Uruguay 1: Ambling through Montevideo

Bevor es richtig los geht, haben wir 3 Tage um Montevideo kennenzulernen und einen ersten Eindruck zu gewinnen. Haben Rundfahrten mit dem Touristenbus gemacht und sind viel zu Fuss abgeklappert – eine generell saubere, sichere und schöne Stadt mit viel Handarbeit und Kunst in Galerien und Strassenmärkten, Strassenmusikern und hervorragenden Restaurants.

For US$21 per Person a ticket on the “Bus Touristico descubrí Montevideo” city tour bus is good value and a relaxed way to scout the city. We really made good use over the 24hr period during which the ticket is valid and visited 2 street markets at opposite ends of town, ate heaps of meat grilled on open fires in the Mercado del Puerto close to the harbour and watched tango dancers in the street.

At the restaurant Es Mercat with Chef Roberto Connio we sampled our first Corvina (Corbiña) fish -absolutely delicious ( find them at Colon1550 esq.Piedras )

Montevideo must hold the record for monuments of historically important generals, politicians and others – all on horses. On the “Plaza Independencia”the monument of General Jose Artigas and the underground mausoleum is worth seeing. The plaza is surrounded by interesting buildings  including the President’s offices.

We applied for the “Certificado de Ingreso”, the all important document to register our arrival in order to be able to get the vehicles cleared. For this we had to deal with officialdom which we found friendly and efficient and had our document within an hour. Then off to the clearing agents Repremar where Laura Seravia is a pleasure to deal with and the company leaves a professional impression. Fortunately all is within walking distance from our Smart Hotel in the Calle de Missiones near the port. We hoped to clear the vehicles the next day.

We managed to fill our Cadac gas cyclinders at Punto Gas at address  Maldonado 961,Montevideo