It’s Day 2 on my Cruise to Antarctica aboard the NCL’s Norwegian Star.

It’s time to say hello to Montevideo, Uruguay.

Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay and is located on the north short of the Rio de la Plata estuary (the tidal mouth of a large river, where the tide meets the stream). Montevideo was founded in 1826 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, governor of Buenos Aires, to counteract the Portuguese advance into the area from Brazil. It was Montevideo’s merchants that played an important part in securing Uruguayan independence. From 1807 to 1830 Motevideo was alternately occupied by British, Spanish, Argentine, Portuguese, and Brazilian forces and it’s trade population declined. The port in the city is the hub of international transport and it is also served by an international airport at Carrasco.

Having said that, the tour that I signed up for was called City Landmarks, Wine and Dance Performance.

So we started off in the town square.

Here are some sites in the Town Square and from the Town Square.

José Gervasio Artigas was born on June 19, 1764, and passed on September 23, 1850, and was revolutionary leader who is regarded as the father of Uruguayan independence, although that goal was not attained until several years after he had been forced into exile. Nonetheless, he occupies a central spot in the square.

Below is a memorial guard to his name.

After touring the Town Center we headed out to Spinoglio, a fabulous vineyard. I’m not a wine drinker but after tasting each of their wines I was sold!

Here are some photos:

Aside from the amazing tastings we were served fabulous empanadas, meats and dessert and to boot they put on a great tango show for us. It was truly a multi-sensory enjoyable experience!

So check them out at Spinoglio!