100 Posts since I started this blog
We arrived at Mendoza in the early hours and it was quite
straightforward to get a taxi to the hotel.
We were able to check in early and catch up on sleep. However the bus journey had not been too bad. Our ‘luxury seats’ on Andesmar were not quite
that, but comfortable enough to sleep most the journey and not notice the fact
we were climbing the world’s second tallest mountain range. Even Argentinian customs was pretty
straightforward.
Later we headed out to Maipu by bus where we hired bikes and
went around wineries. However it ended
up being more bike and less wine, albeit in sunshine and good temperature. Despite this we went to two wineries and the
wine was not that great except for maybe the Malbec at the second. Although the tours where shortish we got a
little insight into the production process including explanations about French
vs American oak. Bizarrely I even bumped
into an ex-colleague who had left my last organisation before me on leaving a
winery- which was quite strange.
That night we headed out to 1884 Francis Malman, which is
the ‘top’ restaurant in Mendoza. The
place was extremely up market and the service was really good. So was the bread, Bife and deserts ect. It made Gaucho in London look like a poor
cousin. In the end despite having been a
high end experience the bill came to the equivalent of around £84, which for
main, excellent deserts, continuous water and a bottle of Malbec. Afterwards we were pretty stuffed. Was it the best in Mendoza? – Well that will
be covered later.
The next day we woke up later and were able to do a late
check out. Overall we were pretty
impressed with the Hotel Internacional in Mendoza, since we were able to check
in early, check out late and the staff were always pretty helpful.
Instead of leaving town we opted to wander around. To be honest there is not a huge amount to
see- it is more a place to experience.
As a town it is a decent size, mainly because it is quite spread out
covering a large surface area.
The highlight of the day was the Don Mario steakhouse. I had
been recommended by a taxi driver and also the internet. It was very good. Unlike 1884 it was quite quiet and local. The waiter recommended a choice of three different
steaks to share giving a variety of cuts.
This was a great choice, since they were all great ranging from tender
to full of flavour. We also did well on
the wine. The method of choosing the
cheapest Malbec each time paid dividends, since this was definitely the best I
had in Mendoza. I ended up drinking most
the wine and felt pretty drunk.
So much so that when getting an ice cream in town I crushed
the cone and had to dive down to catch the falling ice cream. The afternoon was filled with more wine at a
wine tasting place and then a bar, before it was time to leave Mendoza.
Overall I was very sad to leave Argentina, which I had a
very positive opinion of in the short time I spent there.
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