GLOBAL ODYSSEY 2010 BLOG #33: COLONIA DEL SACRAMENTO

“Just across” the River Plate from Buenos Aires – we use the term “just across” advisedly as we are talking about a wide river (approximately 100 miles wide) – lies Colonia del Sacramento.

We’d never heard of it before we went to Uruguay and now we won’t be able to forget it. Imagine, if you will, an undeveloped Saint Augustine with all the beauty of that city’s historical buildings and none of the tawdry tourist shops and crowds. That’s Colonia del Sacramento. It’s a city of sleepy buildings, flowers, and dragonflies.

While you can take a ferry from Buenos Aires, we got there via bus from Montevideo. (We figure that any place designated as a World Heritage Site has to be a good bet to visit and we haven’t missed yet.) The ride itself is part of the fun – a good chance to see part of the Uruguayan countryside as you drive along tree-lined roads.

In historic Colonia, most of the streets are roughly-paved with rocks, while the houses show their origin – Portuguese or Spanish – by their roof design. (Notice the circular roof tiles, our guide told us that they had been molded on the thighs of the slaves.) Colonia, like Uruguay itself, was fought over by both the Portuguese and Spanish. Each street and building has its own story – near the harbor the street is allegedly part of the old red light district. Over there the ruins of a convent, with a lighthouse whose keeper was burned alive.

The town’s church was extremely austere on the outside, but boasts wonderful carvings within.

 We were given 20 minutes of freedom before lunch, so, of course, Sam found an antique store with deals on Spanish coins allegedly from wrecks in the Plate River.


Our short sojourn in Colonia did not allow us to completely enter into the town’s languid atmosphere, but we saw enough to determine to come back should we ever have the opportunity. “Take a load off,” and stay a little bit longer.