Tigre

TIGRE owes its poetic name to the jaguars - popularly known as tigres in Latin America - that inhabited the Delta region until the beginning of the twentieth century. The town sits on an island bounded by the Río Luján, the Río Reconquista and the Río Tigre and was first documented in 1635 under the name of El Pueblo de las Conchas, a small settlement which functioned as a defensive outpost against Portuguese invasions during the seventeenth century. One of the favoured summer retreats of the Porteño elite in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the town owes its sumptuous mansions and palatial rowing clubs to this period. During this time, the hectic social life revolved around events at the Tigre Club , home to Argentina's first casino , and the Tigre Hotel , whose clientele included Enrico Caruso and the Prince of Wales. The town's decline as a glamorous destination was in part a result of the closure of the Tigre Club's casino (closed in 1933 through a law which prohibited casinos in the vicinity of the capital) and in part a result of the growing popularity of Mar del Plata, 400km south on the Atlantic coast and ever more accessible thanks to the arrival of the railway and improved roads. The Tigre Hotel, a grandiose mock-Tudor construction, was demolished in 1940, although the elegant Tigre Club, to be reopened as a cultural centre, still stands at the apex of the island.   As a departure point for excursions to the Delta and the Isla Martín García , the town itself is sometimes overlooked by tourists. At first sight, it's a bit of a hotchpotch of a place: a recent upsurge in investment in the area has brought new developments, many - such as a slightly twee train station and the mega Parque de la Costa - seem to have been built with scant regard for Tigre's distinctive architectural heritage. Don't be put off by your first impression, however - Tigre offers an appealing mix of faded glamour and day-trip brashness and the bars and restaurants around its recently refurbished riverside area provide perfect vantage points for an unhurried contemplation of the comings and goings of Delta life. The Town   Tigre lies along the western bank of the Río Luján, one of the Delta's main arteries, and the town is divided in half by the smaller Río Tigre, which runs north-south through its centre. A bridge joins the two halves, linking Avenida Cazón to the east with Avenida San Martín to the west. Riverside avenues flank both sides of the Río Tigre, while the broad Paseo Victorica runs along the Río Luján on the western side of town. A good place to begin a tour of the area is around the river terminal, the Estación Fluvial , on the eastern side of town, immediately north of the bridge over the Río Tigre. The point of contact between island and mainland life, the Estación bustles with activity, particularly at weekends, when holidaymakers and locals pass their luggage to the crew of the waiting boats, who pile it on to the roofs of the low wooden vessels. Many Porteños have weekend houses on the islands and a typical Sunday will see them departing en masse, loaded with the ingredients for the obligatory barbecue, and returning in the evening with a large sack of freshly picked oranges.   On the same side of the river as the Estación Fluvial - and well-signposted from the station - you'll find the Parque de la Costa , Vivanco 1509 (Wed, Thurs & Fri 11am-8pm, Sat & Sun 11am-9pm; $18; tel 011/4732-6300), one of Latin America's largest amusement parks, with an enormous and hair-raising aquatic roller coaster, carousels and amusement arcades. A couple of blocks to the west, alongside the Río Luján, there's a rather more serene attraction, the Puerto de Frutos (fruit market; daily 10am-6pm). A Tigre institution, the Puerto de Frutos has declined somewhat in importance since the days when fruit cultivation was the region's main source of income. At weekends crafts, in particular wickerwork - wicker grows in abundance in the Delta - are steadily taking over from fruit as the market's chief product. The most enjoyable part of Tigre to explore on foot lies on the western side of the Río Tigre. Once over the bridge, follow riverside Avenida Lavalle north along the Río Tigre. At the intersection of the river with the Río Luján, Lavalle merges with Paseo Victorica, where there is a pretty riverside walk and plenty of bars and restaurants with views over the river. The Museo Naval , at Paseo Victorica 602 (Mon-Thurs 8am-12.30pm, Fri 8am-5.30pm, Sat & Sun 10am-6.30pm; $2) is housed in the old naval workshops and holds exhibits - such as scale models and navigational instruments - relating to general maritime history, as well as to Argentinian naval history from the British invasions of 1806 and 1807 to the Malvinas conflict. At the end of Paseo Victorica, you will find the Tigre Club . Built in 1900 by the French architect Paul Pater (who also designed Buenos Aires' fine French Embassy) it's a vast turreted and balustraded structure, influenced by grand European hotels of the same period. From here, the road curves round, merging with Avenida Liniers, which leads back towards the bridge. The avenue is flanked by fine, if sometimes slightly decaying, examples of the town's grand nineteenth-century mansions, interspersed with equally luxurious modern residences. Almost as impressive as the street's architecture are its giant trees whose powerful roots have turned the narrow pavement into a kind of pedestrian roller coaster. At no. 818, you'll find reconstructed colonial Casa de Goyechea, housing the Museo de la Reconquista (Wed-Sun 10am-6pm; free), surrounded by a lovely veranda and garden. The building was used as an overnight stop by General Liniers and his troops before launching their counterattack against the British invasions of 1806. The museum has an interesting display of documents and objects relating to the recapture of Buenos Aires, including a number of English caricatures from the time, satirizing the poor performance of British troops. There's also a section devoted to local history as well as the rise and fall of the Tigre Club and Hotel.