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We took a morning tour of Montevideo for only $18 and it was excellent!- I would say one of the best tours I've been on.We stopped at Independence Plaza, the Constitution plaza (signed July 18, 1830).We saw a beautiful church by the main plaza across from a government building which they explained were the 3 things that were a Spanish requirement for every city.We saw the huge mansions of the colonial days which now below to private institutions like the military and even the Moonies!We drove through Carrasco, which is the rich district of today & went to Plaza de la Armada which gave us a beautiful view of Rio de la Plata (the widest river in the world - 220km at its widest point) and the peninsula of the old city part of Montevideo.We had an amazing beef "linner" at the Mercado del Puerto where there were tons of restaurants w/ fires cooking lots of different kinds of meat.An old man from Galicia was eating chinchulin (tripe) & offered me some so I did try it & w/ the chimichurri sauce it was actually very good - rubbery, but good!After our huge "linner" we saw the Carnaval museum and the history museum & got to see the Portuguese shield from the original Portuguese wall in Colonia.We then saw some more great buildings and architecture before going to el Milongon for an Uruguayan dance show.It had Condombo (black slave bongo music that was religious & has now turned into carnival & party music) as well as some great tangos and some traditional music w/ the guacho guys and peasant girls.Then they all played drums & even did some dancing w/ fire whips.
The next morning we rented some bikes (less than $2 for almost 2 hours) to ride along las ramblas which is an Arabic word meaning path by the sea (they have 22 km worth of beach & path).We made it up to Pocitos beach which is one of the first swimming beaches and it is called that because back in the day the women used to wash their clothes there and make little holes/wells in the sand, called pocitos.It was a gorgeous day and I got to get my feet wet in Rio de la Plata for a few minutes. We stopped at a gorgeous cemetery on the way back which had amazing statues of angels etc. on the coffins, many from before 1900.They even had pretty vaults in the walls surrounding the cemetery.
All in all, I have to say Montevideo is a great city - they have 1 tree for every 3 people - over 500,000 trees!Gorgeous and safe - can't beat that!
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