The approach to Córdoba by rail is similar on a small scale to that of La Paz, Bolivia, for both cities lie in a pocket in the hills and their presence is not visible until the ground of the plain above them drops away, and they are seen below you. The pocket which contains La Paz is ten times deeper, the surprise of the traveler on first viewing the city being that of astonishment; but here in Córdoba, although the scale is exceedingly miniature, the conditions are analogous. The growth of Córdoba has been such that there is no more room left for building in the pocket, so now the new resident who wishes to build a home of his own is obliged to do so on the plain above the city. Several suburbs have sprung up and go by the names of Alta Córdoba, Alberdi, and Nueva Córdoba.
Alta Córdoba can be likened to the station Alto de La Paz, although here there is quite a large town. Here is situated the Central of Córdoba railroad station with the railroad workshops, and a market named Mercado del Norte. A fine, broad avenue winds from Alta Córdoba in big curves, down a cleft in the hillside, passes under a stone railroad bridge, and reaches the river bottom at the beautiful shady park of Las Heras. It now crosses the Rio Primero over a new stone bridge, named the Centenario, at whose end is the Avenue General Paz. This is where begins the city proper, which on the floor of the valley is twenty-one blocks wide by thirty-one blocks long, and which does not include the other suburbs in the pocket which are named San Vicente at the eastern and Villa Paez at the western ends of the original town.
The Plaza San Martin is in the center of Córdoba and is the nucleus of the city life. From here run straight streets east and west, and north and south which are the busy ones of the capital. On the plaza is the cathedral, two of the leading banks, and the best hotels. The business arrangement of this particular section is like that of Tucumán. The great show street is the aristocratic and superbly beautiful Avenida General Paz, beginning at the plaza of the same name at the Centenario Bridge and continuing ten blocks southward to the Plaza Velez Sarsfield. This street is the handsomest in Argentina. From the Plaza Velez Sarsfield there is a continuation of it to the heights beyond the city proper, and which is here named the Avenida Velez Sarsfield.
Cathedral of Córdoba
From the Plaza Velez Sarsfield the new Avenida Argentina, destined to become the most exclusive residential street of the city on account of the high price of the terrain, ascends to the plazas Centenario and Dean Funes at the entrance of Sormiento Park, Córdoba's playground. Halfway up the Avenida Argentina on the left-hand side stands a magnificent and imposing mansion, that of Señor Martin Ferreyra. It is a landmark, and seen from the plain at the opposite end of the city, it looms up as if it dominates over the city and no other building seems as large. It has already cost its owner over three million pesos ($1,281,000) and is not yet completed.
"How did Señor Ferreyra make his money?" I asked the chauffeur.
"His father left a large sum of money which had been handed down from several generations. Martin Ferreyra was made administrator of his father's estate and cheated the other heirs out of their share," was his answer.