One of my favorite trips to date was with my close man friend, Mistress Maddie's #1 Fan. He is an excellent travel companion, and we've shared many trips. If you know me well, you know that my trip to Buenos Aries is hands down my favorite trip to date. And we aren't ones to plan our day, we go with the flow once there. I was quite surprised one day when we ended up taking a hour long cruise across the Rio de la Planta, to go see Colonia del Sacramento, located on the east coast of Uruguay. Whether it's to add more passport stamps or do a visa run...visitors flock to the tiny town. But I was also pleasantly surprised by just how quite it was...and very relaxing. The historic quarter rewards those with colorful facades, vine draped shops and eateries, and palm fringed walkways, set to a very old town, taking you back. One can easily lose track of time here. Originally founded by the Portuguese in the 1600's, the city passed between Portuguese and Spanish rule for decades, and a melting pot is apparent in the resulting architecture and food. Definitely enough to do for a day. Though I would go back to spend a few days, just to mill about. The lighthouse is it's most prevalent attraction. And for just $1 you can climb the 111 steps and soak in the city's views from atop. Auto enthusiast will be pleased at all the vinatge cars sitting about, some working, some not... like old VW'S. old Fords and Hillmans. It almost rivals Havana. And the oldest structure is the Santisimo Sacramento Basilica, which was built in 1680. And the food? TASTY AND FABULOUS! Here are some favorites I didn't feature in my initial post.
From what I've seen here, Uruguay deserves SOO much more than a day trip! OMG!
ReplyDeleteI think your the only person I know to have been to Uruguay.
Colonia does look like worthwhile day trip destination. Your pictures of the historic quarter are beautiful. There is such a rustic charm to it. And the cars… wow, they give Havana run for their money! I've been too Montevideo, but not near the same feel as this. It more between old world and city like Buenos Aires.
ReplyDeleteMontevideo looks like Colonia but way bigger city...with old architecture. It looks like an intresting place.
DeleteOne can keep London, Paris, Rome and such. Give me small, out of the way destinations like this henny. I'm so jealous. Never even heard of it.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The uncommon places, or least likely places are more my priority right now. Up next on my bucket list is Portofino/Lake Cuomo, Budapest, Martinique, and Nairobi.
DeleteWhen you visit Lake Como try fitting in a visit to Sirmione at the bottom of Lake Garda; a fascinating town with amazing Roman ruins (and good food).
DeleteYou captured it beautifully! Your photos truly transport me there. Uruguay – I need to get to you, ASAP! Or hang out with you with Mistress.
ReplyDeleteIt has dawned on me why I like where you go on travels. Each place is so completely opposite and different of where you traveled before. This town looks spectacular.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos. I love the variety of places you're sharing!
ReplyDelete@Tweety and Mitchell- Thank you dears. When I travel, I always purposely pick the next location as the opposite of where I just was, so each trip doesn't feel the same. Now after a year and two months, the city dump is looking good.
DeleteAbsolutely stunning! I would love to go there especially since you mentioned about the cars.
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about cars, except being in the backseat.
DeleteA lovely-looking resort, indeed! Did you have the Uruguayan "national dish" of corned beef when you went there, I wonder? Jx
ReplyDeleteI can eat it, but not my favorite...but did have a selection or two of the other "national dish" which was more to my liking.
DeleteUruguay? I thought you were making a bad pun.
ReplyDeleteYou've traveled so much and I so little. I sacrificed my wants and needs to a bad husband and two ungrateful children. Do I feel sorry for myself? At this moment, yes. But I'll get over it.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
And then some days, I feel I'm not very traveled compared to some people.
DeleteEverything's relative.
DeleteIs it just me, or is that Cruella's car being used as a planter?
ReplyDelete😂😂😂😂
DeleteI loved the planter car too and the "meaningful sculpture" overlooking the bay
DeleteLots of loverly pictures!
ReplyDeleteWonderful place.
xoxo :-)
Absolutely Gorge. YOU took these pics? You have the eye, honey. They are stunning. And I would have felt like I was lost in a foreign film... it strikes me as very Italian... Thank you for sharing. Boy... you really do get around. And not in the way I thought... Kizzes.
