"Montevideo" a Montevideo Travel Page by barryg23

Montevideo is a relaxed, accessible and immediately likeable city that, despite it's population of 1.3 million, doesn't really feel like a capital city, but more like a provincial town.

That was our first impression of the city, perhaps because we arrived on a Sunday afternoon, and saw few people on the streets and hardly a shop open.

In size the city is certainly not small as it stretches nearly 20 km from east to west. However, the area of interest to most visitors is the Ciudad Vieja (Old Town), the old colonial city, which covers a small area on one side of Bahia de Montevideo. In this part of the city you find beautiful colonial buildings, Spanish style squares and a number of impressive churches.

Montevideo receives much fewer visitors than Buenos Aires, its neighbour across the River Plate, but there are plenty of museums and interesting buildings to keep you busy for a few days. There is also a beach in the centre, very handy if you visit in summer.