Punta del Este | Montevideo
In late January, we arrived in Uruguay with Oceania Cruises. Punta del Este and Montevideo feature on the itinerary several times over the next few months.
Punta del Este, Uruguay
Welcome to Punta del Este in Uruguay, which is the country sitting between Brazil and Argentina. Uruguay is country No.64 for us!
Punta del Este is a chic fishing village and the St Moritz of Uruguay; you are surrounded by super yachts (and sea lions and seals) as you arrive, a beautiful marina and streets filled with restaurants and bars for all to soak up the lovely atmosphere.
As soon as we walked off the tender boat, we were greeted by these gigantic sea lions chilling out and relaxing on the pier; we were all filled with joy! After three months on an expedition cruise, we never got the chance to see such marine life so close, and here we wander off the tender on a cruise ship with over 1000 people, and we are meters away! Magical.
Once the excitement of watching the sea lions, we wandered the port to the fish market and were gifted with another seal show, all the fishermen feeding the seals the fish guts and even giving the onlookers a go; it was fascinating!
We followed this with a stroll up the street and to hunt out a fabulous spot for lunch, Zuzu Puerto, which we soon found as we needed to quench our thirst and hide from the sun and high humidity and relax; we found the perfect restaurant, the staff were full of positive energy, the food was exceptional, and they had Pisco Sours, so we were in our happy place.
After a long lunch, we strolled back to the ship (as we will be back in Punta del Este a few more times next month) to explore more.
We were presented with another beautiful surprise walking back: a lovely, lazy, big sea lion soaking up the sun, the same we were escaping from earlier. We propped ourselves nearby and enjoyed being close and personal while keeping our distance to avoid disrupting him. We enjoyed watching this incredible sea lion chill out; he (or she) always had one eye open to watch all the onlookers.
Uruguay, you are already impressive, and we can't wait to explore more of you.
We returned to Punta del Este several times during February and March and loved each visit's welcoming party. We couldn't get enough of the cuteness of the sea lions in their natural habitat and be in such proximity to them.
We also stumbled on a lovely cafe called LaRebelion. The gorgeous team gave us the warmest of welcomes, with a great selection of fresh organic food, delicious empanadas and coffee.
