Montevideo, Uruguay
By Laurie Hardcastle Seil
Montevideo is the only major city in
Uruguay and about half the country’s population lives here. There is no
definitive story of how the town got its name, but it was founded in 1726 by
the Spanish governor of Buenos Aires, he wanted to secure the area from the
expanding Portuguese colonies, plus it had a great natural, deep-water harbor.
For many years this area served as a buffer state between Brazil and Argentina
while also spending some time in the hands of the British and the Spaniards.
You may find it has a decidedly European flair as many immigrants from that
continent settled here in the late 19th through early 20th centuries,
especially people from Italy and Spain. Fun fact, Montevideo hosted every match
of the very first FIFA World Cup in 1930. For many years a major part of the economy in Uruguay has
been driven by the cattle and sheep estancias throughout the country, it’s
said there are three cows and three sheep for each citizen. Apparently, this is
the most non-religious country in the Americas, they have even changed the
names of major religious holidays, Christmas is called Family Day, and Holy
Week is known as Tourism Week.
The Ciudad Vieja or Old
Town has some Plaza de la Independencia is the center of town, a
Spanish citadel was here in 1741 and there are still traces of its walls. One
of the older structures in Ciudad Viejo is the Montevideo Cathedral, built
beginning in 1790 to replace a small brick version that had been there since
1740. A Neoclassic style historic building is the Solis Theatre which was
designed in the 19th century by Italian architect Carlo Zucchi, it was the
first of its kind in South America. Another of the city’s landmarks is the
Mausoleo al General José Gervasio Artigas who is Uruguay’s national hero for
his efforts to free the territory from Spain in the early 1800s. The Fortaleza
Del Cerro, a fort on the highest hill in Montevideo, was built in the 19th
century to protect the port and the people, you get a beautiful view from here.
You can also get sweeping views of the city from the 11th floor terrace of the
city hall or Palacio Municipal.
So, our first major tour outside of Royal was a combination of Montevideo Uruguay and then on to Iguazu Falls. We had requested an independent journey from Royal to disembark the ship in Montevideo on January 4th returning to the ship in Beuno's Aires on Jan 6th before we headed to our next port of Puerto Madryn. We started out our day with our guide, Diego, who is a native of Uruguay and holds dual citizenship in his home country and Hartford, CT, USA. It was very nice to finally meet him as I have been planning this with him for over a year!!! We had about 15 folks on the tour off the Serenade, so it was nice meeting more of the world cruisers...Started out with a tour of downtown and Diego shared the history and also the fact that Uruguay is a very small and safe country, and also very expensive to live there... They don't even have an army!!! After a stroll around the downtown area, we headed to the Bouza winery (as Diego stated many times, it's five o'clock somewhere) for a tour of the vineyard and then on to wine tasting, with a fabulous display of wonderfully restored cars and motor bikes, relatively new and small winery - only bottle 180K per year and they have a variety of rosé's, whites, and reds. We purchased 3 bottles to take back on the ship. From there, we headed to a local's home for a wonderful lunch, all homemade, and never-ending servings of salad, chicken, sausage, pork and beef. The wine was homemade and very tasty. Our hosts were very gracious even though neither of us spoke each other's language....It was our driver's wife and his brother-in-law who prepared our feast. From there, we headed back to the pier to join more cruisers for the hydrofoil speed ferry to Buenos Aires, as our flight was set to depart at 5:50 am the next morning to the falls. The ferry itself is huge - carries 250 autos along with passengers. It has its own dining room, first class section, and a duty free shopping mall on the boat!!! We were scheduled to depart at 7:30 pm but did not leave till close to 9...a 2-hour ride, then an hour plus to get through immigration, then on to our hotel. The president of Argentina was staying there and so security like crazy...long process to check in - got to our room at 1:15 am, wakeup call at 2:45 am for a 3:30 am pick up to airport.... very long day, which led to our fabulous experience at Iguazu Falls Check out the next post....
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