Montevideo 
was an impressive city with some fantastic old colonial Spanish architecture and a large port as well as some picturesque long sandy beaches that were complimented by the backdrop of the city. Our first port of call when we arrived was to go to the old town to go and eat so after checking in at the hostel and getting directions, we got the bus across town to ciudad vieja (old city) and headed to the docks where there was a large indoor market where there were dozens of people cooking meat literally by the kilo over huge grills. The place was buzzing, lots of people, more tourists than I’ve seen on my entire trip, many Chinese, Americans around taking photos and groups of locals drinking beer and enjoying a good old singsong. We sat ourselves down at one of the many quadrants set around a roaring fire and grill the size of a small door and decided there and then we were going to have the biggest steak we could find. It says of this place in the lonely planet that the steaks here are so big that they are obscene! When our steaks arrived however they did not fill the plate although they were a good size and it was certainly the largest steak I’d ever eaten. Lee however was not satisfied as he felt at the end he could’ve eaten more so he ordered a pimiento de Catalan which was quite a tasty roasted red pepper. All feeling rather full we decided to explore a little and began the walking tour of the city partially going by sites to see in the lonely planet and partially just going by our own senses, if we liked something or somewhere then we took photos. Walking through the old town there were many old and shabby looking buildings but some classic grand buildings such as the banco del Uruguay and there were some nice artisan stalls with pretty paintings of the port and the typical buildings in the area. Continuing the walk into the more central area of the city we came across some stunning buildings in the plaza del independzia but some not so stunning. Lee and I both agreed that there’d been something strange going on in the architects minds when they’d put something amazing next to a shabby block of flats or vice versa, they’d built something great between two totally unimpressive buildings which take away the greatness of the one between them. Walking north from the plaza there were some more impressive buildings (the majority just having one dome at the side rather than two) which were certainly worth a photo or two.
was an impressive city with some fantastic old colonial Spanish architecture and a large port as well as some picturesque long sandy beaches that were complimented by the backdrop of the city. Our first port of call when we arrived was to go to the old town to go and eat so after checking in at the hostel and getting directions, we got the bus across town to ciudad vieja (old city) and headed to the docks where there was a large indoor market where there were dozens of people cooking meat literally by the kilo over huge grills. The place was buzzing, lots of people, more tourists than I’ve seen on my entire trip, many Chinese, Americans around taking photos and groups of locals drinking beer and enjoying a good old singsong. We sat ourselves down at one of the many quadrants set around a roaring fire and grill the size of a small door and decided there and then we were going to have the biggest steak we could find. It says of this place in the lonely planet that the steaks here are so big that they are obscene! When our steaks arrived however they did not fill the plate although they were a good size and it was certainly the largest steak I’d ever eaten. Lee however was not satisfied as he felt at the end he could’ve eaten more so he ordered a pimiento de Catalan which was quite a tasty roasted red pepper. All feeling rather full we decided to explore a little and began the walking tour of the city partially going by sites to see in the lonely planet and partially just going by our own senses, if we liked something or somewhere then we took photos. Walking through the old town there were many old and shabby looking buildings but some classic grand buildings such as the banco del Uruguay and there were some nice artisan stalls with pretty paintings of the port and the typical buildings in the area. Continuing the walk into the more central area of the city we came across some stunning buildings in the plaza del independzia but some not so stunning. Lee and I both agreed that there’d been something strange going on in the architects minds when they’d put something amazing next to a shabby block of flats or vice versa, they’d built something great between two totally unimpressive buildings which take away the greatness of the one between them. Walking north from the plaza there were some more impressive buildings (the majority just having one dome at the side rather than two) which were certainly worth a photo or two. Unfortunately my battery had run out in my camera so I had to commandeer Steve’s for the rest of the tour as I was probably the most happy snappy of the 3 of us. After walking a little while up a busy street that I’d say was Montevideo’s equivalent to Oxford street we reached a pleasant little park area with a large fountain in the centre and sat for a rest for a while. By this time it was 7pm and yet it was still 27 degrees so we were all feeling quite drained but I had spotted a building in the distance that was almost capitol hill in appearance from a distance with a large busy road leading up to it. So after a long relaxing rest at the park we headed down towards this building stopping for a beer on the way due to sheer heat exhaustion! When we finally arrived, I’d say it was the most impressive building I’d seen all day and now being close up would say it was more comparable to the Reichstag in Berlin than Capitol Hill. A good way to end the tour I thought to myself although we missed the municipal palace but were all far too tired to see anymore so hailed the nearest taxi and headed back to the hostel. Next time I come I’ll finish the tour I thought to myself, if there is a next time.
On returning to the hostel, Steve had noticed that they had a guitar and since he’d been chomping at the it to play and even considered buying one earlier in the day he took up the stage (or in this case the sofa) and serenaded us with his lovely melodies and played some classics too. I was very impressed as was Lee who even said he sounded like a pro. This guy certainly had some hidden talents! Steve had also noticed something else that I hadn’t, there was a PS2 with pro evo soccer and having always said we’d play each other but never had the chance so we decided after dinner we’d take up the gauntlets and have a good game or 3.
For dinner we headed down to the beach which was a pleasant site with the sun just setting it cast some lovely colours over the city and beach. People were everywhere along the beach, many youngsters sitting around chatting, playing beach football and handball and generally enjoying themselves. We didn’t find anywhere to eat along the beach but it was nice just to say we’d seen it at Montevideo. We ended up heading back towards the hostel and after a little searching we found a nice looking little restaurant/cafe on the corner with a grill similar to those we had seen earlier at the market so decided that when in Rome or in this case Montevideo we would have more steak (not too sure what you’d do here if you were vegetarian because as you can probably tell they’re quite big on their meat here). So it was steak again for dinner. It was very tasty but I think I was so full by the end of it I actually felt sick!
On returning to the hostel, Steve and I sat down for our battle of pro evo. We ended up playing about 12 games in total and overall we were pretty even I won the first game although Steve won the first series with Portsmouth while I was Villa. Then we swapped and I was Pompey and thrashed him 4-1 with 10 men which I was quite chuffed about since he said he was ranked 104 in the world at one point apparently! After 4 games in the 2nd series it was 2 games each and it was already nearly 2am and we needed to be up by 7 to catch the bus to the next destination Colonia del Sacramento so we decided to have one more as a decider but after a short break we came back to find someone sleeping on the sofa so we had to call it a day or a night even. Shame as I was feeling confident of taking the 2nd series to draw level.
So onto our next destination, Colonia del Sacrmento, don’t know too much about the place apart from that it is the last stop in Uruguay and where we will be getting the ferry across to Buenos Aires from. Can’t wait!
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