Montevideo

Our transfer from Buenos Aires nearly didn't go ahead as our prebooked taxi never arrived after telling us he would arrive in ten minutes three times and two Uber taxi drivers didn't turn up. Eventually on our third attempt an Uber driver picked us up from our hostel and drove like a mad man to the ferry port. We arrived fifteen minutes before the ferry left but luckily got through immigration and security quick enough to get onto the ferry before it left. The ferry took one hour to cross the river to Colonia where we got a two hour bus to the capital of Uruguay Montevideo.

The receptionist at our hostel advised us to do a walking tour of the old city that has both English and Spanish speaking guides. When we arrived at the meeting point we were the only English speaking tourists so got our own private tour of the city. The tour was very informative as we didn't know much about the history of Uruguay before arriving. We learned that Uruguay has been ruled by Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Argentina at different times of history. They finally got independence in 1830. I was surprised to hear that Uruguay had separated it's political statement from the Catholic church religion. I would not have thought this due the large number of Catholic church followers in South America. It was an interesting tour as we were advised on different museums to visit and places to eat in. The following day we went to some of these museums and also did a tour of the theatre that was built in 1856.

I really enjoyed visiting Montevideo. The streets were not as busy as other capital cities that we have visited so there was more of a laid back feeling as we walked around the city. Eating out was a little bit expensive however buying food at the supermarket was fairly cheaper. I think that two days were enough to explore the city and to learn about its interesting history. It is definitely a location that I would recommend visiting for a short period of time as it is pretty and easy to get to from Buenos Aires.Read more