I made it to Montevideo and survived Friday the 13th! I took the bus, which was very comfortable with plush seats, WiFi, and a bathroom on board. The ride took a little over 2 hours. I saw lots of wind turbines, some rolling hills, farmland and lots and lots of cattle! I grabbed a cab and got to my hotel around 1:30 and got all checked in and unpacked.
Like I always try to do when I arrive in a big city, I took the “Free Walking Tour”. The starting point was the Plaza Independencia, Montevideo’s main square. We started off by seeing the remains of the city walls and town gate, which is the beginning of the original Old Town. The city’s gate is called Puerta de la Ciudadela.
He then pointed out the tallest building on the square called Palacio Salvo. It has 27 floors and is 328 feet tall, which made it South America’s tallest tower from 1928 to 1935. It was designed by the same architect as the building I shared in Buenos Aires called Palacio Barolo. If you remember, this was the building that was designed to represent Dante’s Divine Comedy which includes Heaven at the top, Purgatory in the middle, and Hell at the bottom. Those were some creative architects!
As we walked I saw a real French flair to some of the buildings similar to in Buenos Aires. The Canadian Embassy that was on the main square as well as other cool looking buildings had that look and I included pics so you can see it.
We then stopped at this park that was dedicated to the man that brought running water to Montevideo. He was British and his name was Federico Newman. They built this cool fountain in his honor and it was also used to determine if the water was running well since they had to get it from 20 miles away since the Rio Plata right next to the city is heavily polluted. If water was coming out of the fountain, the water pipes were running!
As we finished up our walk, we heard this loud band coming down the street. The guide explained it as the Candombe style of music and dance that immigrated to Uruguay with African Slaves. This Uruguayan music style is based on three different drums: chico, repique, and piano drums. Let me tell you, while those young guys could play those drums, it was the three older people dancing and waving the flag that were a hoot!
After the tour I was hungry but wanted something different than steak. So I found this great restaurant right around the corner from my hotel. For an appetizer I had bruschetta with pulled pork (shout out to the Carolinas!). Then for my main course I had this fish soup that was chock full of shrimp and chunks of swordfish with this brown gravy type broth with rice. The flavor was incredible. They also served it with a salad and this lentil based olive oily pesto type mixture to put on their yummy bread. Wow, I was full!
Hope everyone survived Friday the 13th! TGIF!
The Wandering Italian 