"Comfortable, easy, relaxed" a Montevideo Travel Page by melosh

For me a place often seems to have a characteristic smell. For example, in Mexico one city might seem to be characterized by the smell of deisel buses, whereas another might smell of flowers. Montevideo, even more than Buenos Aires, seemed to smell strongly of roasting meat. Even when smells of pastisserias or confeterias were strong, the smell of roasting meat still seemed evident.

This is not a city of one or two great musums. Instead you will find lots of small free museums worth a 30-45 minute visit. No big lines or expensive tickets. The only challenge may be finding the museum that interests you open before noon.

A little advantage of these small musuems is the willingness of the guardians to talk with visitors. This is a chance to practice your Spanish and perhaps learn something special about the things in the museum. I also enjoyed tagging along with student groups to see how they responded to their instructor-guide and the items in the museum.

This city has an extensive collection of noteable buildings. Because of their architectural details and manageable size the city seems to me to be a comfortable place to visit or live. I also appreciated how the old city has not been converted into a fossil preserved for tourists. Nor is it a decaying relic.

In Montevideo and actually throughout the country there seems to be a cleanliness that suggests the presence of an educated culture.

Certainly the best part of a visit to Montevideo was meeting the people populating the streets. There seemed to be a genuine friendliness and a gentleness of personality one is unlikely to find in a larger city.

But of course, I was only in Montevideo for 6 days so my impressions may be unreliable.