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Montevideo is the capital and the largest city in Uruguay.
Quite honestly, it’s not a place we find very interesting, but it does have a few highlights. Everyone visits the Palacio Legislativo, the huge parliament building set on a beautiful plaza and surrounded by gardens and large bronze sculptures.
We walked to the tallest building in Uruguay which is shaped like a sail and looks like a smaller version of the famous hotel in Dubai, the Burg al Arab. In our travels, we came upon several pedestrian mall streets busy with shoppers, we passed the nicely restored Solis Theater, and admired the Plaza Independencia with its statue of General Artigas, the father of Uruguay.
We were gearing up for our favorite place in the city, the Mercado del Puerto. Located almost directly across from the port entrance in an old warehouse – it is not really a market. It’s a collection of about a dozen parrilla restaurants – specializing in barbecued meats. It’s hot, often crowded, and very noisy – but what a local experience!
When we arrived at about 1:30PM, it was mostly filled with locals having lunch. Each restaurant has a traditional seating area where you are served at a table, or you can sit at the bar, in front of the barbecue and watch the magic happen.
That’s part of the fun for us. There is every imaginable part of the cow being cooked and a few things you’d rather not imagine. There is a combo dish that is piled high with chicken, sausage, various steaks, ribs, etc., which we have had in the past. Today, we kept it simple and had two small cuts of beef with some splendid calamari as an appetizer and a giant bottle of local beer called Norteña to wash it all down.
Cruising The World
