Day Trip to Colonia del Sacramento

Last Saturday, I joined the rest of the Manila Mafia (and a Colombian queen) on the trip to Colonia del Sacramento. It’s Uruguay’s oldest city (just like our very own Cebu) and it’s around 160 kms away from the country’s capital (Montevideo).

We met at around 9:30am past at Tres Cruces shopping center. It’s a mall from ground floor up but down below is a gateway for the busses heading to different parts of the country (and, selectively, outside Uruguay). I am not sure if it has something to do with the long weekend but we missed to get a ticket for the 10am trip for seven people. No choice but to kill time for the 11:30am trip from COT Bus Company. Unfortunately, we were not aware that there are two types of a trip to Colonia. One is direct and the other, the one we got, has a lot of stops that looked endless. Ticket is priced at UYU 185 (or around PHP 390), one way.

Touchdown at close to 3pm and the minute we got out of the bus, we changed our return tickets to 'directo'. Then off we walked along Calle Manuel Lobo to reach Barrio Historico (which is very much like our Intramuros, only with a century old lighthouse and overlooking the Rio del Plata). The walk took us around 15 to 20 minutes.

We had lunch at Restaurant El Torreon (which has a giant ‘torre’ behind the dining tables) with seafood platter and two orders of steamed Corvina. Self-help walking tour started at close to 5pm, giving us ample time to visit the ‘faro’ (lighthouse where a glimpse of tall buildings in Buenos Aires can be seen on a clear day), Igleasia Matriz (the oldest church in Uruguay) and the sunset-drenched Puerto de Yates. At close to 8pm, we left Patrimonio Lounge Bar/Restaurant after having a cappuccino fix. Off to Montevideo at 8:30pm, on board via a bus with Wi-Fi.

The rest of the pictures here.

Plus among other photo albums that I haven't published here yet:

1. Peruvian and Italian nights at Da Pentella;
2. Our attempt to chase sunset in Montevideo;
3. Another nice dinner at La Perdiz; and
4. My kind of other half of Sunday.