Capital of Uruguay and host of the first football World Cup
Uruguay‘s capital Montevidéo guards the mouth of the River Plate, and is one of the most relaxed and European-feeling cities in South America. Montevidéo was founded in the early 1700s and ranks the highest for quality of life in the whole of Latin America. It was the first city to host the football World Cup in 1930 (which it won), and has perhaps more in common with Madrid than its more local neighbours. It was maybe for this reason that the city felt much closer to home than its seven thousand miles distance from Scotland would suggest.
We stopped for two nights in Montevideo after flying through Buenos Aires from Puerto Iguazu in the north of Argentina. Our lodging at Red Hostel was right next to the government buildings in the city centre, and was the cheapest one we stayed at for the whole trip. Uruguay itself was in fact very light on the wallet, so we dined out in style. It was just unfortunate that we visited during the winter, and it poured with rain for most of the duration.
Plaza Independencia is overshadowed by the Palacio Salva, once the tallest building in South America at 100 metres and twinned with the Palacio Barolo in Buenos Aires. Most evenings you can go inside and watch some tango dancing, which we certainly did, but we didn’t brave the dancefloor ourselves. It was like stepping back in time.
The opposite view across Plaza Independencia is not quite so architecturally pleasing, but notable nonetheless for being an early but controversial example of modernism, dating from 1958. The equestrian statue of national hero José Artigas also marks his mausoleum below.
Avenida 18 de Julio runs from Independence Square east to our accommodation at Red Hostel. The city looked and felt a bit like Madrid, but was still strangely different.
Plaza Zabala, a small square in the old town. It rained most of the time we were there, and wasn’t warm – June is not the time to visit Uruguay.
Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay is the largest in the country and sports grand Corinthian columns upon its headquarters, in the north of the old town.
An old town street, still slightly shabby having not yet been regenerated at the time I visited.
The Port Market area was not particularly busy on a Wednesday morning in winter, but a very nice restaurant here did us an excellent steak and cheese. The art deco building and tower behind are the offices of Uruguayan navy command.
South American people like their meat, and Uruguayans are no exception. Here all sorts of meaty treats were being barbequed to perfection.
A final closing shot of the city skyline through the driech and damp. Next time I’m in Montevidéo, I’ll plan the weather a bit better!
Created 2006 | Updated 2018, 2025
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