We had a long journey from the UK to get here, a 14hr flight to Buenos Aries arriving at 5am into the South American heat, then a taxi to the ferry terminal and across to Colonia Del Sacramento in Uruguay followed by a coach to Montevideo! A tough leg of the journey but we managed to leave the grey skies and short days of the UK to begin our 3 month trip traversing the COVID entry requirements of two countries in one hop!

Like many South American cities, you see the wonderful colonial architecture, sometimes well maintained and other times a crumbling remnant of times long past.

Montevideo is Uruguay’s capital with 1.5 to 2 million of its 3.5 million population residing in this city alone. That makes for a vibrant environment for the coastal city with its port area, beaches and metropolitan areas.

A walk through the old town is rewarding, lots of interesting buildings and restaurants. Even a specialised coffee shop or too, noting Uruguay legalised Cannabis for registered citizens a few ago, so you can’t help but smell it on occasions!

A trip to the Mercardo Del Puerto by the port is a must for meat lovers, it’s a place with so much vibrancy and ambience that makes it a great place for lunch. You will be enticed by the various restaurants, so take some time to walk around before choosing!

Remember this is South America, it’s meat, meat, or meat, with some fries too and vegetables if you are lucky! Order yourself a litre bottle of beer and it comes with an ice bucket, I mean, really is this heaven on earth?!

All the meat is ‘Asado’, cooked on the wood fired grills open to view. For the best choose ‘lomo’ else, well, it might be more fatty than you may want, and at these prices, why not, enjoy!

We didn’t get to see all of the beaches close to the city but took a walk along the Ramblas (which runs for nearly 14miles along the coastline) to Playa Ramirez to watch the sunset but the beaches further east are meant to be better still. Of course, this is Uruguay, you get to hear people clapping as the sun sets, like a celebration as the day light fades, I just found that so lovely.

Although, given Uruguay is on the east coast of South America, I couldn’t help wondering how we got to see so many beautiful sunsets!

Of course, I have to add some shots of some of the street art we encountered on our walks..

Time to head east to Punta Del Este…