Week 8 Montevideo and then Across the Atlantic Ocean

We arrived in Montevideo on Sunday the 13th and took the morning excursion This was the included tour of the city. We visited Montevideo about 20 years ago and we were not impressed. We felt it was dirty, unsafe, and just plain yucky. WOW what a difference. We saw a very clean city, still some graffiti but nothing like Valparaiso.  The beautiful parks, old architecture, and beautiful modern buildings were nice to see. The people were out walking the city as it was a Sunday and there were some at the beaches. This day was a little cool with off and on sprinkles. The government is a stable democracy and the varied Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, African, and indigenous cultures combine gives it an international flare. It is a city that is worth exploring. Below are pictures we took of an unexpected extra day in Montevideo. The weather at our next stop was really windy and rainy. At Punta del Este we were to take tenders onto the islands but it was too dangerous to have them run with the high waves. The captain decided to remain where we were docked and we were given an INDEPENDENT EXPLORATION ASHORE DAY! We had not had one as we were in a bubble since December 24th. Talk about excited. Still had to wear masks at all times and social distance but we could walk around the city on our own. 

So on Monday, Valentine's Day, we met up with Kathy and Mike for a wonderful 2+ hours of walking (just over 3 miles). Had a great time visiting stores and seeing beautiful parks and statues. Jeff even found a store selling Heinz Yellow Mustard and bought it. He and Mike don't like the yellow mustard served on the ship. In fact, Jeff and I went to the pool deck for a late lunch and he used it. This week all 4 of us went up and the guys had hamburgers with Heinz mustard. 

Here are some pictures of this beautiful city.

                                            Pilot getting on the Viking Star to bring us into the port.

Welcome artwork at port entrance

 Port of Montevideo Shipping Building

Montevideo Skyline

Old colonial arched entrance to city center

                                                One of many fountains in the parks.

                                                        Statue in Independence Square 

Beautiful architecture saved when redesigned building

                                        Historic hotel on Independence Square now apartments


                                            Upper decorations on Parliament Building.

                                               Parliament building 

                                                        One of many statues in the city

                                                        Statue in local park representing independence

                                                Beautiful park with 4 matching sculptures in each corner

                                                Church tower near Independence Square

                        I love triangle buildings and this one was awesome with all the separate balconies.

                                        Coastline of Montevideo

                                        Holocaust memorial along coastline.

Monday Valentine's Day: The day was so beautiful and was warmer than we what we had since we left Valparaiso, Chile and went around Cape Horn. Went upstairs to have breakfast only to be greeted by our sweet staff and decorations galore. The restaurants were all decorated for the day and there was a tomahawk steak BBQ that evening at the pool deck. Since we were tired from the walk we chose the quiet of the main restaurant and had a lovely meal. 









Comments

  1. Jody EckFebruary 19, 2022 at 9:10 AM

    There are some beautiful old buildings in your photos. Btw, do you get these comments when I put them on the blog?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 13 Corfu, Greece Kotor, Montenegro Split, Croatia

Image
 Since this week is so busy with ports of call, I have decided to make two separate blogs. This will entail March 12 to March 15. The next blog will cover Venice, Italy  Zadar and Dubrovnik, Croatia. Corfu, Greece is an island located on the northwestern side of Greece close to the Albanian border. The old town and fortress were mostly constructed by the powerful Venetian Republic and is a UNESCO site today. The city is the birthplace of Prince Phillip, Queen Elizabeth II's late husband. There is also a strong British influence found in the city. Since we have been here previously, we opted to go tour the rest of this island. We visited the beautiful Monastery of Paleokastritsa high in the mountains. It is still a working monastery with 16 monks. The church is still an active Greek Orthodox facility. The history of this island goes back to Greek Mythology with Ulysses getting shipwrecked off its shoreline to the islands shape and beginnings associated with Persephone trying to save
Read more

Week 16 Jordan and Egypt

Image
 What a busy past 6 days! We left Saudi Arabia and sailed up the Red Sea to the port city of Aqaba, Jordan. It is here that we had two days of touring the city and visiting Magnificent Petra.  We found out that there was a single bus going to Petra on Monday when 12 were going on Sunday. So, Kathy and I went to Guest Services and at that time only Kathy and Mike were able to exchange their tickets. Mike has a hard time on buses and we said it didn't matter to us. Around 5 o'clock I decided to go and see if anyone had cancelled and VOILA I was able to exchange our tickets as well.  On Sunday, Jeff and I took the included tour of the city of Aqaba. The city has a long history of trade and is often called the Crossroads of Africa and Asia.  The city was made famous when Laurence of Arabia coordinated a camel charge on its fortifications when it was held by the Ottoman army in 1916. The charge was successful and the Arabs earned their independence from the Ottoman empire. Their pre
Read more

Week 17 1/2 Rhodes and Athens, Greece with Ephesus and Istanbul, Turkey

Image
 We were back to Greece for three days in this set of photographs as well as three days in Turkey. In actuality Greece was split up with Rhodes, then the three days in Turkey, followed by two days in Athens. If you are now confused think how I feel after this bouncing back and forth! The cruise continues to amaze me with all the wonders of the ancient world to the middle ages and to modern times. The people in all these places were friendly and so glad to share their country with us. We also get to sample the various foods and customs in each of the ports. We found that we liked the foods of Greece better than that of Turkey with the exception of my Turkish Salad (tomato variety) that I wrote about under Israel.  Rhodes, Greece is a beautiful island with a long history. The Palace of the Grand Masters is a sprawling fortification and the historic quarter is Europe's largest active medieval town. The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem conquered the island in the 14th Century A.D. brin
Read more