Theatre Solis

Today we walked the city from Ciudad Vieja (the Historic District where our hotel is located to Centro where most of the shopping streets are located.

Our one stop of the day was at the Teatre Solis, Opera House, where we had a private tour since we were the only English speakers in the crowd. All the guides were art students and our young lady did an excellent job with her English.  Throughout the tour two actors gave us something to laugh about, sang and engaged us all in a cute performance. Of course they solicited audience participants & I was the first chosen. 

The building was started by two business men who thought the city needed some culture and a place where high society could be seen.  They started building in 1842 but after 2 years construction was halted due to a civil war.  Nine years later they started work again and completed the main building in 1856 and the two wings in 1869.  The interior has undergone major work through the years.  

There are two auditoriums.  The largest and most ornate will hold 800 - 1200 people, has 5 tiers of seating, a 2 ton chandelier (the largest of three in the building) and elaborate decorations.  The stage is 7 stories tall to accommodate the back drops.  The second auditorium is very modern with moveable seating for more intimate settings.

In 1998 the building was sold to the city and became a public building.  To encourage more people to enjoy the music, theatre and other arts ticket prices are less than going to a movie theatre.

After walking another 2-3 miles to find the arts district we gave up and turned around as there was nothing artistic happening.  On the way back we stopped for lunch at a local bar and were served the biggest chicken fried steak you have ever seen!  

Back at the port area we stopped at the Carnival Museum.  Uruguay celebrates Carnival 40 plus days before Lent with parades, theatre, drums, music and parody all done in elaborate costumes. We may try to see a performance tonight even though we won’t understand a single word being spoken.

17,000 steps on the Fitbit and we’re not done yet!

Riding the Rambla

Fri Feb 1

Montevideo has a 26 km long seaside paved walk called The Rambla that runs almost the entire length of the city from the ports on the west end to the beaches on the far east side of town.

We rented bikes and headed out to enjoy the ride.  I thought it was going to be a cloudy day but it turned bright, sunny and hot!  We had to buy sunscreen as we were getting red.  We stopped several time to view the ocean, see a lighthouse and looked at the Holocaust  Monument before we got so hot that we had to turn around.  We had a nice lunch at a restaurant near the yacht club then it was a slog to get back.  One sign said the temperature was 89 degrees!

Cold showers and naps were called for before heading out for the evening. We had a fabulous dinner of a lamb shank cooked in black beer served on a bed of potatoes along with a bottle of Uruguayan wine. We shared a single portion as they serve such large meals here. 

Montevideo

Jan 31, Thurs

We left Ushuaia and flew to Buenos Aires, then to Montevideo on Wednesday, arriving in time to have a late dinner before bedtime.  Actually, in Uruguay the normal dinner hour starts between 8 & 9 pm so for them it was not late.  This may take some getting used to!

That big wooden door is the entrance to our hotel. 

Our local guide, Vincent, talked non stop from the airport to our hotel. The name of the city means mountain (Monte) of six (VI) east to west (de - oe).  I didn’t catch what the six was for just that it was a Roman Numeral. It is summer time warm (75).  There are 3.5 million people in all of Uruguay and 1.4 million in the city. Immigration is important, tourism is the second largest industry and beef is the national food as there are more cows in Uruguay than there are people!

Uruguay celebrates Carnival 40 days before Lent so we have arrived just in time to catch the parades, music and plays.  We’ll do that later this week.

This morning we got the grand tour of the city and Vincent never stopped talking (did I mention that already?) We got all of Uruguay’s history, dates of Independence, leaders, presidents, demonstrations and more dates that I cannot recall already and will never remember.

There are statues of the leaders in beautiful squares surrounded by massive buildings.  Most squares have a church, a government building and a fountain or statue.  We went inside the Santeria de la Catedral but only saw the outside of the church that looks like Notre Dame in Paris.  We passed by the Teatro Solis - The Opera House, the Executive Palace, the Congressional Palace, and some ornate hotels.  We had a HUGE lunch of beef (of course) at the Montevideo Agricola Market and then drove through up scale neighborhoods, past the president’s house and into their National Park.  Our last stop was on the 24th floor of the Municipal Building to view the panoramic city.