It happened to be a special day for one of us – another birthday has rolled around. The first reminder of that were the four colorful balloons taped on the outside of our door this morning. There was a note saying Happy Birthday from the front desk folks. We went to breakfast as usual, only to be greeted by Kumar wishing me a Happy Birthday after we finished our meal. Then out of the blue, every one of the front desk personnel came out to sing for me. Among the group was Manager Jonah, who always remembers these occasions. So much for wanting to keep the day quiet.
The port of call for today was Montevideo, Uruguay, the capital of the country. This will be our second stop in Uruguay, after visiting Punta Del Este a few days ago. Montevideo is famous for their Carnaval parades which are held in early February. We will just miss it by a few weeks. It is said to be electrifying with rhythms of Afro/Uruguayan drumming.
We were not alone here with the Sapphire Princess docked directly across from the Volendam. This ship was built in 2004 and is close to 116 gross tons. It holds up to 3214 passenger with a crew of 1100. Needless to say, there will be a whole lot of guests in and out of town today.
Once cleared, the shore excursions groups went off first we suspect. There were one dozen tours today with three of them 3 to 4 hours in duration. The first one was easy Montevideo for $80, an old town walk for $90, and the city by bike for $100. Tango at Baer Fun Fun? was 4 hours and $100 and scenic sites and Candombe rhythms for 3 hours and $110. Highlites and Uru Carnival was 4 hours for $120 while traditional tasting and walk to street food stands was 4 hours and $120. A drive to Colonia del Sacramento was 8 hours and $170 with lunch, and the ultimate beach experience was 8 hours for $190 with lunch. The last three tours were all about the wine with lunch with 6 to 7 hours and $199 to $260.
We left the ship around 10am during another loud crew drill. Following the green-painted path from the ship, we exited through the port terminal gate and directly into town. There was no terminal building here that we could see. Crossing the waterfront street, we were handed a much better city map with the streets well-marked as well as the highlights. It was uphill all the way, but a gentle slope.
Considering that the Princess ship was here, we were surprised to see the pedestrian avenues were not crowded. Of course, there were 12 excursions for just our ship, so passengers will come into the city later in the day we suspect. We passed a series of small cafes and restaurants that had greeters trying to entice us to dine and drink there. Too early, maybe later. This was the start of the sidewalk vendors too. They had table after table of typical souvenirs but very few leather things. We remember seeing a lot more of the fancy handbags and backpacks six years ago. Now we saw mostly caps, magnets, and some loose gemstones. Not a lot of clothing, they did sell affordable woven jewelry. And many of the shops along the way were still closed. Once again, this society follows the later times for meals and entertainment.
We remembered to turn left on Sarandi Street, which led to one of the first plazas, Plaza Zabala. This medium-sized square was surrounded with gardens, a few cafes, and a quiet peaceful escape to the vendor areas. The dried-looking grass was being watered by hand, since we are in the middle of their summertime. From the flow of the hose, we figured the young lady will be there all day to cover this square. Locals were there walking their dogs as well.
Time to continue to the next square by the name of Plaza Constitution, which is surrounded by many historic landmarks, fountains, and monuments. McDonald's is also located here along with a dozen local restaurants or cafeterias with Uruguayan cuisine. But the best part of this square has to be the Saturday morning flea market where old treasures are sold. Back in 2020, we bought 2 of the neatest jewelry sets that were one-of-a-kind antique creations. Unfortunately, some of the pieces were lost when our shipped luggage went astray back in 2023. So today was a chance to find a possible replacement, and guess what? We did, but this time it was a lapis lazuli necklace and matching bracelet. The real deal at a very affordable price, we also were able to match the set with earrings at a different stall. Sure made my day even more special. Better leave before we find more irresistible treasures.
Leaving this plaza, we began to see many more museums and church towers. This has to be close to the center of the ancient fortified Old City of Montevideo. Passing through one of the preserved portals of that wall, we entered Plaza Independencia, a plaza honoring Uruguay's independence. It was the most spacious plaza so far with a statue of General Artigas sitting on a magnificent horse. We saw several tour groups either walking here like us, or on the bike tour. Many locals were out and about with their dogs as well as kids. We happened to chat for a while with a young couple who spoke good English. They were walking the cutest little dog, who happened to like our shoes. We learned she was a 4-month-old puppy who was gathering a lot of attention. The couple asked where we were from and loved hearing about California. More folks walking by stopped to pet the dog, so we said our goodbyes and continued on our way.
There was an impressive church directly across from the ancient portal, but when we attempted to go inside, we were stopped due to a mass just beginning at high noon. So we continued back-tracking, checking out the tables on our way back to the beginning. On the corner, we went inside the Sea Port Market, which was in full gear for the lunch crowd. This historic market has cafes that serve asado (beef) dishes and sides of veggies. Some of the restaurants were simply counters with BBQ pits grilling the various meats. Stores and shops were interspersed in between the eateries. Way too hot and crowded, we ducked out of there in a hurry.
We never did find a suitable place for lunch, so we went back to the ship arriving by 2pm. Just as we were going through the ship's xray, Jonah arrived giving me a birthday hug. By doing that, prompted the security group to break out with singing Happy Birthday to me. Almost embarrassing, we proceeded to the elevator hoping not many people witnessed that.
We had a room service lunch, but very light since we had reservations for a Pinnacle Grill dinner.
The Captain gave his talk after 4:30pm and remarked that the last of the needed stores for the ship had to be loaded. There will be no more supplies delivered until after we leave Antarctica. We have 1110 nautical miles to reach The Falklands in a couple of days. We will have river pilots sailing out into the estuary of the river, then regular pilots entering the South Atlantic Ocean. The fresh winds were 18 knots with temps in the mid 70's. He expected higher winds, lower temps, and partly sunny and partly cloudy skies tomorrow.
Dinner at the Pinnacle Grill found us almost the last of the customers for the day at 8pm. The food and service were wonderful as always. We both had the wedge salads with one shared appetizer of a sliced beef taco. One of us had the lamb and the other the smallest steak. We shared the gigantic baked potato but could only eat half of it. We passed on dessert, but lo and behold, a mousse-like cake appeared with the waiters and manager singing Happy Birthday. What a day it had been. By the way, we took the dessert back to our room and slipped it in the refrigerator.
Looking forward to two lazy days at sea.
Bill & Mary Ann
