The time came to leave Argentina, and head to Uruguay. This small country has around 3.5 mil people, a high
quality of life, and a record as one of the safest countries in South America. We were really looking forward to visiting there. So we first headed to Montevideo, the capital, and aiming to arrive there in time for New Year's Eve.
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| Marg in Montevideo, Uruguay |
Montevideo is a cosmopolitan city that is home to almost half of Uruguay’s population, with around 1.3 mil people.
To get there, we had to cross the Río de la Plata, the river that forms the border between Argentina and Uruguay. It is the widest river in the world, with a maximum width of 220 kilometres (140 mi) at its mouth where it flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
To cross the river, we caught a ferry from Buenos Aries where we had spent Christmas.
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| Colonia Express ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay |
Our ferry was the Express to Colónia del Sacramento (Colónia) in Uruguay. Despite the chaos of loading a huge number of families who were going to Uruguay for the Christmas holidays, the ferry managed to arrive in Colónia on time.
Then we had to get a bus from Colónia to Montevideo, our destination for the next 2 weeks. However, the bus system was not as efficient as the ferry, and we arrived at our accommodation an hour later than planned.
We had rented an AirBnB apartment in Punta Carretas, a suburb of Montevideo. Luckily, we were able to communicate to the owner that we would be late and so learned where to get the key to get in.
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| Sunset over the Rio de la Plata from our AirBnB apartment in Punta Carretas, Montevideo |
When we finally arrived, we loved it. The apartment set-up was modern, and it was on the ninth floor
with city and sunset views over the Río de la Plata.
The fantastic owner had left us food goodies to go on with until we could get to the market, so we felt very welcomed.
The location was great as the apartment
was near two beautiful sandy beaches, close to restaurants, and right opposite
Parque Rodó, a large leafy park on the edge of Montevideo city.
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| Sunday fair at Parque Rodó, Punta Carretas, Montevideo, Uruguay |
There is a regular Sunday fair at Parque Rodó which we visited, seeing interesting handicrafts, clothing, and local food.
This park is also
used for practicing candombe, the music and dance that came from Africa with slaves over 200 years ago. Candombe has now been recognised by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage activity.
We spotted candombe drummers in the park and could hear them occasionally from the apartment. It was great, and added to the vibrancy of the area.
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| The Rambla, Montevideo, Uruguay |
We arrived on the 30th December, and we wanted to shop before New Year’s Eve, as almost everything would be closed from then until
the 2nd of January. So we headed out, and walked 7 km of the Rambla into the centre of Montevideo.
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| Marg in Ciudad Vieja, the old town of Montevideo, Uruguay |
The centre is called Ciudad Vieja, the old city. Once there, we picked up some supplies and did some sightseeing.
Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in 1724, to stop the Portuguese in Brazil from extending their hold on the fertile river basin of the Rio de la Plata.
Now-days, it is attractively built on narrow streets that lead down to the old port area, with plenty of cafes, restaurants, and upmarket shops. It is a vibrant and charming city.
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| Interesting mix of architecture in the old town of Montevideo, Uruguay |
It has an interesting mix of colonial, neoclassic and art déco architectural styles, reflecting its southern-European heritage.
In the main street, Avenue 18 de Julio, we saw more art déco and neoclassic architecture, particularly around the beautifully treed Plaza de los Treinta y Tres.
Down by the port area, we found the Mercado del Puerto, a covered market dating back to 1860. It provides shops and food, but is best known for its meat and seafood cooked on the parrilla (grill). Judging by the large crowds, it is a very popular meeting place.
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| Pedestrian streets in the old town of Montevideo, Uruguay |
Our walk took us to the Plaza Independencia which is the main town square; the beautiful and huge theatre called Teatro Solís; the Palacio Legislativo which is the national parliament; and several museums, churches and beaches (of which there are several).
Over the next few days, we walked into town a lot, usually going in via the Rambla, and home through the small inner-city neighbourhoods.
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| Interesting houses and shady trees on our walk home from the old town of Montevideo, Uruguay |
The Rambla was always busy in the afternoon with people walking, running, cycling, out with their dogs, or on one of the many river beaches. It was all so vibrant (but had no shade).
Initially, we thought Montevideo to be dirty, with rubbish and graffiti everywhere. However, very soon after the short holiday period, the municipal cleaners got to work, and it totally changed our view. We really like this place.
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| New Year's Eve fireworks in Montevideo, Uruguay |
On New Year's Eve, we found that Montevideo, unlike some other capital cities, does not welcome the new year in with a huge central fireworks display. Instead, people let off their own fireworks all over the city. From our apartment, we had a fabulous view of several fireworks events.
There were a few early in the evening, but by midnight, we were
surrounded by vibrant lights, bangs and pops. We loved it!
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| Interesting homes in the neighbourhoods of Montevideo, Uruguay |
When not walking into the city, we took long walks to neighbouring suburbs. We particularly liked the modern, trendy, colourful and eclectic housing styles we saw, and the many parks and street-side activities.
We also walked a lot around our own Punta Carretas area. A favourite walk was to the quaint little lighthouse at Punta Carretas point. Known as the Punta Brava Lighthouse, it dates back to 1876.
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| Marg at the lighthouse at Punta Carretas, Montevideo, Uruguay |
Built to guide boats into the entrance of the Santa Lucia River west of Montevideo city, this modest little lighthouse is 21 metres high and now has an electric light that can be seen from around 24 km away.
After several days of exploring Montevideo city and suburbs, we hired a very small car to
do some touring further out from the capital, so our next blog includes UNESCO sites, beaches, villages and wines routes we visited in other parts of Uruguay.
The above blog is part of our 4-month tour of South
America. The first blog on this tour is called "Buenos Aires here we come".