Uruguay, part 2

Sorry for the delay. Here is finally the continuation from part 1:

After 5 days in a small beach town in the northeastern corner of Uruguay we started heading back south towards...

Punta del Este


Punta del Este, vacation spot of the rich and famous in South America.

Opinions were split when we asked people about Punta del Este. Known as the Hamptons of South America, it's a peninsula about 2 hours northeast of the capital Montevideo that is packed with luxery hotels, expensive restaurants, and of course a huge yacht club. We decided to stop by for just one day - call it curiosity - to see what the hype was all about.








What we found was exactly as promised: luxury hotels, yacht clubs, expensive restaurants, etc. But also very nice beaches! Perfect for endless walks or water sports. I guess the only thing we missed out on were the celebrities - we were a bit too early in the season. We've been told it's a madhouse here starting right after Christmas and through New Years. Which would explain why everything becomes twice as expensive (no kidding!).

The lighthouse (El Faro) right in front of our hotel in the old part of town. Also met these two beautiful sirens of the sea... :)

So instead we enjoyed the relative quiet....

Max practiced his imitation skills....


















Sylvia discovered the local appreciation for famous Polish composers...













We were able to observe the local wildlife...

(A huge sea lion lounging in the sun in the harbor, completely unperturbed by the 30+ tourists jockeying for good positions along the rail to take its picture. Rough guess that it was at least 300-400 lbs and 7+ ft length.)







And we had Max jumping for joy when we discovered a poker game going on at the famous Conrad Hotel that he could join in on... :)

After an exciting 24 hours we headed farther south to the capital...

Montevideo

Formed by the Spanish as a means to counter the smuggling by the Portuguese from Colonia to Buenos Aires, Montevideo sits right across the Rio del Plata from Buenos Aires. The capital is significantly smaller than it's Argentinian counterpart, and also infinitely more quiet and relaxed (notice the group playing chess in the street in pic below!). We spent 2 days enjoying the touristy and not so touristy sights. 

Along the Plaza Independencia, where the original citadel of Montevideo once stood, is now an imposing statue of national hero General Artigas (who is credited with doing the most for Uruguayan independence). The inner city can easily be covered on foot, so we walked from our hotel to the Centro and then on to the Harbor, where a huge cruise ship had landed just a few hours before (explained a lot of the hurried tourists walking around!).

Along the way we saw a few more nice sights...

Plaza de la Constitucion, the oldest square in the country, has a beautiful white fountain and an amazing array of architecture that shows the wealth of the city's past. Now it's home to the most popular street cafe's and bars/nightclubs in Montevideo.

Passing through the old part of the city you end up reaching the port, which is even active to today. Right by the port is the Mercado del Puerto, where in the old days fishermen would unload their wares to locals. Now it's a popular market that caters to tourists with a mouth-watering collection of restaurants. Very unlike South America, this place already closed by 8pm, so we were not able to grab dinner there as we had originally planned. Instead we ate a a fabulous restaurant right in front of the Mercado called Don Tiburon. Best steak I've ever had!!! (Sorry Argentina!). 

Lucky we covered most sights on day 1, since the second day started gray and rainy. We took it easy, first hanging in one of the local cafe's - of which there's surprisingly few compared with Argentina - before hitting up a few museums. 

The Bonafide Espresso cafe where we hid out for most of the morning is a local institution in itself, favorite coffee spot for the local movers and shakers. Saw many self-important people in suits, but nobody famous from what we could tell...

The museums were all relatively small, but free, so that was a nice side bonus. Only downside was that no photography was allowed inside, so no proof to show for it, sorry! Got to see how the wealthy upper-class lived in the 18th/19th century in Montevideo (imagine Versailles mixed with English manor), and some exhibits of modern artists from Uruguay ("I could have painted that!"). ;)

Shout out to our German friends - even here in Montevideo you can partake in a pretty decent Doener Kebab - with explanation of the menu in German by the restaurant's manager! Logo on the menu: "SCHMECKT NACH MEHR!"

In the afternoon the sun came back out and we hit the last big item on our must-see list - the beach! Yep, they have one in the city, and it's actually quite nice as you can see in the picture below. We explored the local culinary delights for dinner, including finding a new favorite beer for Max, before turning in early after an exciting week in Uruguay...