Advertisement
Published: February 27th 2017
Edit Blog Post
Hello from Montevideo Uruguay. You can add another country to our list.
We arrived this morning but about an hour late. The day was nice and sunny with the temperatures being a bit above average around 90 degrees. There were strong winds cutting across the channel leading into the port, so we had to spend some time in the bay waiting for the wind to subside. We were already up before we found out about the delay, so we got dressed and had some breakfast sandwiches and donuts and then stayed in the cabin until we docked. Actually it gave us a chance to watch the entry into the port.
Our excursion left about 10:00 but they covered all the same things which we would have seen if we’d been on schedule, just getting back to the ship late. But that was still before the ship sailed, so we were fine for the day.
Our excursion covered a tour of the city of Montevideo and then a visit to a winery. We had 4 stops for the bus in the city. First was Independence Square where the original citadel stood way back
Architecture of Building
adjacent to Independence Square when this was a walled city. Our guided compared it to Cartagena in Columbia, which we saw back in 2012. Then we went past their soccer stadium where Christine recounted some of the major accomplishments of the Uruguayan soccer team (including beating Brazil in the 1950 World Cup). The next stop was at a nearby park where there was an interesting monument to the original settlers and how they got around the countryside. Then we had a quite photo-op at the Parliament Building followed by a restroom break at a shopping mart (with free bathrooms). There are a lot of parks and other green space in this city, which our guide pointed out very proudly.
Along the way Christine explained a lot of interesting fact about Uruguay. This is the second smallest country in South America (only Suriname is smaller). There are 3.3 million Uruguayans but 12 million head of cattle. About ¾ of the population lives within the Province on Montevideo. Beef meat and dairy products are one of the main exports from this country. The inland portions of Uruguay apparently are mostly rolling grasslands where herds of cattle are raised.
Carnival is
almost over here in Montevideo with only the final contestants to be resolved. Here is it more of a stage competition rather than a street parade (like in Rio). There are 5 categories, including a drumming competition where up to 70 drummers would be on each team. There is a dancing competition where Christine said they wearing less clothing and more feathers. There are 3 other lesser completions but we don’t have many details about them. The finals should be this coming weekend.
After touring the city we drove for about half an hour to the Satan Rosa Winery in the Montevideo province but out in their rural area. The winery was founded back in 1898. We unloaded from the bus and had a tour of the winery. A lot of it was below ground in the cellars and Janet was concerned about negotiating the steps, but she was able to handle it. Along the way through the cellars, they explained how they made their White Wines (the skin is removed from the grape) or their Red Wines (the best grapes are equivalent to those in northern France), and their Sparkling Wines. We walked past the original
42 oak barrels (each able to hold up to 1000 liters) which were actually built into the cellar and could not be removed unless they were destroyed and hauled out piece by piece. Their history is more valuable than the space they take up. The first two stops during the tour provided samples of the Brut and Extra Brute “Champagne” (although only bottles from France can actually use that name). Then we walked through a section where very old bottles (at least 40 years) are stored and into an underground reception with about a dozen tables and chairs.
Here they served water first because you should always drink plenty of water before drink the alcohol in the wine. Then a sample of Chardonnay wine and the owner explained all the intricate steps to testing a wine before drinking it. First is clarity, they fragrance/bouquet, and finally taste. Frankly by the time he got to tasting his glass we were pretty much through with ours. They then served a large plate of cheese/meats with bread while we were trying our white wine. They served glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon with this course. Since Janet does not like red wines,
David drank her glass too. They came around a poured everyone refills, so he had 2 second glasses too. Next they invited us to a salad bar where we got some salads and found a large plate of beef or chicken on the table when we got back. David had beef and Janet had chicken and we enjoyed both. This time they served a strong red wine from their specialty Tanin grapes. It went very well with the meat, but again David had to drink Janet’s glass too. Finally there was a desert course with ice cream cake covered with caramel sauce and they served champagne with this.
Before the beef/chicken course there was entertainment. There was a pair of Tango Dancers and a singer who performed several songs for us. Unfortunately the cellar where we were eating was not very well lit, so the pictures are kind of marginal. You have to take our word that the dancing was very enjoyable. Then before the dessert course there was more entertainment with 3 drummers and one “feather dancer”. Again you need to take our word that everyone enjoyed the show a lot, although Janet thought she could
Tango Dancers
at Santa Rosa Winery have used a few more feathers. Before the dancing was over, many from the audience were up and dancing too.
We got a bottle of their Chardonnay and brought it back to the ship. The advertised procedure says that they will charge us a $15 corking fee for bring more wine onto the ship, but nobody said anything and we happily carried our bottle back to our stateroom for later use.
All this got us back to our cabin about 4:30 so we had an hour to rest/nap before going to dinner. Tonight was our last night with Paul and Pauline because they are leaving in Buenos Aires and we will not be dining with them for the final meal tomorrow night. This will also be our last dinner with Junior Waitress Gorica who will be going home after this cruise.
For dinner tonight Janet wasn’t particularly hungry so she only had beef consume and a small portion of Alfredo. David had watermelon & feta cheese, shrimp cocktail, and a strip steak. Usually on the final night they have the Parade of Baked Alaska, but this time they decided to have
it tonight because many people will be on excursions tomorrow. However we both had the deep dish apple pie ala mode.
We understand from the news that bad flooding has occurred in the Santiago region of Chile with millions of people being without drinking water. That is very say be we are glad to be out of there before the problem occurred.
And a correction to yesterday’s Blog – laundromat and shipboard laundry service stops as of tonight but for only 3 days rather than the 4 which we report yesterday. It has something to do with restrictions imposed by Buenos Aires. It still should not affect us.
The captain announced that it was only 37 nautical miles from Montevideo to Buenos Aires, so we will initially head back out to see (going southeast) and sometime in the night turn around a head northwest to Buenos Aires. We should arrive on time tomorrow morning. Good night for today.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.115s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0486s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb