Walking around Rosario’s city center

Laura Sofia, thanks again for your offer
to show us around the city center.

No problem. My pleasure.

I already mentioned
in our earlier conversation…
The city looks spacious and really sunny
especially if you look from the river…
I also noticed that Rosario has
very beautiful, European-style buildings.
I wonder when were they built?
Was it long time ago?

This building…
It’s called “Palacio Cabanellas”
It was built in 1916.

I see. Almost a hundred years ago.
Interesting.

Yes, and another interesting fact is that…
Francisco Roca, its architect…
he was influenced by Gaudí.
So, it a fine example of the catalan-style Art Nouveau.
And yes!
We can say that most of these buildings were built…
between 1910 and 1920.

Yes, yes, that’s right.
That was the time when Rosario was growing fast.
I wonder what is in this building, on the right?
Is it a bank?
Or an office, perhaps?

Oh… that building on the right…
it’s the Rosario Board of Trade…
They trade agricultural commodities…
The organization was founded on 1884.

Well, yes, certainly,
Rosario is the economic center of the region.
And these buildings… in the city center…
I wonder if people actually live in these buildings?
Or these are just offices?

Most of them are offices.
But there are also people
living in some of these buildings.
So, yes, there are both residential and office buildings.

Is this market open every day, or only on weekends?

This market…
or we call it a fair…
is open every day starting from 5am or 6am.
It’s in summer.
And only on the weekends in winter.

OK… back to Pellegrini avenue…
One of the central streets in Rosario, right?

Yes, Pellegrini avenue is a symbol of Rosario.
The best restaurants are there.
There is a park at the end of this avenue.
It’s very beautiful.
It’s called the Independence Park.

I see. The park is, indeed, very beautiful.
I wonder if the park gets crowded on weekends?

Yes, exactly!
In summer it gets crowded on weekends,
especially in the afternoon or in the evening.

The football stadium is also in the park, right?
Does the city have more than one big stadium?

Yes, the Newell’s Old Boys stadium…
It is here, in the Parque Independencia.
And the other big stadium is located in La Florida.
It is called “el Gigante de Arroyito”.
Rosario Central plays there.
It’s is the largest football stadium in our city.
There is a real rivalry between these two football teams.
It’s called Clásico Rosarino…
One the best-known rivalries
in Argentinian football.

Ah… and I know that Messi is from Rosario.

Yes, Leonel Messi was born in this city
He played for Newell’s Old Boys junior team
before he went to Barcelona.
In fact, some his ancestors came to Argentina from Catalonia.
Did you know that?

Wow, I didn’t know that.
Thanks, this is really interesting.

Is it a cafe, or a music club?

It is the Rock&Feller’s cafe.
We have two of them in our city.
One is located at Oroño Boulevard.
And the other is…
at the entrance to Alto Rosario Shopping Center.

Very beautiful trees.
The picture was taken in May, right?
So it must have been autumn in Rosario.

Yes, this is Rosario in autumn.

I also noticed a lot of national flags
around the city.
I wonder if it is like that every day
or was it a national holiday?
I noticed something similar in Paris…
But in many other countries
you don’t see the flag on the streets very often.

I think I’ve took this photo on 25th of May.
It’s a patriotic day for us…
because of the Revolution in 1810.
We use the flags on the streets
for two main reasons…
a national holiday,
or an important football game…
like the final game
between Argentina and Germany
in the World Cup last year.
The Argentinian flag was born in Rosario…
So we use very often the flag,
especially on monuments
and historical buildings.

Really amazing time to visit the park.
It’s yellow and green.
Now this park does not look too big.
Perhaps, this makes it even more attractive.

True. It does look beautiful.

This is another nice building.
What is in there?
And so many flags again.
I guess some of them must be Santa Fe province flags.

Yes, they are.
This building is called “Palacio de los Leones”
It is the office of the municipal government.
It’s next to the National Flag Memorial.

And, the National Flag Memorial…
It does look very impressive.

National Flag Memorial is
the main architectural symbol of the city.
It’s at the riverside.
It was inaugurated on June 20, 1957.

Thanks again, Laura Sofia.
Rosario is really a fantastic place to visit.

No worries. For sure… it’s a great city.

Images: Copyright, Laura Sofia Piris.