DAY-08: Montevideo, Uruguay
DAY-08: Montevideo, Uruguay
Day – 08: Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Interim Location: Montevideo, UR
Ending Location: At Sea Aboard the M.S. Marina
It was a short trip from Buenos Aires to Montevideo, primarily across the broad delta of the Rio De La Plata. I think the ship sailed in circles through the night awaiting its arrival slot into port this morning at 8 AM.
Promptly at 7:15 breakfast arrived, bacon, fruit, toast, muffins, juice, coffee, more bacon, etc. the bottom line was that on our small table there was more food than either of us typically eat at this early hour of the day, but it's only the first day, we'll do better tomorrow.
The arrival into Montevideo was a simple bow-in approach to a downtown pier. The most startling visual at the harbor approach is the ship "graveyard". There must have been fifty ships of various sizes and types simply abandoned outside and adjacent to the harbor sea wall; not a pretty sight unless you're a scrap metal dealer.
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For our day in Montevideo we had selected a city tour and wine tasting with lunch. Around 8:45 we departed the ship and found our guide Carla. As we drove into the city the first story was of the 1939 Battle of the Rio De La Plata between the British Navy and the German pocket battleship Graf Spee. The two navies had taken shots at each other and both had received damages. The Graf Spee requested to enter the neutral port of Montevideo for repairs. Because of political and ethnic relationships combined with diplomatic wrangling the ship's stay in Montevideo was rejected and rather than fight it out with a damaged ship versus the superior numbers of the British fleet, the German Captain scuttled the Graf Spee several miles off the harbor entrance.
Moving on we entered the city and visited the city squares, parks and other landmarks. The Uruguayans were preparing for a presidential inauguration on March 1st with a new government having just been seated in the parliament following October elections.
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| Monumento La Carreta |
Sheila's negotiating skills were brought to bear when making an essential purchase from a Uruguayan street vendor; everyone needs a "little red bag".
The city shows signs of economic troubles as do many South American cities. With recent elections there was much politically directed graffiti on buildings and walls. As with most big cities there was evidence of past wealth and current poverty.
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| Heroes Get No Respect |
Look who's doing the "Rocky thing" running up the stairs of the public building!
Departing the city we drove into the countryside. The city being relatively small meant that the transition from urban to rural was quick. Farms and ranches dominated the countryside until we had driven about 20 minutes at which time the vineyards surrounded us, the sign that we had arrived in the wine region of Uruguay.
Our visit was to the Spinoglio Vineyard a family owned and operated business. The winery tour was somewhat typical in that we visited the vineyards, tasted the now ripe grapes and were led through a discussion of the wine making processes.
Lunch followed with a selection of meats, cheeses, olives and bread along with four varieties of wine. The lunch/tasting was the highlight of the Uruguayan visit.
We were back on the ship around 2 PM and spent the afternoon learning our way around and planning for dinner.
Though we had not pre-registered, we were able to get into another of the specialty restaurants, Red Ginger. Here we sat with a couple from New Jersey so Sheila was at home with some of her "peeps". We shared a large appetizer platter enabling us to sample many of the restaurant's offerings. Sheila had a good looking salmon appetizer dish followed by sea bass. I too had a fish dish served with Jasmine rice and a variety of veggies.
Following dinner we opted for a night cap for Sheila a Jameson & Ginger and for me a Hendricks & Tonic, then retired for the night.
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