Catedral Metropolitana

This 15,572-step day was our second time visiting Montevideo.

The first time we visited was in 2015. In fact, we arrived here on 1 January — a day earlier than scheduled because Celebrity Infinity was unable to tender into Punta del Este due to the sea state being too rough. Montevideo was to have been the next port of call on that itinerary. Thus, we ended up with an unexpected overnight in the city

Visiting a South American city on New Year’s Day pretty much guarantees that it will be dead, dead, dead. Nonetheless, we had a nice quiet stroll on streets that were littered with calendar pages … the pavement literally covered with them. Apparently it’s a New Year’s Eve tradition in Montevideo to throw out the daily pages of the calendar for the just-ended year after midnight.

The next day, the city was alive again, but we joined a tour organized by a fellow-passenger and went wine tasting outside of Montevideo.

Since we’d explored the city center last time — though Mui says he remembers none of it — I looked for something different to do. A city guide, written by a well-respected expat, suggested going to Prado, one of the more distant neighborhoods of the city.

The description mentioned tree-lined streets; impressive mansions from the early 20th century; an urban park — the largest in Montevideo — with interesting sculptures. Nearby, I read, was a magnificent rose garden that was populated by plants imported from France, and greenhouses. Blane’s Museum was also in the area … but closed on Mondays. The Botanical Garden was said to offer a peaceful respite for visitors. Finally, the Presidential Residence was in the area, too.

At first, the plan was to walk to Parque del Prado … even though Google said it would take us over an hour to do so. But the tourist information office said there was nothing of interest along the way. They suggested we save our steps and take transportation to get where we wanted to go. So, we called an Uber, which got us to the park around 9:30a.

We found everything that was described. But much of it did not live up to our expectations.

Parque Del Prado, with the Miguelete Creek running through it, had a couple of statues, but nothing else that was of interest except for walking paths. The magnificent rose garden had nary a bush with blooms.

Crossing the creek, we searched out two monuments. The first one honored the last four members of the Charruas Indians. They survived the 1831 massacre by the militia under General Rivera, only to die in France where they were taken to be “studied.”

The next monument, the work of Jose Belloni, is entitled “La Diligencia” … often referred to as the Stagecoach Monument. A coach, pulled by five horses, is portrayed as being stuck in the mud … with a teamster helping to get it unstuck and a woman with an infant sitting in the cart.

To get from La Diligencia to the Botanic Garden, we used an alternate route that took us into the tree-lined streets. “Good,” I thought, “now we’ll see the beautiful mansions.” Alas, most of the mansions were quite run down … some practically in ruins. The only one that seemed to be well maintained was the Prado House, but a tall wall surrounded the property and all we could really see were the ceramic roof tiles glistening under the sun. The streets were not in the best condition either … broken down sidewalks in such bad shape that it was easier to just walk on the street itself. Luckily there was very little traffic.

The Botanic Garden had lovely shaded paths to walk, which we enjoyed. The museum, unfortunately, was closed … and not just because it was Monday. Sadly, the property had an overall feeling of neglect.

Eventually, we retraced our steps through the neighborhood and then veered off to see Residencia de Suárez, which was constructed in 1908. It has served as the official residence of the President of Uruguay since 1947. We couldn’t go inside, but did get the postcard-view of it through the fence.

By this time, the sun was downright brutal. Time for another Uber … this time to get us downtown to Plaza Independencia. The idea was to walk part of the route we did in 2015 to jog Mui’s memory. It didn’t work, but we both enjoyed the stroll … seeking as much shade as we could along the way. After a quick peek inside the cathedral, we decided to head back to the ship where our air conditioned cabin would provide us with a cool haven.

We now have a couple of days at sea to recharge our heat-depleted sightseeing batteries before we get to Brazil … a country that is brand new to us.Read more