Colonia, Costal beauty,

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We wake up and find that the rain has run through and left a bright fresh and crisp day. We have a simple breakfast before heading into the main square.

Here the remains of an old estate lie visible whilst around it a host of beautiful colonial buildings containing shops, museums and obviously homes. Many of these buildings are in great condition.

Wandering down to the shore we take in the fresh sea air and I feel like all my troubles have been lifted.

Once we return into town we find one of the many museums around town and pick up a multi-pass (URG$50) that allows us to visit the museums that were open, namely the Portuguese museum, the tile museum, the regional archive museum and the native museum. Not only are the contents interesting, the original brickwork and construction of these buildings is also great to look at.

After the museums we take a walk out along the pier and then head up into the light house that dominates the skyline. My main question from this was, are lighthouse keepers incredibly small as I managed to bang my head several times walking up. Still, at the top the views were amazing and only slightly spoiled by the number of other tourists that were up there. Until then we had seen very few people due to it being off season.

This has left the town beautifully quiet apart from the yellow Macaws that never ceased their endless chatter high up in the trees.

Before returning to the hotel we have a look around the shops and make some purchases before grabbing a few epinadas for a late lunch.

We still need to book our transport to Buenos Aires which will be made via boat. Once at the port we check the times and prices and pick the Colonia Express - a one hour service costing URG$638 leaving at 10.45am.

For dinner we go to a restaurant near the hotel and have another lovely meal with plenty of wine.

Not quite enough though as returning to the hotel we grab another bottle and chat with the receptionist into the small hours - what a character 57, 7 kids and she is just about to become a great grandmother - there must be something in the water here...I will be sad to leave it.

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