The Women Behind Puerto Madero’s Streets

(3 reviews)

Buenos Aires audio tour: The Women Behind Puerto Madero’s Streets

This is a 1.4mi walking tour

It takes an average of 60 mins to complete.

Buenos Aires

Argentina

$9.99

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About the Tour

Buenos Aires’ most modern neighborhood has centuries of fascinating history beneath its sleek glass façades.

On this walking tour, you’ll hear about the failed harbor project that was Puerto Madero, and find out how it became a vibrant urban district. You’ll also learn about the remarkable women who shaped Argentina’s history, and whose names now grace every street in this unique part of the city.

The tour starts at the Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur, a green oasis that was once destined for urban development. You’ll walk alongside peaceful lagoons teeming with wildlife and explore Micaela Bastidas Park.

As you cross boulevards named after pioneering women, you’ll hear about revolutionary heroines, Latin America’s first female voter, and Argentina’s women’s rights movement. You’ll also discover how Puerto Madero’s streets came to be named mostly after women – a stark contrast to the rest of Buenos Aires. The tour ends at the iconic Puente de la Mujer (Women’s Bridge), with its graceful design depicting a couple dancing tango.

During this 60-minute tour, you’ll have a chance to:

Learn how Julieta Lanteri became the first woman to vote in Latin America through a clever legal loophole
Discover Juana Manso’s pioneering work in education reform and women’s emancipation
Hear the tragic story of Azucena Villaflor, founder of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo human rights movement
Explore the architectural rivalry between Eduardo Madero and Luis Huergo that shaped the district’s distinctive docks
Encounter Fuente de las Nereidas, a magnificent marble fountain that was considered so scandalous in early 20th-century Buenos Aires it was repeatedly relocated
Discover how 1990s redevelopment created a unique urban space integrating historical preservation with modern design

Take this walk through Puerto Madero to understand how this distinctive neighborhood became both an architectural marvel and a tribute to Argentina’s remarkable women.

Tour Producer

Araceli

4 tours

My name is Araceli. I design and produce self-guided tours shaped by field research and urban exploration. I was born in Greater Buenos Aires, and from the age of five my dream was to live in the City of Buenos Aires — a dream I fulfilled in my early youth (long ago and far away!).

I firmly believe — without any scientifically rigorous or remotely “objective” evidence — that Buenos Aires is the best city in the world. In my whimsical ranking of cities, Mar del Plata proudly holds second place. I should add that the ranking ends there; all other cities drift somewhere in a vast and undefined third place.
My work focuses on oral storytelling and urban cultural heritage. I explore themes related to Argentine culture, art, and history, and I am interested in cities, people, everyday stories, music, cinema, and visual art. Through my audio walks, I aim to share a way of seeing the world shaped by these curiosities, from Buenos Aires.

I imagine my listeners as curious people, unhurried wanderers — from Argentina, across Latin America, and around the world — who find in my stories a way to explore the city of Buenos Aires at their own pace, whenever our interests align: places, characters, and moments that deserve dedicated storytelling, attention, and discovery, expanding the way we see the world.

Preview Location

Location 4

Fuente de las Nereidas 2

You can walk around the fountain, and then, you may want to pick a seat or use the stairs to rest for a while and contemplate it as we discuss this piece of art.

The Fountain of the Nereids is popularly known as the Lola Mora Fountain, in recognition of the author. It was o... You can walk around the fountain, and then, you may want to pick a seat or use the stairs to rest for a while and contemplate it as we discuss this piece of art.

The Fountain of the Nereids is popularly known as the Lola Mora Fountain, in recognition of the author. It was one of the most celebrated artistic pieces of the turn of the century in Buenos Aires.

The sculpture was the first marble fountain in the city; previously, fountains were made of cast iron. The materials echoed a specific artistic tradition: Carrara marble and travertine. Think that it was almost entirely made in Rome.

In the creation process, Mora began by making clay molds and then transferring them to plaster. Once she had the final mold, she started with a large block of marble. Her students and assistants made the coarse carving, and then she did the fine work.

It represents the birth of Venus, seen on a seashell supported by two Nereids. At the base of the fountain, groups of rocks emerge from which three male figures appear, holding the reins of three straighten seahorses.

The rock groups are not distributed evenly, but rather frame Venus, establishing a virtual front for the fountain. On the rocky base in the center of the basin are two female figures whose legs become flexible fish tails, like fading the solidity of the marble.

These figures support a second shell that holds a representation of Venus in an unstable position. The rim of this second basin has irregularities that originally allowed for an elaborate water feature, now completely lost.

Although little has been written about the existence of two very different sketches for the Fountain of the Nereids, it is an aspect that deserves attention. One sketch presents the design implemented in the work, while another, possibly earlier, formally and iconographically distances itself from it, where the central figure is Nereus.

The replacement of Nereus with Venus would be an adaptation of the theme initially proposed by Mora to the Municipality, eliminating Nereus and abandoning the tradition of fountains with male deities linked to water.

Although the name of the work places the Nereids at the center, the theme of Mora's fountain is Venus Anadyomene, that is, Venus rising from the sea. The theme of the birth of Venus was closely associated with water and was therefore appropriate for fountains.

So, the title of Mora's fountain highlights precisely these two figures who support the goddess. While this is not Mora's invention, it was unusual for Venus's female companions to exceed their decorative role.

Furthermore, the work has been divided into two distinctly different parts: a masculine one at the bottom and a feminine one at the top. This decision by the author highlights the intention to separate, in the Fountain, a masculine world of seahorses and struggles from a feminine world of grace and triumph. Read More

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Major Landmarks

Puerto Madero Street Circuit
Puente de la Mujer
Fuente de las Nereidas (Lola Mora)
Дикая природа Аргентины
La ola de Nicolás Isidro Bardas (1937)
Mirador Artistas Iberoamericanos
Monumento al Tango
Micaela Bastidas Park
Dique 2 - Puerto Madero
Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur

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Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
Cam. de los Plumerillos, C1107 Cdad. Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Total distance

2km
Final location
Av. Alicia Moreau de Justo 916-914, C1107AAT Cdad. Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Distance back to start location

1km

Directions to Starting Point

The tour begins in Costanera Sur, on the street between Av. Dr. Tristán Achával Rodriguez and the Laguna de los Coipos. For your reference, look for the tile that marks a recognition of hockey player Luciana Aymar, close to the stairs.

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

If you like museums, close to Fuente de las Nereidas is the Museo de la Cárcova (Museum of Reproductions and Comparative Sculpture).
There is also the A.R.A. Sarmiento Frigate museum ship, that is open for visits and is located right next to the Puente de la Mujer, where the tour ends.
Not far from there, there is the private gallery that hosts Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat Art Collection.

Best time of day

During the day is the best time for this tour. If you do it in the morning, the ending point is good area for a coffee or lunch in case you end by midday. But if you pick the afternoon, it is even better to end in the conclusion point during the sunset, maybe having a drink next to the dams.

Precautions

Use a hat and sunglasses to protect from the sun if possible. This tour will take you through some open areas and the sun may be super heavy in the summer. Also, always be very aware of your surroundings.

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App Store Review

“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”