Montevideo

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I arrived in Uruguay after an uneventful 20 hours which took me from Melbourne to Sydney, Sydney to Santiago and then finally to Montevideo. As I stepped off the plane and collected my bags I almost had to pinch myself; I had only received confirmation that I would be travelling to Uruguay a week earlier. The opportunity to tack on a few extra days, one at the beginning and 3 at the end, was far too tempting to resist.


Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, is home to about 1.3 million people. The city is situated on the banks of the Rio de la Plata, which forms part of the border between Uruguay and Argentina. The drive from the airport was quite enjoyable. As drove along the Rambla we passed through the fancier suburbs of Carrasco it reminded me a lot of Beach Road in Melbourne...but with brown water instead of the sea. Most of the streets in Montevideo are lined with lovely old trees, making it quite a pretty city.

After checking into my hotel I did a little research about what I should explore the following day while I waited for it to be an acceptable time to head out for dinner (Uruguayans eat late; Spanish late). I made it until 8:30 before I decided I would have to head out for dinner or risk dying or starvation or, more likely, falling asleep...

After stepping out of the hotel I was surprised how quiet the streets were. I set off in the direction of the restaurant the hotel had recommended hoping I would find a slightly livelier atmosphere as I got closer. After walking for about 10 minutes I wasn't sure if I had walked past the restaurant the hotel had recommended or if it was closed (like most other things on the street), so chose the one restaurant I saw which actually had people in it.

It wasn't until I sat down that I realised I was surrounded by old men watching the football...oh well! I ordered some spaghetti with pesto sauce for dinner. The pesto was quite different to Australian pesto but still tasty. I ate my meal fairly quickly before heading back to the hotel to sleep.

I awoke the following morning after a solid 10 hours sleep; not a bad effort! After a quick breakfast I headed out to explore Montevideo. My first stop was the information center just around the corner from my hotel who recommended visiting the Ciudad Vieja (Old City) in the morning as most shops close at about 1pm on the weekend and then checking out the Rambla (coast) in the afternoon. The recommendations sounded like a good plan so I set off along 18 de Julio Avenue, which is the main street in Montevideo, towards Ciudad Vieja (Old City).

Despite it being about 10am on a Saturday morning the streets were almost completely empty, and the vast majority of restaurants and shops were closed so it didn't take long before I arrived at the Plaza Independencia. Plaza Independencia is the most important plaza in Montevideo; in the centre of the square is a mausoleum for Jose Artigas, a national hero who died in 1850. Beside the statue are two sets of steps which lead down to the mausoleum below. The name and date of important events in the history of Uruguay cover the walls. The mausoleum is guarded by traditional guard called Blandegues de Artigas.

After watching the changing of the guard I headed off through the Gateway of the Citadel and into Ciudad Vieja. The streets were even quieter in Ciudad Vieja, the lady at the information forgot to mention that most shops and restaurants don't even open at all! Some of the buildings were quite attractive but it just didn't have a lot of atmosphere given everything was closed.

After walking a little further I reached the Mercardo del Porto (Port Market), which would be heaven for meat lovers. The name is fairly deceiving, it's not actually a market at all, it is a collection of parrilla restaurants serving copious amounts of meat cooked over a wood fire.

After walking around and confirming that I am definitely not a meat lover I headed to the Museo del Carnaval (Carnival Museum). The Museo del Carnaval houses a collection of outfits from Montevideo's Carnavals. All the signs were in Spanish (another good opportunity to practice) and it was very small, but worth visiting as the costumes were pretty cool.

After checking out the museum I headed back through Ciudad Vieja towards a cafe I had spotted earlier (almost the only one which was open!). I grabbed a table and ordered a sandwich and a lemon drink. After I ordered a basket of delicious bread with some herb butter appeared on my table. I managed to refrain from eating all of the bread so was still able to enjoy my sandwich when it turned up!

After lunch I headed back to the hotel for a nap, before setting out again towards the Rambla. The Rambla is an avenue which runs along the coastline which lines the southern edge of Montevideo. Turns out it's pretty popular on the weekend; there were lots of people cycling, jogging, rollerblading and drinking mate (with thermos tucked under their arm for refills). After walking along the coast I headed inland and made my way back to the hotel via the tree lined streets.

That night I decided to head out to see Las Maravillosas, a play by Comedia Nacional playing at Teatro Solis as part of the International Womens day celebrations. On my way to the theater I came across a group of old couples dancing tango in the street. It was so lovely to see tango being danced by so many cute old couples.

Las Maravillosas was...hard to understand with the Uruguayan accent! Though I did manage to get a couple of the jokes which I was happy about. After the play I headed to a nearby restaurant to have dinner. Turns of 10:30pm is a much more acceptable time to eat as the restaurant was quite full. I ordered dinner and a glass of wine and read my book while I waited. Eventually the waiter turned up with what I initially thought might be my meal; the restaurant was quite fancy but the dish I had ordered wasn't that expensive so I wasn't all that surprised when the plate which was placed in front of me was tiny. However, it turns out the restaurant took pity on my dining by myself and gave me a free starter as well..very kind! The starter and main were both delicious and I finally left the restaurant at about 11:30pm.

The following morning I went for another walk through the (even quieter) Ciudad Vieja towards the port. On arrival at the office of the ferry which I planned to take to Buenos Aires I discovered that I would have to pay for the reciprocity fee for Argentina online before purchasing my ticket...so headed back to the hotel empty handed.

That afternoon I met my client and we headed up to Salto which is on the eastern bank of the Rio Uruguay (Argentina is across the other side of the river). The drive took about 5 hours but was quite enjoyable. Uruguay is a very flat, very green country; along the way we passed lots of farms and signs for hot springs! That night for dinner we met another person who would be joining us for the site visit.

We spent the night talking (entirely in Spanish) and eating parrilla before heading back to the hotel at midnight ready for an early start the following morning..

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Montevideo
Dave has wanted to travel here for years. Sounds quiet but you had a decent time. We will get there some day.

[D MJ Binkley]

Nice photo
Love this one