Historic Colonial Colonia

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To ease our return to regular backpacking we decided to stop off in Colonia on our way back to Buenos Aires. We got a late bus from Punta del Este and checked in to a little hotel on the outskirts of Colonia for the night.

Exploring Colonia

Next day we set off to explore Colonia. It is a really pretty little place with tree-lined cobbled streets and colonial buildings. It was founded by the Portuguese in 1680 but lost to the Spanish a century later. We visited the local tourist information office where we got a walking tour of the town. This started at the local church and led us to a drawbridge entrance through the old wall of the town. Inside, the old town is full of pretty colonial buildings with red tiled roofs. The lighthouse (El Faro) was just beyond the wall and when we climbed to the top it afforded us a view of the town with the spires of the church poking up just above the trees. We visited two museums Museo Portugues and Museo Municipal on Plaza Mayor. Both had items of funiture, clothing, musical instruments, maps etc. that provided an insight into colonial life. For lunch, we stumbled across a restaurant called La Florida. It was decorated like a maiden aunt´s living room circa early 1900s but the food was amazing. Our waiter was totally at odds with his surroundings dressed in shorts, t-shirt and with two-day stubble but his food recommendations were spot on. We ended up spending three hours on lunch eating, drinking wine and chatting to an American couple on the next table. That night we went for a wander down to the sea wall to watch the sunset. There were lots of people sitting around chatting and drinking Mate.

Mate (pronounced maa-tay)

Mate is a traditional tea in Argentina and Uruguay drank by all age groups. It is supposed to have ingredients that keep drinkers healthy and energetic (maybe we should market it in Europe). People carry their Mate equipment everywhere with them, a flask and ornate silver gourd with silver drinking straw, usually with it´s own special shoulder bag (see picture with this article). We saw everyone from bus drivers to people on beaches with these bags. They seem to mix the green tea with the hot water and then pass it around the group (remind you of anything?).

We watched a lovely sunset at the sea wall and then walked around the streets for a bit. The streets were lit up by colonial style street lights and they gave the tree lined streets a special glow which we tried to capture in a photo. We had a nightcap at a restaurant called El Drugstore with vintage cars outside it before heading back to the hotel. Next day we hopped on a fast ferry (Buquebus) back to Buenos Aires and arrived five minutes earlier than we left.

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Photos

The Beautiful Streets
Night-time in Colonia del Sacremento

Beautiful Sunset
Night-time in Colonia

Comments

[Alex]

Gorgeous photos
You have an excellent eye for photography. Beautiful composition. Thanks for taking us armchair travelers along for the ride. If either of you ever get the urge to write more about your experiences, consider dropping us a line at the Piker Press (www.pikerpress.com) - you could get a whole new set of enthusiastic fans. We love informal travel accounts. Meanwhile, keep having fun for the rest of us! ~ AQ Senior Editor, Piker Press

[Danny]

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Mate is commonplace is Chile as well!! = )

[alejo]

[e-mail]
hola!!!, mi nombre es Alejo, y queria felicitarlos por haber ido al restaurat de mi papa, Carlos Bidanchon, La florida the best resto in the world!!!!!