Rosario

A huge memorial finished in 1957 where Belgrano first raised the flag by the river, joining a tower, a long gallery and a stepped plaza. A tower elevator lifts visitors to a view of river and city. On Flag Day, 20 June, the plaza is packed for the ceremonies.

A riverside park built as terraced plazas on former railway land, with the islands across the Parana spread wide before it. A promenade and bike path run north along the river. At sunset people crowd its steps, passing mate around.

Former grain silos on the riverbank, painted in bright colours and turned into an art museum. You climb the round silos floor by floor, passing one small gallery at a time. Windows on the top floor look out over the Parana and its islands.

Delta islands of the Parana opposite the city, reached in small boats from the river landing. In summer, snack shacks and shade awnings go up on their sand for whole days out. The boats back often stop before sunset, so ask the time before crossing.

A public beach on the Parana bank north of downtown, where a city far from the sea goes for summer swims. Like a seaside resort it has sand, changing rooms and a kiosk, open in summer only. The river runs mud-coloured, so the water is not clear.

An apartment building on a downtown corner, holding the flat where Che Guevara was born in 1928. It is still lived in, so you cannot enter and see only the plaque outside. Photographers gather often, so shoot from across the street and keep the door clear.

A big park southwest of downtown with a rose garden, a lake with rowing boats for hire, and museums. The Newell's Old Boys football stadium stands inside it, and on match days crowds in red and black pour in. Messi played for this club as a boy.

Rosario Central's stadium by the river to the north; the Rosario derby against Newell's ranks among Argentina's fiercest. As at most Argentine league games, away fans are kept out. Tickets go mainly to club members, so visitors struggle to get one.

A palm-lined boulevard flanked by mansions of families whom the grain trade made rich as the twentieth century opened. Its end leads toward the riverside art museum. Sunday morning traffic is light, good for strolling and looking at the buildings.

A pedestrian shopping street heading west from the Flag Memorial side, past bank and shop buildings from the early 1900s. Follow Paseo del Siglo on to Bulevar Orono and you cross most of the old centre. Some shops shut at midday; walk it morning or evening.

A cable-stayed bridge and causeway crossing the Parana wetlands from Rosario to Victoria in Entre Rios province. Cables slant down from its towers, fanning out over the river. All the way across, nothing but flooded islands and reed beds lines both sides.

The municipal art museum at the gate of Independence Park, hanging modern Argentine painting beside older European works, with rooms for Rosario-born painters. The riverside MACRO, in old grain silos, is run under it, so many visit both.

Around the southern neighbourhood where Lionel Messi grew up, giant murals show his face. More appeared after the World Cup win, and people now walk the streets hunting them down. Families live on these blocks, so keep voices down.

A museum in the former army command building of the military dictatorship, holding records of the disappearances and repression. It stands on Calle Cordoba at a corner of Plaza San Martin. Testimony and photos fill it; an unhurried visit takes over an hour.