Alta Gracia

Alta Gracia is a picturesque little town a short way from the city of Cordoba. We made it to Alta Gracia and back to Cordoba easily in a day.

There are two main tourist draws for Alta Gracia. One is a well preserved but defunct Jesuit ranch and the other is a home where Che lived that has been turned into a small museum about the great man.

You arrive at a small bus station and have to walk through a shady forest with a small river running through it. Here we found horses tethered. We stayed here to enjoy a pack lunch. We spotted plenty of birds and were surprised by the general quietness of the area.

The Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba were named World Heritage site in 2000. In front of the museum is a pretty man-made lake. The buildings were owned by the Jesuits as well as others and the museum reflects the multiple uses of the area. It makes for an interesting 40 minutes paying to enter the museum.

The Che Guevara museum is a small building a little from the centre of Alta Gracia. It is in walking distance of the Estancias. We had to ask for directions to find it. It was cheap to get in. They have plenty of memorabilia from the revolutionary. You learn plenty about the man from a visit. He lived here as a child because his asthma was made worse by the bad air of Rosario.

Cordoba is a big and bustling city. A visit to Alta Gracia is a pleasant retreat to the countryside as well as a chance to see a World Heritage Site and find out about one of Argentina’s most famous and controversial sons.