Cecilia’s sister Adriana lives in Rosario, and they invited me to spend a few days there with them last weekend and the beginning of this week. I didn’t know anything about Rosario and wasn’t sure what to expect, but I enjoyed it very much.
Rosario has three claims to fame: Che Guevara was born there, Lionel Messi (international football star) was born there, and — much more importantly — the national flag of Argentina was first raised there in 1812.
El Monumento al Bandera
The massive Monumento al Bandera is a major feature of the city, and extremely impressive. It’s built in the shape of a ship, and it takes up a full city block. I particularly loved how it looked at night. It’s illuminated in blue, with stripes down all four sides of the tower, giving it the impression of the flag itself. Here are a few photos of the monument.
Front of the monument from behind
To give an idea of the scale. I did feel small!
Lights reflect the colours and shape of the flag itself.
Eternal flame over the tomb of the unknown soldier
Statue of Belgrano, who created the flag and raised it for the first time
Cornerstone of the monument
Bar El Cairo
Cecilia took me to this lovely old cafe/bar, which was originally a small theatre. There was a famous caricaturist and writer called Roberto Fontanarossa who frequented Ciaro back in the forties (I think) and there’s a lot of homage to him here. One of the pictures is of the table he always sat at, and now it’s reserved for artists and actors.
The door with its exotic signage
Cecilia and I posing with Fontanarossa
Posing with the cartoon of Che Guevara
The Beautiful Architecture Downtown
Falabella
Lovely old department store, Falabella
Falabella ceiling
Felt like a queen on this staircase!
Time for a cold drink after all the walking!
I actually did a couple of sketches of the monument, but haven’t had time to photograph them yet. I’ll do a separate post one day with some sketches.