Buenos Aires - photo binge and beer review.

More strolling, more chilling and more attention to taking photos.....without much success on the photo front I'm afraid.

We had a day re-exploring Palermo for a spot of solid middle class Buenos Aires instead of the San Telmo working class/arty bum/"bohemian" vibe. Strolled the streets, strolled the park and very much enjoyed seeing that planes were regularly taking off from the airport (notice the obsession with getting to Antarctica this time?).

Back in San Telmo we are confident that we have identified the best drinking street in the barrio, possibly in the whole of Buenos Aires. Calle Bolivar. Conveniently our hotel is on Bolivar, it's the Hotel Bolivar. That's me at the door, completely sober.

Sometime since we were last here the brew-pub/craft beer concept has taken off and there are now very welcome alternatives to good (or not so good) old Quilmes. Antares has been here (in swanky Palermo and swankier Puerto Madero) since our last time around but now it has a branch in San Telmo celebrating three years there, proper proof of gentrification. They don't brew here but they have included a copper feature behind the bar to perhaps suggest the brewing process. Anyway, a decent couple of beer flights were had.

Then we have our "local", about two doors up the street, Breoghan. Really must Google the name 'cause it must have an Irish connection but haven't had time what with all the hanging out doing nothing. We scientifically compared and contrasted the porter and stout, both excellent efforts and nicely dry too. Actually our study of Breoghan brews was undertaken over a series of visits, quite possibly one per day of our stay.

Then we came across the intriguingly-named Malin Head (the name of a headland in the very north of Ireland in Donegal nearish to Letterkenny where I was exiled as an intern), so just had to go inside! It's just been open a month, the Irish link seems to be that the owner has a friend from Donegal and despite it being in its extreme infancy has a couple of decent beers, a fairly cosy atmosphere and a friendly owner.

And finally we have a little bar we only found on the last night but had the potential to be our favourite if we had found it earlier. The Sexton Beer Company is the micro-ist of microbreweries, raising hope again that we can run one from the bar in our garage. And again does a really good, properly dry, stout. So there you go, Calle Bolivar rivaling Boundary Street in West End for pub crawl potential.

Also, just want to remind you that in addition to research on cerveza artesenal we did also seek cultural highlights such as tango, driving past the Teatro Colon, walking historical cobbled streets and sipping coffee in cafes where literary giants gathered in the past. Like here:

Next stop: Antarctica!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (via Ushuaia).