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“Some lazy days in Salta”
(a page from my Travel Journal)

I reached Salta (map) , a small city in the north of Argentina, at 8pm in the dark, after a spectacular bus ride over the Andes from San Pedro de Atacama (map) in Chile. I took a taxi from the bus terminal to the hotel I’d booked in the city centre. They’d run out of standard rooms so they upgraded me to an Executive room which was huge and had a bed big enough for three! After that simple, totally overpriced hotel in San Pedro de Atacama (where there was no hot water on most days), I was happy to indulge myself with a long hot shower! Heaven!

things to do in salta
Main square buzzing at night.

Later that evening, I walked to Plaza 9 de Julio (9th of July Square) which is Salta’s main square and location of the Salta Cathedral. I was completely bowled over. Before my arrival, I had some reservations about spending six nights in Salta so I booked three and left the other three nights open. After that first evening, I was convinced that Salta was worth visiting!

what to see in salta argentina
Salta Cathedral

Search for hotels in Salta (Booking.com)

As I walked around the colourful, floodlit square with its stately colonial buildings, tall swaying palms, absolutely gorgeous pink cathedral and buzzing terraces, I knew it: I could easily spend six nights in Salta! I chose a small restaurant at the main square to have dinner. A Danish couple sat next to me and we started talking….. and didn’t stop till it was way past 2am!!

Exloring Salta

I spent the next few days just walking around the city centre. I felt totally exhausted after my high-altitude desert adventures so I decided to take it easy for a few days. Salta is a great place to chill but there’s lots to see too. All the highlights are within walking distance and a shady terrace is never far away. It’s a relatively small city (about 0.5 million inhabitants) but I loved its vibrancy. There are many shops, museums and lovely churches to visit plus the people are very friendly.

The elegant Plaza Guemes

I visited the Salta Cathedral and the equally gorgeous San Francisco church, and the Museum of Anthropology which had several Incan mummies on display (fascinating stuff); walked around the main square a dozen times and checked out every one of its terraces(!); strolled up and down the city’s grid streets; and took the cable-car up to the San Bernardo Hill where I had a great view of the city.

Inside the Salta Cathedral
top attractions salta argentina
San Francisco Church
I loved sitting at one of the terraces at the main square.
The view from San Bernadino hill.

The food is ok, though there’s one charming restaurant I really like called El Solar del Convento which has fantastic Bife de Lomos (sirloins). I went there several times and the waiters were very generous with glasses of complimentary bubbles – needless to say, we became best friends very soon. 🙂

 

A day trip to Cafayate

After four days of chilling, I’d regained my energy and enthusiasm and decided to book an excursion to Cafayate (which also happens to be the region’s main wine-producing area). The next day, I was picked up at 7:30am for the drive to Cafayate. Salta is situated in a broad valley and we passed many tobacco (the main crop in this region) plantations. After about two hours, we reached the little hamlet of Alemania, at the entrance to the Quebrada de Las Conches (or the Las Conches Gorge).

The mountains of the Quebrada de Las Conches

The route through the gorge was truly stunning. The mountains in these parts are made up of ancient layers of sedimentary rock full of different types of minerals such as iron and copper. As the mountains were formed (by the forces of tectonic plates crashing into one another and pushing the earth upwards), the layers were exposed, giving the gorge its colourful, stripy appearance. Erosion by wind, water and frost did the rest and the result is a magnificent landscape of towering multi-coloured mountains and extraordinary rock formations.

salta day trip cafayate
Quebrada de Las Conches

Along the way, we stopped at various viewpoints as well as points of interest such as the Devil’s Throat and the Amphitheatre. As we exited the gorge, the landscape became flat again and the vineyards of Cafayate appeared.

The Amphitheatre

The town itself is rather quaint, with broad tree-lined avenues, many restaurants and handicraft markets. We visited the nearby Nanni winery for a wine-tasting (this region specialises in the Torrontes grape which is fruity and fresh, reminiscent of a Gewurztraminer-Chardonnay blend). It was a glorious drive back to Salta through the breathtaking gorge.

A street in Cafayate
Quebrada de Las Conches

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect of the Salta region in northern Argentina but wow, it certainly was worth the visit.

Other Travel Journal entries include:

 

8 Responses

  • Great commentary 🙂 Thank you mate ! Cannot wait for my upcoming Noroeste Adventure!

  • I’m hoping to go to Argentina next year so I’m just starting to do my research on where to go. Salta looks like somewhere I would love to visit. Thanks for the detailed post 🙂

  • […] the accompanying post: ‘Some Lazy Days in Salta‘. Monday, June 14th, 2010 South America TAGS: Argentina, city, monument […]

  • Ahhhh, I loved Salta. This was our first city in Argentina after crossing in from Bolivia. We got integrated quickly into the Argentine way of life–ie, eating ,massive steak dinners after midnight and drinking wine and dancing until the wee hours of the morning. And the area around Salta was stunning, too. Cafayate was one of our favorite cities on our entire year long RTW trip. Biking to and from all the different wineries was such a great way to spend some days. And Torrontes, yummy. Great post to get me all nostalgic about that region.

  • I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

    Margaret

    http://cardrawing.net

  • Thank you Margaret for your kind comment. I’m really glad you like the Velvet Escape blog. I hope to keep publishing interesting, inspirational and exciting new articles! Hope to hear from you again soon.

    Best regards,
    Keith

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