Watching the World Cup in Argentina

Is that James...? Or Lionel Messi??

James and I are not really football people. However, we couldn't help but get into the spirit when spending the whole of the Brazilian World Cup in 2014 in neighbouring football mad Argentina.

Living in England, I thought I knew what a football mad nation looked like. How wrong could I be?

A quick guide to the quirky towns of Las Sierras de Córdoba

The best way to see the towns and the countryside around Córdoba is to hire a car and go exploring! But where to go? Here is our quick guide to the towns and villages in the Sierras. 

The open road

The towns are listed in the order we visited them. We hired a car for 4 days (3 nights).

We spent most of the first day in Alta Gracia and the night in Belgrano. The following day we were in La Cumbrecita for the day. We spent our second night in Belgrano. 

Las Sierras de Córdoba - Part 2: Little Germany, pretty views and some wine!

Chairlift up the Sugar Loaf Mountain near Cosquin

While in Córdoba - Argentina's second city, we hired a car to explore the surrounding countryside, which is dotted with interesting villages as well as beautiful landscapes.

We spent most of our first day in Alta Gracia, exploring the Jesuit Estancia and at the Che Guevara museum. To read more about our time in Alta Gracia see this post.

Las Sierras de Córdoba - Part 1: Che Guevara

James hanging out with Che

We’d heard that the countryside surrounding Cordoba was worth a visit, both for the beautiful landscapes as well as the quirky

Learning about the dictatorship in Córdoba

Like many (all?) countries in South America, Argentina has a pretty brutal history.

Although we’d had some idea of the events of the late 1970s and early 1980s during the time of the military dictatorship, the guide on our walking tour in Buenos Aires really brought home the brutality of the regime, when he highlighted that from 1976 to 1983 up to 30,000 people were ‘disappeared’ by the military.