The journey from Tucumán to Córdoba was scheduled to take about eight hours but of course the bus was late and took longer than expected so we arrived late in the dark and by this time it was raining heavily. We were surprised to find that The Locomotion Pop Hostel lacked any sign and that the door was locked. However, we were finally let in but were immediately a bit underwhelmed. We could take the wild psychedelic paintings that covered all the walls but we were pretty put off by the smoky atmosphere, the preponderance of grubby beanbags to sit on and the sense of a very untidy place. We were shown the kitchen and immediately decided to eat out a lot! The final straw came when we were taken to our room. This required us to ascend a narrow unlit spiral staircase onto the roof of the building (in the rain), cross the roof to the next house and then descend an outdoor staircase to some more rooms. It appeared that there was a more conventional entrance (although still via the street) but nobody knew where the key was. As it was so late, we decided to stay one night and use the WiFi (the only thing that appeared to be fully working) to book into another hotel for the next day. We spent a hot and stuffy night (our room had the slowest fan that we had ever known) with nagging fears of how we would get out in an emergency (being pretty sure the hostel wouldn't meet fire regulations!)

So we walked to our new hotel the next morning and quickly settled in. It is much more efficient (and expensive) and right by the main square. We had a really good feeling for the city during a quick walk around. Córdoba is Argentina’s second city with a number of universities and colleges, some dating back to Jesuit times. Many of the main buildings in and around the city are also of Jesuit origin and together have just been declared a Unesco World Heritage site. The city is obviously proud of its heritage and has really gone to town to present all the buildings well. It was clear that lots have been recently renovated with increasing amounts of pedestrian areas around them to avoid damage by road vehicles. In addition, the city has just set up a system to illuminate all the buildings, particularly picking out details of walls, doors and windows. This gives a particularly magical effect late at night and gives everyone a really good excuse to stay up even later than they would normally!

Although work on the Iglesia Catedral started in 1577, progress was slow (taking nearly 200 years to complete) and the final lavish wall and ceiling paintings were done by the Córdoban artist Emelio Caraffa in the early 20th century. The Jesuits established themselves in Córdoba in 1599 and immediately started building. Over the next 25 years they took over the work on the cathedral, put up a new church (Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús) with an adjoining Capilla Doméstica and established two universities. These buildings make a stunning group but close by and all around there are even more.

In 1628 the Iglesia Santa Teresa was built to serve the attached convent of barefoot Carmelite Nuns (even today still esconced behind the closed doors of a new section). Meanwhile, a part of the old convent building has been converted to a museum of religious art surrounding a beautiful and calm courtyard that could persuade even a hardened atheist to consider taking holy orders. The church is open to visitors but the only contact with the nuns is through a revolving cupboard that allows goods to change hands.

The Cabildo (Town council building) shares one side of the main square with the cathedral but was completed in 1785 so is therefore a bit of a newcomer to the city! It houses a Museum of the city which was open but in the throes of reorganisation so nothing was on display! Not far away, an intriguing set of Jesuit crypts were rediscovered in 1989 when the telephone company came across them while laying new cables. Built in the early 1700s, the roofs were caved into the buildings in 1829 to make foundations for the new Avenida Colón. The city restored the spaces and makes use of them for music and art events (though there were none while we were there).

We walked out to the new town to visit an interesting art space called El Paseo de Buen Pastor, which was originally built as a rather grand women's prison. it now houses exhibitions and hosts shows and dances. Nearby is the snappily-named Iglesia Parroquia Sagrado Corazón de Jesús de los Capuchinos. Built in the early 20th century it has lots of muticloured stonework and a host of carved stone details. Although lots of this is delightful, the multi-coloured stone bricks in places make it look a bit like a neo-gothic Lego building.

While walking there we came across another instance of a strange phenomenon we have noted before all over the place. Police stations don't seem to have yards where they can put vehicles, so any cars that have been impounded or taken as a result of crime or accident have to be parked in the streets outside. Don't suppose it helps the forensic people much if anyone can climb all over them and it doesn't do much for the streetscape.

There are a couple of significant galleries in the new town that, as a completely refreshing change from usual practice, actually open regularly and for reasonable lengths of time! The modestly named Museo Superior de Bellas Artes Evita Palacio Ferreyra is a conversion of the 1916 house of a local surgeon and patron of the arts and now houses the provincial collection, mostly of paintings from 1911 to the present day. Although the conversion of the house has been radical in parts, the restored core of the buiding still remains and sits surprisingly well beside the new translucent three story walls and the staircase completely lined with black fur! Close by, at the Museo Caraffa (named after the guy who painted the cathederal) the original tiny gallery has been expanded to several times its original size. Seven stunning brand new gallery spaces and state of the art storage have been added to the original two rooms. A series of temporary exhibitions filled all the rooms, with enough annotations (in Spanish) to make an enjoyable visit. We enjoyed some of the sculpture and particularly liked one of the shows, by Hugo Aveta; a series of manipulated video sequences and photo images dealing with the nature and persistance of memory. What was sadly missing from both of these galleries was a café; no similar places in UK would dream of such an omission!

We decided to take break from our usual cultural trail because we noticed that the movie Avatar was being shown in English and in 3D. Those of you who know Jen well will know that she avoids any films that are science fiction, involve any special effects and/or have lots of chase and battle scenes. So it is remarkable that she went to see a film set in 2054 about blue humanoid extra-terrestials fighting an all out battle to save their planet! However, even J had to admit that the 3D effects were often really good and we practiced reading the Spanish subtitles that were hovering in midair over the audience.

While we were in the town we decided to visit nearby Alta Gracia. Not only is this small town famed for its Jesuit buildings but it was the childhood home of Ernesto "Che" Guevara. As a 'bonus’ we discovered that the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla spent the last years of his life in the town. We really enjoyed visiting his house, which is now a small memorial to him. It is an understated and entirely liveable house and, with his music playing quietly in the background, had an air of peaceful tranquility.

We had already seen Che’s birthplace in Rosario although not much had been made of it. The Guevara family moved to Alta Gracia because it’s dry climate was though to be good for Che’s asthma. Reading between the lines, Che’s father seems to have been a bit of a chancer and they moved around a lot. However, in his memoirs Che described Villa Nydia as his real childhood home. The town now owns the building and have filled the rooms with photos and stuff related to Che. They showed an interesting film, just a few years old, where childhood friends, teachers and the family cook talked about him without him coming out as a saint. A map shows the routes taken on his early journeys and there is an old Norton motor-bike like the one he used while writing the famous motorcycle diaries. Sometimes there is a sound and light show but of course we missed it.

The Jesuit estancia and workshops stand next to a church and a large dam with its associated irrigation waterways. The whole thing is remarkably complete and gives greater insight into how life was organised in these communities. These buildings were not missions like the ones we have seen before but religious communities similar to monasteries. After the expulsion of the Jesuits, the buildings were taken over by noblemen and the farming and allied crafts continued. The main rooms house a collection of furniture and religious artefacts to show life at different stages in the buidings’ history (including a period as a Masonic Hall). The workshops show the sorts of equipment used to construct and maintain the buildings and shelters.