Our Great Adventure: Montevideo Day 227 03/05/2015

We had decided to take a hop on/hop off bus tour in the hope that Montevideo would redeem itself. The hotel didn't do breakfast so we headed out in search of somewhere where we could get something to eat which turned out to be 'easier said than done' on a Sunday. We eventually found a pizzeria that was open where we did learn that 'medialuna' (translated as half moon) is a croissant! The weather was much improved and the sun was shining although there was a cold wind and it was only 9c. We joined the bus tour in Plaza Independencia and braved the top deck in hope of getting the better views. We set off towards Centro and onto Aguada where the Legislative Place is. As we came to the various road junctions the wind blew hard from the river and we were glad when we'd crossed and got a bit of respite. From here we continued towards Parque Battle and the home of Uruguay's national football stadium before heading south through Pocitos, the more leafy suburbs, towards the river. The wind was bitter as we drove around the headland before turning inland to Cuidad Vieja. We'd decided to get off here and have lunch in the old town, which wasn't easy as we'd clearly seized up in the cold! We hobbled off and found a cafe for coffee in an attempt to thaw out. There are some nice parks and interesting monuments/statues dotted around the city but all in all there wasn't a huge amount to see on the tour. Infact we must have listened to as much tango music as we did commentary which must say something. We went to Mercado del Puerto for lunch, a wrought iron structure containing a mass of meat offerings in open air restaurants. At least it was busy here and seemed to be very popular with locals out for Sunday lunch. Simon had a cholesterol inducing chivito, a steak piled high with bacon, ham, fried egg, cheese, lettuce, tomato, olives, pickles, peppers, mayonnaise and chips whilst Diane had a rather tasteless chicken stroganoff with rice and more chips. It certainly wasn't the place for vegetarians! We managed to drag ourselves back through the old town to the hotel and spend the rest of the afternoon attempting to plan the next phase of our trip, north through Uruguay and back into Argentina before heading to Iguazu Falls on the Brazil, Paraguay border. Surprisingly we weren't very hungry in the evening and wandered past Plaza Independencia to a bar where we had a couple of bowls of pasta before heading back. Despite the favourable write ups on Montevideo we've not been impressed, maybe in part due to being here on a public holiday weekend. The place feels run down, quite grimy and a little uncomfortable, certainly not somewhere that we'd wandered around at night. We're both glad to be leaving tomorrow and looking forward to heading to Colonia del Sacramento.