Barrio Güemes, Feria Paseo de las Artes & Arroyo La Cañada Walking Guide

If the Manzana Jesuítica represents Córdoba's solemn colonial past and Nueva Córdoba its Belle Époque grandeur, then the stone-walled stream of Arroyo La Cañada and the brick lanes of Barrio Güemes embody the city's bohemian, artisanal spirit. Linking the downtown pedestrian core directly with the southwest hills, this is the most atmospheric late-afternoon and evening walk in the city.

1. Walking the Stone Canal of Arroyo La Cañada (Inaugurated 1944)

• From Colonial Flood Hazard to Córdoba's Urban Spine: Rising in the Lagunilla basin south-west of the city and flowing northward to join the Río Suquía, the seasonal stream known since the sixteenth century as La Cañada formed the original western boundary of colonial Córdoba. For more than three hundred years, summer cloudbursts in the Sierras sent sudden walls of water roaring down the ravine, culminating in the devastating flood of 15 January 1939. In response, the province built a 2.5-kilometre channel of hand-dressed calcareous stone walls (calicanto) spanned by low stone-arched bridges and flanked by wide flagstone walkways planted with twin rows of tipuana trees (Tipuana tipu). Inaugurated on 4 July 1944, the canal today creates a cool, green canyon running straight along Avenida Marcelo T. de Alvear / Figueroa Alcorta.

2. Barrio Güemes & the Feria Paseo de las Artes (Since 1980)

• From "El Abrojal" Tenements to Bohemian Cultural Hub: Settled in the late nineteenth century around the first municipal tramway depot and working-class immigrant tenements (conventillos) on the western bank of La Cañada, Barrio Güemes earned a reputation for tango, guitar peñas, and larger-than-life popular characters such as La Jardín Florido and El Negro.
• Feria Paseo de las Artes (Pasaje Revol & Calle Belgrano): In 1980, a pioneering group of local potters, weavers, luthier instrument makers, leatherworkers, and silversmiths launched a weekend street fair around the early-20th-century brick cultural houses at the corner of Pasaje Revol, Achával Rodríguez, and Calle Belgrano. Over four decades later, the Feria Paseo de las Artes opens every Saturday, Sunday, and public holiday from late afternoon into the night, surrounded by vintage clothing arcades, independent bookshops, and vinyl stalls.

3. Centro Cultural Casa de Pepino (1914) & Courtyard Nightlife

Two blocks north at Fructuoso Rivera 287 and Belgrano stands the striking ship-prow corner building of Casa de Pepino, opened in 1914 by Seville-born merchant José Tucci as a traditional general store (almacén de ramos generales) and restored in 2005 as a free neighbourhood history museum and gallery with a glass floor exposing the original brick storage cellars. After sunset, explore the converted multi-level brick galleries along Calle Belgrano and Achával Rodríguez (such as Galería Barrio, Convento, and Muy Güemes) for wood-fired pizzas, vermouth, and craft beer.