Cities - The Real Buenos Aires 1 of 2 - BBC Travel Documentary, recorded 02.10.2010 To arrive in Buenos Aires is to find oneself somewhere at once deeply familiar and entirely new. Buenos Aires is sometimes called 'the Paris of the South' With its mix of old world charm and new world edginess, Buenos Aires has an electricity about it that is hard to describe, but impossible not to notice. Argentina began as a backwater of Spain's South American colonies but by the early 20th Century had risen to become one of the richest nations in the world. The expression 'rich as an Argentine' was bandied about in Europe, as boatloads of portenos landed on the continent - often with servants in tow - to do the grand tour. The city still lays claim to the title 'Paris of the South' and more than any other Latin American capital, Buenos Aires has traditionally looked to Europe - not just Spain, but France, England, Belgium and beyond. When the money from its rich farmlands poured into the coffers of the city's wealthiest families, they built Hausmannesque boulevards and slate-roofed mansions. Potent mix Many Argentines have their roots in Europe thanks to a push for immigration in the late 19th Century. In fact you'll hear as many Italian surnames here (Maradona being undoubtedly the most famous) as you will Spanish, with plenty of Swiss, German and Russian names mixed in. It's this potent mix of cultures that lends Buenos Aires its distinctly cosmopolitan feel. It's also this mongrel blend - one of which portenos are intensely proud - that gave birth to the city's startlingly original cultural output: the music of the tango, the works of writers like Borges, Julio Cortazar and Manuel Puig, the genius of athletes like Maradona and Lionel Messi. It's an exuberant city where it's easy to feel at home - but Buenos Aires has a tragic past. The rule of Juan Peron in the 1940s and 50s brought industrialisation and the education of the working classes to Argentina, along with a particular political style that mixed populism and authoritarianism with the welfare state. Argentina's 'dirty war' of the 1970s was a violent time for Buenos Aires The periods of political violence and military dictatorship that followed created untold suffering - most famously the disappearance of as many as 30,000 Argentines in extra-judicial kidnappings and killings. Though many of Argentina's founders were great statesmen, who dreamed of a truly modern democracy founded on the ideals of the French and American Revolutions, like so many of its neighbours Argentina has struggled to achieve political and economic stability. But despite its sometimes desperate need for a facelift, the city never fails to delight and surprise with its solemn beauty, its melancholy romance and its lively, noisy, warm and unruly inhabitants. In the past decade, Buenos Aires has become a city that attracts an eclectic mix of expats and travellers, who come here for the sophistication of Europe at south-of-the-equator prices, and the stimulation of a city bursting with cultural life, from its theatres and art galleries to its live music scene and bustling bars and restaurants. For more Information, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/real_cities/9038530.stm .

• published: 06 Feb 2011
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