From the botanical garden, the afternoon opens into the streets of Palermo Viejo. The neighborhood rewards wandering: low houses converted into boutiques and cafés, murals in the side streets, the occasional old parrilla or social club holding its ground amid the gentrification. The destination is the Plazoleta Julio Cortázar — officially named for the Argentine writer who set several of his short stories in this neighborhood, including "Simulacros," and who lived here for years. The renaming came in 1994, though virtually everyone still calls it by its old name, Plaza Serrano. It sits at the intersection of calles Honduras and Serrano (now also mapped as Borges), and is the de facto center of Palermo Soho: a circular plaza ringed with brightly painted cafés and boutiques. On weekends an artisan fair runs from mid-morning into the afternoon. It is as good a place as any to sit, drink coffee, and let the pace of the city come to you before dinner.
Dinner and Arrival: Recoleta
Palermo is one of the better places to eat in Buenos Aires — the density of restaurants along and around calles Honduras, Costa Rica, and Thames means there is no shortage of options within a short walk of the plaza, from traditional parrillas to more contemporary porteño cooking. After dinner, the walk back east to Recoleta is manageable, or an Uber if the day has caught up with you.