The narrow, cobbled streets of San Telmo are slowly coming to life. The Porteños – Buenos Aires residents – are kick-starting a long and lazy four-day weekend with caffeine and medialuna pastries. The autumn air is crisp, as are the white silk floss tree leaves that float down over Plaza Dorrego as a lone bandoneon player warms up his fingers before beginning to busk.
Elizabeth Gleeson and her daughters, Luisa and Nova, briefly stop to watch, before hurrying along to the relative warmth of Mercado de San Telmo, the historic indoor market that houses a fascinating — if, today, somewhat gentrified — blend of family-run fruit and veg sellers, antiques dealers and speciality coffee shops under its domed roof.
One of South America’s most exciting capitals, Buenos Aires has long been attractive to migrants and visitors from many corners of the Old World (although less so during the sultry summer months, between December and February, when humidity tends to hit 90%).
In order to populate the country after gaining independence from the Spanish in 1816, Argentina encouraged a wave of Europeans to the nascent ‘Land of Silver’ from the mid-19th century to the 1950s — mostly from Spain, Italy and France, but also Scotland, England and Wales, as well as Syria and the Russian Empire, many of whom were escaping persecution and war, or dreaming of a better future.
Today, Venezuelans, Colombians and Paraguayans make up most of the country’s migrants. Elizabeth, a textile designer and entrepreneur, originally hails
