We are greeted with a beautiful sunrise as we sail into Montevideo, for our 2^nd visit in less than a week!  Today, though, we are on a ship’s tour (cringe) – remember onboard credits!  We are going to go to Colonia De Sacramento, the first original and only Portuguese colonized town in Uruguay.  Corralling all our other tour guests, we troop out to the bus, grab our seats and whip out our kindles!  It is a 2 ½ hour ride each way so we are prepared.

Our guide Maria, is actually from Colonia, which was great and she was fabulous.  Gave us tons of background info on Montevideo; 40% of the Uruguayan population lives there; all immigrants came through Montevideo, so everything is centered there – health care, university,  etc.  Wine has become a big business now in Uruguay with most of the vineyards/wineries to the North of Montevideo.  Corn is main crop, used mainly for feeding cattle, etc.  It goes on an on, and is very interesting, but enough to know for now!

As we approach Colonia, she takes us on a quick bus tour around the area – past the original bullring that has recently been converted into an arena over the last few years. The ring was built in 1908, and then of course bullfights were outlawed in 1910.  There goes the bullring!  Sadly the building was left in disrepair for decades until government got funds to renovate it into the arena.  Maria remembers playing and exploring inside when she was a teenager growing up.  Then we head to the beach/bay area that leads to the town and finally into the old town proper.

Here we have a rest stop then begin a walking tour through the little historic village.  We stop at the place where the gate to the original walled city was located (it has been reconstructed and isn’t really all original now).

Passing through the gate, we head toward the water, then down cobblestone streets to Calle de los Suspiros, the Street of Sighs.  This street, with a gutter running down the middle, is where we can find most of the original buildings from the colonial era.  There are a lot of stories about the name – either the slaves sighed as they walked up this street when they first arrived and knew they were not free, or a woman sighing, waiting for her fisherman husband/boyfriend/what have you to come back from the sea.  Pick your poison!  Regardless, it is a very picturesque street full of wonderful buildings.

Then onto the main square, used for military practice and for the trade of products from outside the city, such as contraband or slaves.  Today it is a lovely shaded square lined with colonial buildings and anchored by the lighthouse at one end.

We aren’t visiting the lighthouse (not included at least) but we do walk past and get some good photos of the almost 200 year old signal house.

We do some more circling of the city with Maria pointing out different landmarks.  Past some odd museum with a huge whale skeleton and bizarre larger than life statues of spotted bears?  Who knows.  But there are more pretty street scenes and lots of while trees that seem to grow anywhere and create arbor arches all by themselves. 

Then it is finally time for lunch.  We all gather around tables at the Meson de la Palaza and are treated to great wine and a wonderful lunch of caprese salad, fish filet (for Ed) and pork (for me) and some sort of flan with dulce de leche.  Totally yum!!!! 

Now we have free time to wander the town.  We head off to the area where we can actually see across the bay to Buenos Aires.  How wild is that!  You can literally see it in the distance.

Then sort of just retrace our steps, taking more pictures, buying Dulce de Leche in one of the little shops that Maria recommended, and generally just meandering about. 

We still have plenty of time before our scheduled meeting to return to the ship, we head back to Meson de la Palaza and have a beer and wine, then continue our wandering, stopping by the Basilica of the Holy Sacrament and then around the corner, we find this great building with an ancient automobile in front, both being covered by vines and plants. 

Back on the bus, we pass the 2 ½ hour ride with our kindles.  Great tour, but tbh, the town was cute and picturesque, but very touristy. Since it was essentially a free tour, it was fine to do, but otherwise, not necessarily recommended.  Then again, one of the massive MSC ships and the Marina are in port today, so Montevideo will be totally packed with cruisers – Colonia looks better and better when you think about that!

Once aboard, we do a quick freshen up, then hit the buffet in the dining room for a quick meal to get ready for Azamazing Evening.  We sort of sneak out before they call our deck, but the gangway area is a mess, so nobody says anything.  The venue is the Teatro Solis, which we saw from the outside on our self-guided walking tour last week.  We are greeted with a small glass of wine and dancers who line the red carpet on the way to the theater.  Once inside, Teatro Solis is absolutely everything that Holland America CD Ed told us it would be!  A gorgeous old style Opera house, all decked out in gold and deep maroon, with 5 different balcony levels, beautiful!

We managed to snag great seats about 6 rows from the stage, and sit back and wait for the show. And what a show it is!  Over 1 hour of a Broadway worthy performance.

Costume changes, singers, dancers, acrobatics, drummers, parades and more parades, 4 acts full of action and songs and music that portray the different stages of Carnival in Uruguay (which is the longest in the world, lasting 40 days).   

Absolutely fabulous.  Everyone who has seen this show say it was the absolute best.  Final analysis:  they are right!  At then end of the evening, we are serenaded as we leave the theater and then given these great masks as gifts to remember our evening.  Azamazing!