These posts are all going to come in a rush because Sarita flew home last night so I've got half a day to catch up on blogging and trip planning. Sorry!
While staying in Buenos Aires, Sarita and I took a day trip to Uruguay. It turns out you don’t need more than 6 hours to see all of Colonia del Sacramento. We chose Colonia based on its reviews as a cute and scenic town, and it is only an hour by ferry across the delta, compared to the 3 hour trek to Montevideo. This tinytown has a historical center largely restored to resemble the original colonial town that was there when the Portuguese held this side of the river [in the 17th century]. The rest of the "town" stretches along the length of the coastline, which is lined by beaches.
Actually, we almost didn’t make it to Uruguay at all. We learned ferry terminals in Buenos Aires operate much like airports. You can check bags, are required to have a boarding pass, and must go through customs/security before getting on the boat. It's recommended to show up at least an hour early, just like an airport. We only showed up 15 minutes before our ferry was scheduled to depart. We only made it on thanks to a quick thinking and nice employee working the customs lines and the fact that very little runs on time here. And, I forgot my sunglasses, which means I bought some painfully bright green glasses in Uruguay.
In fact, we were cutting it close for the whole day trip – and were either very lucky or very efficient the whole day . . . let's choose to say that we were efficient. As already mentioned, we had to quick-step it down the ramp to catch the Colonia ferry 3 minutes after its scheduled departure. We got one of the last golf carts from Thrifty at the airport (which is why we got one with no roof). We had to wait to climb the lighthouse because the workers taking money were at lunch until 2:30, and so we then rushed back to the ferry terminal to barely made it through customs in time to board our ferry back to Argentina. All in all . . . we maximized out time perfectly!
Colonia sits on a wide, muddy river. It's so wide that you would think you were actually looking at a Bay or part of a Gulf. It was a port town in it's peak (in the 17th century) but only pleasure craft are there now. When we visited, this wide river was brown and shallow. The beaches themselves were sandy enough to be pleasant, and you could walk out almost 50 yards before the water came up to your waist. We did everything this little town had to offer, except the museums, which were apparently closed for the holiday. And that was fine by us. It was a stretch to fill 6 hours.
Activities included:
1) We walked around old town and the surrounding remains of the original walls
2) We climbed the lighthouse. You can see Buenos Aires from the top.
3) We visited the old docks
4) We saw the church
5) We ate ice cream strolling around the town center and had lunch along the water
6) We rented a golfcart and visited the beaches. This was a fun! After visiting the historical walls of the city and walking around the historic square of Old Town, we drove the entire length of this small town and visited each of the beaches along the way. I liked our little buggy . . . despite the fact it didn’t accelerate past 20mph or have a sideview mirror that stayed in place, or have a roof that would have prevented both of our sunburns. It was fun! Everybody should have more golfcarts in their lives :)
While staying in Buenos Aires, Sarita and I took a day trip to Uruguay. It turns out you don’t need more than 6 hours to see all of Colonia del Sacramento. We chose Colonia based on its reviews as a cute and scenic town, and it is only an hour by ferry across the delta, compared to the 3 hour trek to Montevideo. This tinytown has a historical center largely restored to resemble the original colonial town that was there when the Portuguese held this side of the river [in the 17th century]. The rest of the "town" stretches along the length of the coastline, which is lined by beaches.
Actually, we almost didn’t make it to Uruguay at all. We learned ferry terminals in Buenos Aires operate much like airports. You can check bags, are required to have a boarding pass, and must go through customs/security before getting on the boat. It's recommended to show up at least an hour early, just like an airport. We only showed up 15 minutes before our ferry was scheduled to depart. We only made it on thanks to a quick thinking and nice employee working the customs lines and the fact that very little runs on time here. And, I forgot my sunglasses, which means I bought some painfully bright green glasses in Uruguay.
In fact, we were cutting it close for the whole day trip – and were either very lucky or very efficient the whole day . . . let's choose to say that we were efficient. As already mentioned, we had to quick-step it down the ramp to catch the Colonia ferry 3 minutes after its scheduled departure. We got one of the last golf carts from Thrifty at the airport (which is why we got one with no roof). We had to wait to climb the lighthouse because the workers taking money were at lunch until 2:30, and so we then rushed back to the ferry terminal to barely made it through customs in time to board our ferry back to Argentina. All in all . . . we maximized out time perfectly!
Colonia sits on a wide, muddy river. It's so wide that you would think you were actually looking at a Bay or part of a Gulf. It was a port town in it's peak (in the 17th century) but only pleasure craft are there now. When we visited, this wide river was brown and shallow. The beaches themselves were sandy enough to be pleasant, and you could walk out almost 50 yards before the water came up to your waist. We did everything this little town had to offer, except the museums, which were apparently closed for the holiday. And that was fine by us. It was a stretch to fill 6 hours.
Activities included:
1) We walked around old town and the surrounding remains of the original walls
 |
| Colonia del Sacremento retains a lot of old-school charm |
 |
| The original gate to the city |
2) We climbed the lighthouse. You can see Buenos Aires from the top.
 |
| From the lighthouse overlooking the town square |
 |
3) We visited the old docks
4) We saw the church
5) We ate ice cream strolling around the town center and had lunch along the water
6) We rented a golfcart and visited the beaches. This was a fun! After visiting the historical walls of the city and walking around the historic square of Old Town, we drove the entire length of this small town and visited each of the beaches along the way. I liked our little buggy . . . despite the fact it didn’t accelerate past 20mph or have a sideview mirror that stayed in place, or have a roof that would have prevented both of our sunburns. It was fun! Everybody should have more golfcarts in their lives :)
 |
| at the beach |
 |
| our golf cart |
Next stop: back to Buenos Aires for dinner
No comments:
Post a Comment