Topping the list of things I wanted to experience in Buenos Aires was San Telmo Market (aka Mercado…read morede San Telmo), a national historic monument and market hall that's been around since 1897. Because I also wanted to experience the Sunday street fair (Feira de San Telmo) outside its doors I came, initially, on a Sunday.
Big mistake.
By all means, enjoy the street fair on a Sunday but by no means try to enjoy San Telmo Market that same day. By late afternoon, when I tried to enter the market hall (consisting almost entirely of food and drink purveyors), the place was so packed that one could barely move. The sole place I found with any space was an unoccupied stool in a wine bar so I plopped down and drank wine for the next 90 minutes, not an entirely bad idea. Getting food - let alone navigating myself around the place - seemed a task beyond my abilities.
I left San Telmo Market vowing to return on a day when I could walk its aisles, see all of the places to eat and drink, and sit down to enjoy a meal. I did all of this on a weekday afternoon with success.
The hall is filled with places to eat and drink (and really, not a lot more than that) and checking all of them out was fun. You could find similar food elsewhere in Buenos Aires but then you'd not be sitting inside a historic market hall.
Make time for San Telmo Market but if you go on a Sunday, don't say you weren't warned.