Montevideo, Uruguay

After completing our stops in Brazil and celebrating Thanksgiving aboard ship, we sailed to Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay.  The tiny country of Uruguay (population 3,300,000) shares borders with two of South America's largest countries - Argentina to the west and Brazil to the north, but holds its own.  For the Argentines, Uruguay is their most popular holiday destination because of its varied shoreline of bays, beaches and calm lagoons.

Seabourn prepared a Thanksgiving feast for the Americans

Yummy Thanksgiving Dinner

 Montevideo sits at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata ("Silver River") which is the widest river in the world being 140 miles wide at the mouth.  Argentina fronts along the other side of the river with its capital city of Buenos Aires nearby.  The Uruguayans say of their nearby rival..."Buenos Aires has life, we have quality".  Montevideo is the southernmost capital city in the Americas.

On our first day's visit, we took a bus tour of the highlights of Montevideo visiting many points of interest including a number of memorials and statues which pay tribute to its heroes from its war of independence from Spain and several civil wars throughout its history.  Of particular note is Independence Plaza, a beautiful, clean square in the center of the city with its huge bronze statue of Jose Artigas (national hero of the war of independence) on his horse.  Around the Plaza are historic buildings including the Palacio Salvo built in 1928 and the beautiful opera house.  Our tour also took us to the ornate legislative palace and to a waterfront park with a war memorial overlooking the bay.  Our final tour stop was at the Mercado Agricola, an upscale, trendy farmers' market located in an old warehouse.  We finished up with a local beer at the market.  We were very impressed with this clean, calm city with its beautiful colonial architecture and laid back pace.

Montevideo skyline

Independence Plaza and view of Palacio Salvo built in 1928

Beautiful bronze art in a Montevideo park

Legislative Palace in Montevideo

Historic Gateway to the City of Montevideo
located at Independence Plaza

Beautiful monument to Jose Artigas in the Plaza

 

Montevideo Opera House

 

Ahhh!  Local beer (Patricia) at trendy market in Montevideo

We leave Montevideo to travel overnight up the Rio de la Plata to visit Buenos Aires.  Interestingly, we will then return to Montevideo for a second visit.  The reason for the return to Montevideo is because you cannot travel directly from Argentina to the Falkland Islands, our next destination after Buenos Aires.  The effects of the 1982 conflict between Great Britain and Argentina over the Falklands still linger today.