Avenida de Mayo is one of my favorite streets in Buenos Aires. It is a grand avenue that runs 13 blocks, from the Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada, to the Congress. Planned and designed during the period when Argentina began its rise as the "European Capital of South America". Colonial buildings were razed (with one exception - the Cabildo) and in their place, grand structures of neoclassical, art deco or art nouveau design. Many of them are hotels.
Now, Avenida de Mayo seems forgotten except for protestors who often block it off to traffic as they make their way from the Congress to Plaza de Mayo, or perhaps in the other direction, and tourists, who often stand in line for hours to get into Cafe Tortoni, a classic old cafe where the likes of Borges and friends used to sit over a cup of coffee.
I'd like to see Avenida de Mayo one day made a UN World Heritage Site so that it can be protected and cared for.
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