Colonia
Trip Start
Nov 01, 2004
1
86
133
Trip End
Nov 01, 2005
Colonia,
Uruguay
Sunday, June 12, 2005
We caught a taxi to the ferry terminal, checked in, went through both Argentine & Uruguayan immigration (sharing a desk) and boarded the ferry. The journey took an hour (we caught the fast ferry!) and we arrived in sunny Colonia del Sacramento. What an easy border crossing - it`s very much a day trip destination from BA. We walked to our hostel and checked in then headed for the old town. We arrived at the old wall & gates just as they had a changing of the guard ceremony. We passed through the gate and after having a quick refreshment we explored the lovely quaint cobbled old town. They have carried out extensive renovations to make this town very beautiful - we can`t imagine how busy it must be on a warm sunny summer day. We visited some tourist shops (with very very low doors), the Portuguese museum (with a very ornate family tree), the lighthouse (climbed it - again very low doors), the ruined convent, the tile museum (blue and white decorative tiling is used a lot here), the new pier (where an old man offered us plasters for sale), the Spanish museum, the native museum, the ruined fort and the lovely old church
01 Colonia Street
. We had a very tasty ice-cream before watching one of the best sunsets we have ever seen while sitting on the old pier. Itīs lovely here and we were blessed with beautiful weather. We had our evening meal in El Drugstore - a lovely restaurant where you could sit in an old car outside to have your meal! Oh... and they have imported Scottish beer - the full Belhaven range. We had a lovely herby fish dish to share and had puddings - Gillian had the choc orange crepe while Stewart had an amazing Sambayon. We had a hard decision in choosing the restaurant - Colonia is stuffed full of interesting restaurants which made a lovely change. We both like the feel of Uruguay - they have the longest carnival in South America, they are very relaxed, they claim to be the true home of the tango, they have a football stadium as a national monument (they won the first ever World Cup) and there are nice touches like free roadside assistance on the main touristy coastal route. What a nice bunch of people. 
