克羅尼亞
小國烏拉圭一日遊

On my 3rd day staying in Buenos Aires, I took a fast ferry (run by Buquebus) to Colonia del Sacramento (全名『沙加緬度殖民地』，我則直接音譯它的簡稱『克羅尼亞』), in Uruguay (烏拉圭). Spending 184 Argentine Peso on the boat fare, this was among the most costly thing I purchased in this South American trip.

Rio de la Plata (一般中譯『拉不拉他河』而非字面上的『碟子河』) becomes so wide at its mouth, it's practically like a bay rather than a river. While I could take 3-hours' crossing to the Uruguayan capital - Montevideo (中譯把它簡化成『孟都』, I opted for the small town ease, to Colonia del Sacramento that is only 1 hour away.

Built first by Portugese colonists and then taken by Spaniard, Colonia is more than 400 years old. Its historic center was declared UNESCO world heritage site (『聯合國教科文基金會』指定的世界遺址) in 1995 (the only such site in Uruguay). Wandering around the very small core of the town, it is quaint and lovely, very different from hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires!

While having lunch and listening to music performance at a restaurant called "Drugstore," I ran into a Harvard classmate I haven't seen for more than 10 years. What a small world it is!

Since this is a different country (and the second smallest one in South America, though it is still 5 times the size of Taiwan), it actually is in a different time zone from Argentina. Fortunately I did figure it out and did not arrive at ferry terminal one hour early...

Please click the thumbnail on the pictures to see enlarged images

This stone gate leads you to the old town of Colonia del Sacramento.

Cobbled streets of Colonia. It does have a feel of a UNESCO town...

You can even see a group of nuns wandering around its ancient streets.

This little house is a tile museum. It should be at least a few hundred years old.

Portugese style Alentejo titles outisde the Museum.

Ancient map (on tiles) of the Rio de la Plata basin...

View from the top of the historic San Francisco Convent Ligthouse.

View of Rio de la Plata from the top of the Ligthouse. I think that is the ferry which would take me back to Buenos Aires...