Montevideo, Uruguay

New city means new walking tour! Headed to Cafe Brasilio (est 1877) for scrambled eggs and coffee. Good eggs, again poor coffee…. Walking tour started in Plaza Independencia, where Palacio Salvo is located and the presidential palace. The Palacio Salvo is the twin building of the Palacio Barolo we visited in Buenos Aires, looks similar but we have been told the interior is not as interesting. Valentino was our guide, the other guy was ‘Uruguayan sick’ so he took the English and Spanish tour together, this was amazing as he would complete a single sentence and then repeat in Spanish almost seamlessly. He was very entertaining with a good joke at his people whilst being patriotic. Facts I learnt: Uruguayan consume 60kg of beef a year There are 3.3million people and 18million cows Uruguay has no natives as they were slaughtered, so they are a country built on immigrants. They currently have open immigration to become a resident. Extremely laid back country who are passionate about football and mate (herbal drink) The president works in a huge glass building on Independencia plaza, little security threat apparently. There is also a large statue of Artigas on horseback. He fought for independence for Uruguay but they exciled him over English demand to. As the dictatorship of the 1970/80s took hold they presented him as a hero and had his ashes returned to be honoured. The weird tomb was just steps under the statute, under guard but a very strange location for the shrine (and accessible). The tour led us through several Plazas, past lovely buildings and we learnt about the economy and customs. It ended in the mercado de Puerto to salvia over the parillos. We grabbed a couple of empanadas for lunch and strolled around the old city for the afternoon. I had read about great sunsets in Montevideo and apparently the best view was from a beach about an hours walk, Playa Ramirez. The beach had beautiful white sand, surprisingly as a ‘city’ beach. We watched people strolling or playing volleyball as the sun performed a lovely orange sunset. Spotted a craft beer place, Montevideo Brewing House for a quick beer and then had steak with too much wine at La Orta steakhouse.