Montevideo

As a kid, I always thought that Montevideo was a weird name for a city, even though I'm not sure I even knew what country it was in.  I certainly didn't think I would visit there.  But after our relaxing time at El Galope, we were ready for adventure in Uruguay's capital.  Montevideo apparently has a bit of a complex about the popularity of Buenos Aires - they have tango and asado too! - so we weren't sure what to expect.

We arrived on a beautiful, sunny Saturday and taking the city bus to our hostel from the main bus terminal was a snap (no exact change required!)  The first square we got to was lovely and had a free art museum underneath.

It's cool to have a free museum underneath a city park, but the content was a little to modern and abstract for my tastes.

Unfortunately, while we were in the museum a storm quickly rolled in and we had to take refuge there a little longer than we might have otherwise as the rained poured and then moved out again just as quickly!

Soggy streets.

The Plaza de Independencia is a nice big square and the Canadian embassy occupies a prime location there, right beside the Radisson.

Oh Canada!  Thank you for not spending my tax dollars to keep the embassy open on Saturdays.

Check out the weird building towering over the Plaza de Independencia.  Not sure what that's all about, but it's the most famous, iconic building in Montevideo.  [Chad: at one point the tallest in South America]

Next up, the Mercado del Puerto, in Montevideo's old port market building.  It's somewhat like Santiago's central market, but way cooler and somewhat less touristy (at least at this time of year).

It's also full of parillas - grill restaurants - so we grabbed a seat at one so Chad could indulge.

Chad dug into his steak while I enjoyed some french fries and an Uruguayan medio y medio - half dry white wine and half sparkling wine.

Since it was the weekend, these musicians were wandering through.

[Chad: this was one of Montevideo's many Candombe bands, which are heavy on the drums and percussion (originated with African slaves) but with some melodic instruments added.  I thought it was absolutely fantastic - it sounded exactly halfway between traditional African tribal music and Dixieland Jazz.  Great combination.]

That night, the McFrothys went out on the town to Baar FunFun (pronounced 'foon foon').  Fun Fun has been open since 1895 and hosts tango and live music on its very tiny stage.  We tried the house special, uvita, a famous fortified rosé-coloured wine drink, followed by another bottle of medio y medio, while listening to some great tango music.  [Chad: Carlos Gardel apparently visited and sang about uvita while he was there.  And Rob: they closed the first set with "Por Una Cabeza," of course.]

Bandoneon (button-only accordian) and guitar; classic tango instrumentation

We spent the next two days hanging out about town.  Montevideo is somewhat like a less busy, more relaxed Buenos Aires and we had a nice time there.

Not sure what this monument is for, but there are locks attached to the fence all around it.  So Parisian!

Market day truck - we checked out the Sunday market at the urging of every Uruguayan we talked to and found... another market.  So unenthralled were we that we didn't even capture a shot of it.

Just another of the countless Uruguayans lugging around a mate [Chad: that's the "mah-tay" cup, not the girlfriend] and a thermos of hot water.  At least this guy wasn't trying to smoke and talk on his cell phone too.

The famous Teatro Solis.  Unfortunately the only thing playing while we were there was a Spanish-speaking comedian. 

On the Rambla (boardwalk).  Montevideo has 20 km of rambla on the waterfront of the Rio de la Plata!

Excited to find pineapple pizza on the menu!

Perhaps even more excited, Chad tries a milanese (roughly, a South American schnitzel).

Our last full day in town we headed for the beach.

Why is this castle between these high rises?  Why?

Sadly our beach experience didn't last long as it began pouring about two minutes after we arrived!

Given the rain, we hopped on a cross town bus (conveniently marked, and this one even had a cashier) and headed for another famous spot, Cafe Brasilero, open since 1877.  We just had a tea and a coffee, but the food looked phenomenal.  Next time we're in Montevideo...

On the way back we found this awesome bookstore, though sadly there were no English books.

And stopped by the Gaucho Museum, located in a beautiful historic building.

Some nice gold mosaic work on the Palace of Justice.

Montevideo isn't going to knock your socks off with excitement, but it's a nice city with lots of things to do and is very comfortable.  We had a great time there!