Good morning Uruguay!  Arriving early and having no need to get off in a rush as we are just doing a city walking tour (on our own courtesy of GPSmyCity and CD Ed’s port talk), we hang out on the balcony thoroughly engrossed in the ship graveyard just outside the breakwater.  What are all those ships? And why are they here?  Why aren’t they being scuttled or cleared or disposed of or something?  They truly fascinate me – as you can see because I couldn’t stop taking pictures!

Finally we wander down to breakfast, then head out to hit the streets.  Sightseeing begins at the port entrance where the Rangefinder for the German battleship Graf Spee sits.  It was recovered in 2004 from the remains of the ship that was deliberately sunk in 1939 when the Captain saw there was no hope of escape from British forces. This was the very first radar equipment mounted on a warship, and was among many things that made the Graf Spee one of the most innovative battleships of its time.  Didn’t help with the outcome unfortunately, but still. 

It is a sleepy early Sunday morning with hardly anyone outside as we begin our stroll through virtually empty streets, admiring the different architecture, the parks with great statues (Plaza Zabela, with statue, named after the founder of the city Bruno Mauricio de Zabela). 

More beautiful architecture surrounds as we continue on past Teatro Solis, where we will be in a few days with Azamara for Azamazing Evening, and into Plaza Indepencia where the Salvo Palacio is located and the Tango museum.  We really wanted to visit these two places, but alas, they are closed on Sunday.  Sigh.

As well as the Andes Museum, founded by the father of one of the soccor players who didn’t survive the 1979 plane crash in the Andes.  It is filled with memoriabilia and stories – and since the movie about the crash just came out – and we want to watch it – we thought it would be great to visit. But, again, no go.  Pooh!  And we have a tour when we are here next, so no chance of visiting then. 

In a way, it might be a good thing because there are quite a few ships here today, and lots and lots and lots of tours and tour buses floating around.  The Plaza Indepencia was jam packed, so we can only imagine how bad the museums would be. Ah well – we had hoped against hope….but it was not to be.

So onward we trek, toward the Mercado Agricola, the new farmer’s market that CD Ed said not to walk to because it was either too far or unsafe.  Who knows – we’re going.  It’s not too far for us, we’ll figure out the safety thing.  The bonus of this walk is that we it is all city sidewalks, all nice for walking, there is plenty of shade, because the sun is brutal and hot, but the shady side of the street is lovely.  There are also a few more people about, and the 2 mile walk up to the market seems pretty safe to us.

On the way, we pass by pretty parks, like Juan Pedro Fabini Square with the really impressive Fuente del Entrevero statue that depicts a battle scene, as well as the  Palacio Legislativo, the Uruguayan parliament building, which is gorgeous and grand and filled with tour buses.  We’re moving on!

The Mercado Agricola is only a few minutes walk from the Parliament, but upon arriving, this is not the farmer’s market we expected.  It is more like an upscale mall with a couple of produce and meat stalls in it.  Seriously. Not even worth taking a photo!  At least it is air conditioned and we can sit at one of the food court tables to reconnoiter and figure out what shall do next!  As we are strategizing, the tour buses start pouring in.  Celebrity Eclipse and Oceania Marina are with us today and you can pick the different cruise line passengers out among the crowds.  No need for tour stickers even!  Yeah, we’re outta here!

Reversing course, we hit all the same highlights, although this time stopping at the Parliament building for pictures of its grand façade and some awesome murals across the street. 

Then we just huff it back in the direction of the port, intending to go to the Andes museum to see if they are going to remain closed today, but finding that to get to the market place where there are lots of restaurants, a more direct route takes us straight along the waterfront and away from the main city.  As it is already after 11, we figure we’ll take the direct route and head back to the port on what is definitely a less scenic, but more direct line. 

We do pass by the remains of the old city wall and a statue that is a monument to Hernandarias – who is considered the father of cattle farming in Uruguay.  From there we wander to the Mercado del Puerto, the old farmer’s market now converted into a food hall with tons of restaurants.  We are looking for Chivito, the famous Uruguayan sandwich, but all these restaurants seem to be more parrillada type full meal meat focused.  We wander around a bit, then sit outside trying to find other restaurants on Google maps, but that is a hassle, because many say they are closed today.  Finally we wade back into the market, stopping at the first place we saw previously that said they had choripan – what the hell, it isn’t Chivito, but it is at least a sausage sandwich!  I ask the girl hawking us if they have chivito, and she says yes!  Score!  We manage to communicate that we want to sit inside the “salon” not at the bar outside, which is hot and crowded, and she walks us around to the restaurant in the front of the complex (that we have passed numerous times) and settles us into the “salon” inside, looking out the open doors to the patio.  Perfect!

We settle, have an adorable waiter who turns the fan on for us, and then takes our order perfectly in our broken Spanish! While super expensive (we’re talking US City prices), the Chivito is excellent, and humongous!  The bread alone is a huge work of art, stuffed inside is a thick slice of meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato and a fried egg.  Yes, Ed is in heaven.  I order the choripan which comes out on the same massive bread/bun and is absolutely excellent.  Combined with an excellent pour of good wine and a local beer and we are both happy campers!  (Apologies for the pictures as there was a red awning right outside the window that turned every picture into this eerie reddish mess.)

Lunch complete, we head back outside to the Carnival museum, fortunately open, and peruse through great displays, explanations about the carnival here – not like other countries, Montevideo’s carnival takes place every night on open air stages around the city and lasts for an entire month!  There are 5 different types of categories groups can compete within – Murgas (musical theater group with painted faces, colorful costumes, a Capela harmonies depicting political satire), Black and Lubolo Societies (black-face painted dancers and singers), Parodists (sort of burlesque, joking, parodies of characters and plots that are well known to the public), Humorists (basically comedians) and Magazines (shows that prioritize music and dance).  The museum documents all these different acts, their costumes and their customs over time.  A very interesting and complete representation of what Carnival is here in Montevideo.  Well worth the visit.

And with that, we are done with our first day visit here in Montevideo.  Since we have nothing else we want to do – except that darn Andes museum which is closed – we just went back to the ship and packed.  Even though we still have tomorrow – we have a very full day and want to have everything virtually packed so we can enjoy our day in Buenos Aires without pressure.

Sitting on the balcony with our afternoon cocktails as we sail out of the harbor, we are once again fascinated by the ship graveyard.  Can’t get enough of those half sunk vessels! Later on that night, after dinner with our new favorite waiter Dade and an even cuter origami dog tonight, we retire to the balcony for the evening, enjoying the night air and staring at the stars. 

It is a beautiful evening and as we star gaze, a little before 9pm, we notice this straight line of bright stars on rising up from the horizon.   That is the craziest constellation we’ve ever seen – actually – it can’t be a constellation – it is literally 5 or 6 stars in a straight line. What?  Well – that’s Starlink!  Even though we hate the owner and the idea – it has saved us on all these cruise ships now – and it is totally cool to see.  Great way to end our 2^nd to last night aboard the Oosterdam.