractions, such as the lovely wineries, are located outside the city and require a rental car or a hired driver, here are a few sights you can see on foot.
San Martin Park: El Parque de General San Martin itself is massive, but there’s a nice lake at the entrance of the park that is ideal for lounging with a bottle of wine, cheese and olives. You can also take a nice stroll around the lake with an ice cream from the Ferrucio Soppelsa truck parked nearby or sit on one of the benches in the rose garden and people-watch. The park is packed on Sunday afternoons as families and friends get together weekly to catch up with each other. The park begins at Avenida Boulogne Sur Mer.
Plaza de Independencia: After a massive earthquake struck decades ago, city planners constructed four plazas surrounding one main plaza, Plaza de Independencia, to give Mendocinos a refuge. Plaza de Independencia has a lovely main fountain as well as an assortment of vendors selling their craftwork during the evenings—the most popular night to go are Sundays. While Plaza de Independencia, as well as the four surrounding plazas now have the national guard patrolling the area, it’s always best to avoid the plazas late at night.
Mercado Central: Located at Las Heras and Patricias Mendocinas, the Central Market is the oldest and biggest market in Mendoza, offering fresh fruits, vegetables and of course, meat. Word of caution to those with light stomachs. It’s not uncommon to see an entire pig carcass at the butchers. The Central Market can be a great place to stock up for a picnic in the park. There’s also a food court within the market for those who don’t do much cooking themselves.
Aristides: THE street to grab a beer, sit outside and enjoy life. The street is packed Wednesday through Sunday with people going out between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., but ordering a nice meat and cheese plate (called a picada) is a normal Saturday afternoon affair as well if you’re not accustomed to the late Argentinian schedule.
Cerro de La Gloria: Glory Hill is located within San Martin park, but its quite the hike from the entrance. If you enter the main gates of the park at Boulogne Sur Mer and Emilio Civit and keep walking a few miles, you will reach Mendoza’s zoo at the foot of Cerro de La Gloria. If you ascend the same hill, you’ll see Mendoza’s dedication to General San Martin, the “liberator” of Argentina, and his troops. If you’re not up for the walk, there are orange tour buses at the intersection of Sarmiento and 25 de Mayo in the center that give you a tour around the city, including to Cerro de La Gloria. To really immerse yourself in the culture, take the city bus 112 Zoologico on Line 3 at the same intersection—make sure you have $1.40 in change as the buses don’t accept bills.
In addition to these main sites, walking down the Sarmiento pedestrian path doing some shopping or grabbing souvenirs on Las Heras can be a great way to spend a relaxing, low-key afternoon. Look for our next post on close by daytrips from Mendoza—to the wineries, the mountains and beyond!
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