Montevideo is a
short distance from Buenos Aires,
but because the River Plate is very shallow, we had to go very slowly through
one of the channels. We arrived the
following morning at 11:30, about one
and a half hours later than expected. We
decided to have lunch before venturing out on foot. It's another beautiful day, but a bit cooler,
in the mid 70s.
Montevideo is
much smaller than Buenos Aires, but
has the same European feel. As soon as
we got off the ship we found ourselves in the Mercado del Puerto, an area of
outdoor stalls selling all sorts of local items and souvenirs.
There's also a building dating back to 1868 that contains 14
restaurants. It was packed, as it was
lunch time.
Back outside, we walked toward the center of the city. We found the lovely Plaza de Independencia
and lots of historical buildings.
The streets were crowded, and we witnessed an attempted
theft by a pickpocket. Fortunately, he
was unsuccessful, but it was a wakeup call to be careful in crowded cities.
The ship stayed in Montevideo
overnight, and the next morning we had an excursion to Colonia del Sacramento,
the oldest town in Uruguay. After a two-and-a-half-hour bus ride, we
arrived in this lovely little town, west of Montevideo. The historic area has lots of the original
Portuguese and Spanish buildings dating back to 1745. We had a guided walking tour and then had a
half hour to explore on our own.
We had a very nice lunch at a local restaurant, then boarded
the bus to return to the ship.
We sailed at 7:00
for Stanley, Falkland
Islands. We've received
word that the virus has been controlled and we're no longer under strict
sanitation conditions. We are, however,
still being careful, just in case.
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