The Traveling Martens

Colonia, Uruguay

Colonia was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese, as a way to keep an eye on the Spanish in Argentina; Buenos Aires is just across the muddy delta of the Rio de la Plata. The old city has ancient buildings and cobble-stone streets. This is the main sight-seeing area and is easy to walk through in a day. There are also plenty of restaurants, cafes, and hotels built into the old buildings, so you can stay right there and walk through old Colonia.

We watched a great sunset from the little port in old town and had an amazing dinner. It was a parilla restaurant (of course, lots of grilled meat and seafood!). The whole restaurant was outside on a wooden deck with about 10 tables. All of the cooking was done right there at the huge grill. The stars, full moon and a light breeze made the perfect ambience which no expensive restaurant in any city could recreate.