ReplyDeleteI did do some getting around of which you speak too baby. Those men in Argentina? OH.MY.GOD! Yes, I took the pictures, and half of these then were on my Instagram page. I have fun with filters sometimes.
DeleteWhat a picturesque place – I’d be more than happy to wander the streets of Colonia – it looks so unspoilt. Your pictures are really stunning too – all those vintage cars. South America is one place I don't know many to travel too. I know of one person who went to Brazil.
ReplyDeleteOh, I would love to see Brazil.
DeleteWow! It is a very vintage place with vintage cars and vintage structures! I love it. Instagram-worthy and feels like you are traveling back in time. I think a South American tour would be fabulous.
ReplyDeleteColonia del Sacramento looks stunning. These cars made me feel like you were traveling back in time, or like time had stopped. I read that it’s been added to the UNESCO Heritage List, so, hopefully, it will stay as charming as it is now! I’d love to explore Latin America, and Uruguay would surely be on my list, which you just made bigger.
ReplyDeleteI tend to make a lot of things get bigger dear. I've been told.
DeleteYou’ve done a great job of selling me on Uruguay. It looks soo damn quaint and intresting. Such great photos, typical scenery but you have a great eye for angles and such.
ReplyDeleteIt's also nice to have a good travel buddy too.
The Mistress is an excellent person to travel with too...even if he is a covers hog.
DeleteI remember when you went here. I love it. Colonia Del Sacramento is indeed a revelation. The old world charm is so enchanting. I loved the pictures of the vintage cars. Your photos have capture the charm and elegance of the place in lovely fashion. I am sure a trip to Del Sacramento is an opportunity to travel back in history and enter a world which fascinates. Maybe I can get my daughter to go?!?
ReplyDeleteYes, tell your daughter you two need a trip once this is over.
DeleteWhoa.
ReplyDeleteThis is fantastic! Love the feel and even the light looks different. Uruguay has a very interesting history. One of the TAs I worked with used to tell us all kinds of anecdotes from when he lived there.
I'm fascinated.
XOXO
Sixpense...I think you'd love it! I have the feel you'd make an excellent travel partner.
DeleteLooks like a place one could go and never leave
ReplyDeleteYou really are a man of the world.
ReplyDeleteWonderful-looking place.
ReplyDeleteIt looks so quaint! I don't blame you for not wanting to leave - it looks beautiful.
ReplyDeleteSx
I love places that are like this, a time-warp town that takes you back in time some 200+ years. It is easy to see why from a photography point of view why this place is so popular. Love the lighthouse.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing all the street sights and just how old the town is. And what's not to like about taking a cruise to get there by way of the Rio de la Planto.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful colonial street I could soak up the ambiance of a bygone era. I bet you felt like you've traveled in time? Nice to get lost in places like this.
ReplyDeleteThis place is Picture perfect! It also reminds me that I need a nice vacation when this is over...and to somewhere beautiful and quieter like this.
ReplyDeleteI was definitely best to get there in the mid morning before the tourist really hit later in the day around 1pm...but not near as crazy as other places. In the morning...it was pretty ghost town like.
DeleteThese are my first photos I have ever seen of Uruguay.
ReplyDeleteI was pleasantly surprised by it Spo.
DeleteIf those cars are any indication, it looks like Uruguay has been cut off from the world longer than Cuba! Still, it looks like a beautiful destination and not a tourist trap, LOL! I'm enjoying the vicarious travel via your photos and looking forward to any you might be able to share from the Orient Express.... What can I say? I've been a fan of Hercule Poirot for years, LOL!
ReplyDeleteI have no words for the Orient Express. I have never travel so luxuriously in my entire life. I believe I used what photos were taken from the trip and a video from a music group that was aboard. If you type Orient Express in the search box or look under July 2019, you can see the post Tundra. I too am a HUGE Poirot fan. As matter of fact, our PBS show is rerunning all the Poirot shows with David Suchet
DeleteI swear....next time you go somewhere...I'm traveling with you. I loved your post when you went to South America.
ReplyDeletenice places
ReplyDeleteTHIS look amazing. Never been to anywhere is South America.
ReplyDelete