Bahía Blanca

Sprawling out into the empty pampa like a disjointed patchwork quilt BAHÍA BLANCA is not the most immediately appealing of cities. Though it's the economic and industrial centre of the south of Buenos Aires Province, with nearly 300,000 inhabitants, it has a rather subdued feel and many Argentinians regard it as not only a bit dull but as synonymous with the military: the country's largest naval base, Puerto Belgrano, lies 20km southeast of town and, during the 1976-83 military dictatorship, the city was the site of one of Argentina's most notorious torture and detention centres, known as "La Escuelita" and chronicled by one of its ex-detainees, Alicia Partnoy, in her book The Little School: Tales of Disappearance and Survival in Argentina (1986). Despite this somewhat negative image, the city shouldn't be written off altogether: its transport links with Sierra de la Ventana , resorts of the pampa region and major Patagonian cities are a practical plus and, once you head into town, you'll find a spread of handsome - if fairly typical - early twentieth-century architecture and enough modest attractions amongst its parks, museums and galleries to fill a day or so. Five kilometres southwest of the centre lie the ramshackle but charming cobbled streets of Puerto Ingeniero White , a blend of hulking great industrial architecture and faded remnants of the days when its bars and cantinas were the raucous centre of social life for the then vibrant port area. At the heart of the area is the fabulous Museo del Puerto , an ingenious museum dedicated to recording the history, memories and even recipes of the port's largely immigrant population. From Bahía Blanca it's an easy journey to the region's main beach resort, Monte Hermoso or the nearby, much smaller, village of Pehuén-Có . The City Despite its straggling outskirts, Bahía's centre is compact, walkable and easy to find your way around. The main square is the distinguished Plaza Rivadavia , covering four blocks and bordered by an array of grand public edifices, largely constructed in the slightly ponderous vein of French Second Empire architecture favoured in Argentina at the beginning of the twentieth century - note the sharply pitched roofs and heavy ornamentation characteristic of this style. On the southeastern side of the square, at Alsina 65, you'll find the muncipalidad and, to the right of the main entrance, the tourist office and the Museo de Bellas Artes (Tues-Sun 4-8pm; free; tel 0291/455-0110 ex. 2126), with an interesting programme of temporary exhibitions. The four blocks to the immediate southwest of Plaza Rivadavia were the site of Bahía Blanca's original fort, the Fortaleza Protectora Argentina: a maquette of the fort can be seen in the entrance to the Museo Histórico Muncipal (Tues-Sun 3-8pm; free; tel 0291/456-3117), which is located in the basement of the Teatro Municipal, at Dorrego 116, three blocks to the northeast of the Plaza. Housing a run-of-the-mill, if slightly eclectic, collection ranging from archeological remains from the area's indigenous inhabitants - Tehuelche, Querandí, Serrano, Araucano and Mapuche Indians - to pistols and cameras, the museum is worth a quick spin round, but not much more. The theatre itself is a refined, compact building, inaugurated in 1913, which offers a varied musical programmme of folk music, opera, jazz and tango as well as theatre and dance. Just beyond the theatre, Avenida Além leads off to the left. A pleasant tree-lined avenue flanked by an interesting mix of architectural styles which hint at English, French and Italian influence but remain defiantly Argentinian, it is frequented by students from the nearby university. The imposing columned facade of the Universidad Nacional del Sur lies between San Juan and Córdoba; in front of the entrance is a pretty two-tiered marble fountain sculpted by Argentina's most famous female sculptor, Lola Mora. Despite the sinuous nymphs which encircle the fountain, the sculpture is saved from whimsicality by the boldness of its central motif - a huge, intricately detailed and fleshy bud. Just past the university is the entrance to Parque de Mayo , a pleasant leafy park, with a small café. The northeast side of the park leads to the Arroyo Napostá , a narrow stream, where you can take a leisurely stroll along a riverside path popular with runners and cyclists. Various simple arched bridges cross over to Avenida Fuerte Argentino where there are a number of good restaurants. Following the path to the east brings you to the Paseo de las Esculturas , a series of sculptures made using scrap metal, including tracks and pieces of carriages, salvaged from the railway in the early 1990s. Standing out amongst the pieces, all by local sculptors, is an abstract work by "Pájaro" Gómez, an appropriately bird-like design (pájaro means bird in Spanish). Away from these modest attractions, there's little else to see in the centre of Bahía, though if you want to see a slightly idiosyncratic piece of architectural history you could head southwest from Plaza Rivadavia along Avenida Colón. After ten blocks you come to a bridge over the railway tracks and, on the other side to your left lies the dourly named Calle Brickman . Known as the Barrio Inglés , the street's semi-detached dwellings were built by the English railway companies to house their workers. Their red-brick facade stands out amongst the more traditionally Argentinian whitewashed and stuccoed buildings and, though their rather French shutters mean that they can scarcely be called typically English, the houses would not look entirely out of place in a south London suburb.