Uruguay - Colonia de Sacramento

Back in BsAs, yesterday I went to Uruguay, across the Mar/Rio de la Plata (river) to visit the former portuguese 'colony'. To reach it I took a ferry (called Buquebus here) which usually takes about three hours to get there but yesterday took some 5 hours... this was due to the high summer season here. January is like July or August in Europe and most argentinian go on holidays, many of them to Punta del Este or other beaches in neighbouring Uruguay (Punta del Este is something like the local Cote d'Azur). So yesterday there were thousands of tourists and also backpackers, together with some tourists who cross the river to visit Colonia for the day. Luckily the weather in Colonia was very nice, sunny and I had Ariel as a guide, otherwise it would have been boring...

Colonia was founded in 1680 by Manuel Lobo, the portuguese Governor of Rio de Janeiro, and occupied a strategic position almost exactly opposite BsAs. It was a trading post, mostly a source of smuglled items, threatening Spain's jealously defended mercantile monopoly in the region. Some say that is why Buenos Aires grew in importance at the time, to compete with Colonia. The portuguese traded british goods into BsAs and the Rio de la Plata provinces through exchange in the Parana delta. That is why the fortress of Colonia was ofthen besieged by the spanish. Colonia finally passed to Spanish rule in 1777, after a treaty signed in Utrecht for exchange of territories. After that the city's commercial importance declined and Buenos Aires centralised all trade.

Nowadays not much remains from the buildings left by the portuguese, some ruins, a part of the city walls, a gate, some rebuilt houses, a church but which has been rebuilt twice (Igreja Matriz), part of the lighthouse and the cobbled streets which reminded me of those in Brasil's Parati. But the old city is very nicely renovated, very green, with some nice hotels, nice pateos, nice cafes and restaurants. And the Portuguese museum, which is located in a rebuilt 'palace' of the 17th century, co-financed by the Gulbenkian Foundation and inaugurated by the then Portuguese prime minister Guterres in 1997.

All in all it is worth to visit charming Colonia or even spend a quiet weekend (above all for Argentinians from BsAs) but avoid busy periods... luckily the ferry back to BsAs was a luxury, a fast one only taking 1 hours. Thanks Ariel.