It is nice to have the unexpected overnight. Today we have a leisurely breakfast then explore the local market and some of the pedestrian shopping street. After lunch we do a free ship's tour to a local, historic, food market and artisan beer brewery.
After breakfast we catch the intra-port shuttle to the gate at 10AM and walk across the street to the pedestrian street that works its way to Independence Plaza, about a fifteen block walk according to the tourist information lady on the ship. First, we visit the wonderful Mercado del Puerto just across the street from the port gate. It was originally a rail station, but now has food stalls and restaurants, ranging from wonderful empanadas at a small stall with all of about five seats at a counter to lovely, sit down restaurants with great service. They are firing up the huge BBQ grills and cooking all kinds of meats as we walk through the building...smells wonderful. There are also a few souvenir shops and we pick up a magnet for the RV and a pin for the “boys." We then walk up the pedestrian street toward the Plaza. Carolyn sticks her head in several handicraft shops and buys a couple of hand made items. The architecture is wonderful. It is such a shame that it is being allowed to crumble away. This is a nice walk all the way to the square and is worth doing on your own.
After about an hour we head back to the port gate, the shuttle and the ship. Carolyn gets a snack for lunch. Then we work on our computers until about 1:30PM when we head to the dock to find our bus for our afternoon tour, "City Highlights and Uruguayan Beer Tasting," a free ship’s tour lasting four hours. There are only 21 on this tour. In fact, the four afternoon tours are all very small. We drive by or stop at most of the same spots as yesterday. We first stop at Independence Square, once again admiring the marquee attractions in downtown Montevideo, Then we drive along the river and stop at the Montevideo Sign for a photo that we didn’t get yesterday. Then along the river to the old beach resort area where we turn inland for Batlle Park where we are able to see Centenario Stadium today; it is just an old concrete and cinder block stadium by today’s standards. And we stop again at “La Carreta,” the vandalized, bronze ox cart.
Now it’s on to Mercado Agricola, the city’s sprawling farmer’s market. It has an alluring mix of sights, sounds, colors, aromas, and merchandise of every imaginable type. Besides the expected fresh fruits and vegetables, there are gift shops selling handicrafts, live entertainment and gourmet restaurants. Of course many of the goods are produced
locally.
But, first we stop at Mastra Brewery for a tour of the brewery and a free sampling of their Uruguayan beer and snacks. This is lots of fun. They are serving four different beers on tap and we sample all of them. Even Carolyn finds one she likes and generally she doesn’t like beer! After plenty of free time at both places we drive by the Legislative Palace for a fast picture and then head back to the ship, getting home about 6PM. This is another good tour and a very good day.
We get cleaned up and go to dinner a little later than usual. Dick has a Malaysian dish..pork ribs and Carolyn has the scallops. Again Dick goes to the room and goes to bed, but Carolyn goes to the show. It is a new one arranged by the Regent performers, “Under the Sea." The entertainers really have fun doing their parts, but it does lack the polish of the set shows. It is definitely bed time now!
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