La Oriental Estancia, Mendoza and Rosario
Our trip to Argentina would have felt incomplete without a visit to wine country in Mendoza and seeing the Pampas. Killing two birds with one stone, we set out from Buenos Aires in our hire car with a stop scheduled at La Oriental estancia, before our five nights in Mendoza.
The estancia we chose was due to be a three and a half hour drive from Buenos Aires. However, our drive took considerably longer than this after the map we had printed turned out to be somewhat insufficient and we spent two extra hours driving aimlessly through deserted and seemingly identical dirt roads. Usually unflappable in situations where extreme navigation is required, Alasdair began fearing that the pampas might be our permanent home, as we were each silently calculating how long the packet of biscuits and five litres of water could keep us going until help arrived! Fortunately through some guess-work, an iPhone compass and the first human contact in days (OK, two hours!), we were eventually set on the right track. Upon arrival, the aforementioned immediately melted away.
The most luxurious place we’ve stayed on our travels, this was our Christmas gift to each other and one that will be remembered for a long time. Getting a few strange looks when people asked how long we were travelling for, we hastily added this was not our usual style of travel! La Oriental is set within a 2400 acre estate and has a working farm producing soya and raising cattle. Stepping into the house was like stepping into the set of a Noel Coward play, with beautiful period features and rooms with ceilings reaching seven metres high. Our host kindly upgraded our room and it was quite hard to contain our excitement as she showed us to the grandest room imaginable, complete with an en-suite with a roll-top bath! An estancia stay isn’t complete without partaking in a variety of activities and we enjoyed a sunset canoe, walks through the grounds, a horse ride at dusk in the pampas with the wonderful Miguel, some archery and soaking up the surroundings by the pool. We felt thoroughly content and sorry to leave, as we set out on our 10 hour drive to Mendoza.
During the first nine hours of this long drive, the landscape remained unchanged, making us realise the scale of Argentina’s agricultural heartland. A long but easy drive, we arrived in Mendoza in the evening. Having had several successful Airbnb stays during our travels, we had booked into another for our wine-tasting week. Oh how the mighty fell! Mendoza ‘Cool House’ (the clue should have been in the listing) could not have been further from the luxury of the last two nights. From roll-top bath to a toilet that needed a piece of string and a bucket to flush it! Having done a lot of searching for reasonable accommodation with no luck, we resigned ourselves to the fact we would live like unlucky students for five nights.
We found Mendoza city to be a little bland, with a couple of nice restaurants but little else going for it. That didn’t bother us though, as we were here to taste wine! Our first day of wine tasting was somewhat thwarted, after we discovered that the majority of the wineries in Luján de Cuyo only accepted appointments by reservation. Several hours of driving and one strange visit to an empty winery, where the woman leading the tasting stared at us as we were awkwardly sipping our wine, we were wondering if we should just head to the nearest supermarket to stock up and give up.
The next day was a different story when we visited the beautiful Valle de Uco. Whilst the day before we'd found ourselves driving by and failing to visit imposing, unwelcoming and hugely commercial wineries, we chose a little better in Valle de Uco. We visited small family run wine-producers and a larger but friendly vineyard. The day was made by an amazing lunch at the incredible Azul winery. A relaxing few hours were spent eating delicious food and drinking equally delicious wine under a shady canopy. If you’re ever in the area, go there!
Our final couple of days were spent exploring Maipu, where there are more smaller wineries and olive oil producers, and soaking in the Cacheuta thermal baths overlooking the foothills of the Andes. All in all a lovely week!
Having been firmly on the tourist trail, we were looking to try and find somewhere that would give us a taste of Argentina that hasn’t yet been cornered by gringos. With that in mind, we decided to head to the second, second city of Argentina - Rosario. A very Argentinian, Argentine city, Rosario celebrates being home to the location of the inaugural use of the national flag. In the centre of the city, there’s an imposing monument dedicated to General Manuel Belgrano, who was the creator of the flag. Belgrano is laid to rest under the tower of the monument, where sightseers can take a lift to the top to get views over Rosario.
It turns out that our slightly left-field decision was a good one, as we got to visit a place where we didn’t meet any other foreign tourists, where locals were interested in speaking to us and where we felt we got a taste of a city without the polished veneer of say Bariloche or Buenos Aires. There isn’t loads to see here (especially if you happen to be there on one of the days where the museums are closed, as we were!) but it’s a pretty city with interesting places to explore for a short stopover. We’d definitely recommend heading here for a night or two if you have time and you’re curious to visit somewhere a little different…just make sure you can speak a little Spanish!