Colonia
Last Sunday Usama, Natalia, Seth and I made the day trip over to Colonia, Uruguay. And now for a little historical background:Colonia del Sacramento, in Uruguay's province of Colonia, was the only Portuguese settlement along the Rio de la Plata. Founded as Nova Colonia do Sacramento in 1680 by Manuel de Lobo, it was the focus of struggle between the Spanish, who founded the settlement at Montevideo in response, and the Portuguese over control of the area. For years it operated as a contraband port, evading the strictures imposed on trade by the Spanish crown. Today it is a resort city, a port, and the trade center for a rich agricultural region.
Built in Portuguese style of stone houses and cobblestoned streets, the historic portion of Colonia is reminiscent of old Lisbon. Windy streets and colorful houses are laid out in a pattern different from Spanish colonial cities, and a delight to explore. The historic quarter, Barrío Historico, on a small peninsula jutting out into the river, was named a UNESCO heritage site in 1995.
Colonia del Sacramento is across the Rio de la Plata from Buenos Aires, and is the main water thoroughfare for visitors from Argentina to access any part of Uruguay. Many travelers stop to enjoy the excellent restaurants, art and craft shops, museums and a large yacht harbor.
Getting there was a bit of a process. The highspeed ferry ride (provided by BuqueBus) is only an hour long ride, but runs about $70 US roundtrip. You leave from the Puerto Madero area along the river and you have to go through customs, immigration on the way there and back. So even though you are gone for a day (or maybe more if you choose) your passport will be stamped with a Uruguayan stamp. It was fun travelling with Natalia's Slovakian passport:-) They could not find her country in their list of countries - they kept confusing it with Eslovenia (Slovenia). They were also working off some old documents and at one point in time told her she needed a visa in order to go to Uruguay. It took about 10-15 minutes to get this settled, but it made me realize how much we US Americans take our citizenship and the ease with which we can travel for granted.
We arrived in Colonia around 1pm. We were all thinking of renting mopeds - Colonia is a very small city with little traffic and mopeds are a very common way of getting around. Natalia and I tried it but then chickened out. Usama was the only one who ended up renting one for the afternoon and he looked like he had alot of fun. At the end of the trip, Seth also tried it and make a few runs on it. He has now decided that he really likes this mode of transport ;).
After stopping at the moped place, we headed straight for lunch. Colonia is not particularly known for having fabulous restaurants. We ended up eating at an attractive but not particularly memorable restaurant. We spent a few hours walking around the colonial, cobblestoned part of the city. Many of the street numbers and signs are in that blue and white Portugese tiled style. We also walked along the waterfront a bit and took some pictures. By then it was time to go back to the port to make the 6pm ferry back to BA. Overall we enjoyed the day and it is definitely great for people who are looking to spend some time away from the hustle and bustle of BA.
posted by Kathy T @ 8:36 AM
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