Colonia del Sacramento

Day 569,
61 639 km since the beginning of the journey

The oldest city in Uruguay is Colonia del Sacramento .The number of inhabitants is about twenty thousand and it was founded by the Portuguese in 1680. The town is about 50 kilometres from Buenos Aires and located by the mouth of the Rio de la Plata river . The restored Historic Quarter (Barrio Historico) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


Porton de Campo - the city gate (since 1765) and the wooden bridge.


Just ahead are the walls of the San Miguel bastion.






The lighthouse and the ruins of the 17-th century Convent of San Francisco.


The staircase, taking to the top of the lighthouse was so narrow that only one person had enough space to move up and was allowed to go upstairs only when no one was coming down. A view from the lighthouse towards the river ...


and towards the town - Plaza Mayor 25 de Mayo.


A car for rent. Very suitable for tourists visiting the Old Town. One can get out of the car quickly when necessary, no need to lock the doors, and quite a cool vehicle all together.








The shore




Car windows are open, and the keys are at the dashboard.










A bit of nostalgia, 04 was once quite an outstanding car, in case someone still remembers.






Sunday afternoon, and the side streets are empty. No tourist season.




Plaza de Toros de San Carlos, the bullfighting arena, is situated about 5 kilometres from the centre of the town and about 10 000 spectators could follow the fights. The Arena was opened on 9 January 1910, and all together there were 8 bull fights, before the Uruguay government banned the bull fights in 1910. The arena is falling apart, it is surrounded by a wire fence and could not get closer to have a better look.


Just next to the arena there was a small railway museum, 4 well-restored wagons.


The inside of the first class car.

That is what the VIP coach - built over the last century - looked like.


The most importantl - the dining car. Summing up, we can say that it is like more catering institution.

Sunset.









And the morning. It is not raining.

No rain at all.


Parque Brisas del Plata - 20 miles from Colonial. On the whole – the overnight place was quite satisfactory. There was cold water, toilets, electricity, on the spot pizza could be ordered and it really looked and tasted like a pizza, and Pepsi as well. Of course there could have been warm water and could have been wifi. Could have been, could have been ...

"If you need all the comforts of home, don't leave home."

In Uruguay I have not bought a local internet card yet. In Colonia it was relatively easy to find a usable WiFi. And the same story has been in other towns. Wifi is necessary because, for instance, to be able to check the weather forecast. Whether it will rain tomorrow in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, for example.

There was no rain, but more about that in the next post.