Day 40 - 11/15/23 - Montevideo, Uruguay

 Today found us in Montevideo, Uruguay where we had a small group private tour led by Mariana.  She met us promptly just outside the port entry gate.  This port is another cargo port, but they have a clear green pathway to walk from the ship to the gate which is beside the tourist office.  There's also a nice little park along the way with a number of port artifacts including part of the German battleship Graf Spee which was scuttled in the early stages of WWII.  The Graf Spee was scuttled as it was trapped in the harbor here and it contained a super secret early primitive radar system that the Germans did not want to fall in the hands of the Allies.

Graf Spee Radar mast




We initially did a walking tour near the port in the Old City and Mariana was long to point out lots of historical details in an effort to communicate how history influenced the city's development.  We then used a van to visit a number of historical squares and monuments and areas of the city.  before ending up in the MAM (Mercado Agricola de Montevideo) which is a large local indoor market with a number of restaurants.  Here, most of us tried to get a bit to eat and I ended up with a triple burger that was quite good, but a little too much to eat.  






Our tour continued with a drive by the Congress building and other historical buildings.  Many of these Angela and I had seen 7 years earlier when we visited the city.  Our last stop was at a War Memorial outside the downtown core near her favorite beach on the Ramblas.  We then were driven back to the port area where Angela and I did some shopping at the covered market there and checked out the Carnival museum for a possible future visit in January.  It was a very nice tour and I recommend it to anyone visiting Montevideo. Mariana was an enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide.  



Mariana, our guide, with Angela





Back on board, we had a very light dinner even though it was Uruguayan Steak Dinner night in the LIDO and since there was no evening entertainment, I was in bed before 8:30pm.


Tomorrow we are in Buenos Aires which is just across the bay and river delta.  We have a gaucho tour to an estancia (ranch).  Stay tuned.


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