Raphael Kessler

A few days after arriving on our honeymoon in Buenos Aires, we dedided to take the short ferry ride across the Rio Plata to Uruguay and got straight on a bus to Montevideo, the capital. We enjoyed the ambience there, though there are not many traditional sites to see. We had some excellent meat in the market and liked wandering around.

We liked the doors in Montevideo.

Colonia de Sacremento is a nice little town, with a cute old part. In recent years it has become more touristic.

The first place I had previously visited in Uruguay was Colonia, just a short ferry ride from Buenos Aires. Colonia is an attractive town (photo 1) with quaint streets (photo 2) and lots of old cars around (photos 4 & 5). There were also a couple of groups marching around in colonial attire (photo 3) and also musicians, although there weren't many tourists around, I am sure it was for there benefit. The architecture in Colonia is often a hybrid  between Spanish and Portugese, sometimes changing several times through the same building as one colonial power re-asserted control, then the other.

It in Colonia that we realised the Uruguayan knack of providing anything, just as you need it and better than expected. We got off the boat, found out that accommodation was going to be moderately pricey, then were met by an old lady who rented us a fully furnished and equipped apartment for eight dollars for the night. Whenever we wanted something, the next shop was selling it. The people were also extremely helpful and the only unpleasant person we met during our whole time in Uruguay was a taxi driver in Montevideo, we think he must have been a foreigner though.

From Colonia we went to Montevideo, the capital, a pleasant enough city with some impressive buildings. One of the most dramatic is the Palacio Salvo (photo 1), built by an Italian immigrant family who built the same design building in Buenos Aires. The two were somehow supposed to be able to communicate with each other. The Palacio Legislativo is a very imposing building, with intricate carvings (photo 2) and a real feeling of grandeur.

Punte del Este is a beach resort, that was almost deserted when we were there. The weather was changeable and it was extremely windy at times. The sand would swirl and run down the beach in streams (photos 1 & 2)  and it would get everywhere, covering all surfaces in no time, as can be seen in the picture of my friend Esther, writing (photo 4). After a while we decided to walk over to the other side of the peninsula where there was very little wind and it was much sunnier, just three minutes walk away. Strange.