Uruguay and Colonia del Sacramento

Our last dinner!

We spent our last day in Argentina...leaving it! We traveled by ferry to Uruguay and visited the town of Colonia Del Sacramento.

Our ferry to Uruguay.

It is located on the east bank of the Río de la Plata only 50km from Buenos Aires. taking about an hour by ferry, and is a super picturesque little town that is also as a Unesco World Heritage site.

Its historical city center, an irregular colonial-era stretch of narrow cobbled streets, occupies a small peninsula that juts into the river.

Pretty rows of trees lining all the streets are really beautiful and the riverfront is the place to be to watch the sun set...sadly the clouds socked everything in at the end of the day and we didn't get to see one.

Colonia was founded in 1680 by Manuel Lobo, the Portuguese governor of Rio de Janeiro, and occupied a strategic position almost exactly opposite Buenos Aires. The town grew in importance as a source of smuggled trade items, undercutting Spain’s mercantile monopoly and provoking repeated sieges and battles between Spain and Portugal.

This town changed hands a lot of times over the years and now belongs to Uruguay.

We arrived at around 1:30 pm and had the afternoon to wander around before catching the 8pm ferry home to Buenos Aires. We did a little shopping, explored the old town, had an afternoon gelato break and occupied a table at restaurant with a fantastic riverside view where we ordered wine and dinner which they cooked in a huge wood burning forno oven.

Today we head home to Calgary. It was great to travel again with my bestie (it's been 5 years since we last traveled together!).

Argentina offered some amazing travel experiences...the highlights would have to be biking though the Mendoza countryside drinking delicious wine and hiking the spectacular Perito Moreno glacier!....Oh yeah, and McDonald's dulce de leche sundaes are to die for and have become a regular habit!!!
We were both surprised by how European Argentina is, definitely not what we were expecting, but a wonderful friendly country and fabulous time was truly had by all!

Hasta la Vista Argentina!