Lunch in Puerto Madero
From the Plaza, a short walk east brings you to the waterfront of Puerto Madero. The old port — built in the 1880s, made obsolete by 1926 when the new port opened further north, and left to decay for decades — was redeveloped from the 1990s onward into a district of converted brick warehouses, riverside promenades, glass towers, and expensive restaurants.
Lunch here before crossing to the western dock. The neighbourhood's flagship piece of engineering stands just ahead: the Puente de la Mujer, a pedestrian bridge that crosses Dique 3 on a single inclined white mast. Designed by Santiago Calatrava and opened in December 2001, the 170-metre bridge weighs 800 tonnes and has a central span of 102.5 metres that rotates 90 degrees on its concrete pylon to allow vessels to pass. Calatrava described the design as representing a couple dancing the tango — the white mast symbolising the man, the curve of the bridge the woman. The streets of Puerto Madero are all named for notable Argentine women, which is why the bridge carries the name it does.