Barrio Pocitos & Barrio Punta Carretas We spent the morning and afternoon exploring the Pocitos and Punta Carretas neighborhoods (barrios) of Montevideo (after our daily visit to Pausat, that is). There’s a long stretch of sandy beach in Pocitos, lined with high-rise apartment buildings. It was a windy and overcast day, so nobody was at the beach. As you...
We were both a little run down on Tuesday, so we had a very light day. Wednesday was also light, but had a few highlights including a museum dedicated to the 1972 crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 carrying a Montevideo rugby team that crashed in the Andes mountains, as well as a cool bar that Anthony Bourdain visited on his 2nd trip to Montevideo, and Palacio...
We began the day by picking up some delicious pastries at La Coruñesa Confiteria, then ate them with some espresso drinks at The Lab Coffee Roasters. Our hotel buffet has brewed coffee, but I need my espresso! Daniel’s favorite confiteria Just a few of the huge selection at La Coruñesa A display case at The Lab Coffee Roasters This particular location of The...
After hitting up our hotel’s breakfast buffet, we met Daniel and took a leisurely walk to the Sunday street fair/market. It’s by far the biggest street fair we’ve ever seen, and it happens every Sunday! It’s called Feria de Tristán Narvaja, and if you’re visiting Montevideo, you shouldn’t miss it. (Come early for slightly smaller...
We arrived in Montevideo after a 24 hour trek (two layovers before taking a redeye from Miami) at 10:15am. Our friend Daniel, who was born here and spends 3 months here every year, met us at the airport. We took a mini tour through some of the barrios (neighborhoods) on the way to our hotel. We dropped off our bags then Daniel took us on a walking tour of the area...
Cooking Class We began our final day in Rome taking a cooking class with Ilaria from Aria Laboratorio Di Cucina, which we booked through Get Your Guide. She teaches her cooking classes in her lovely Trastevere home. Ilaria, our instructor [click to enlarge] It’s normally a group class, but we were the only ones booked, so it became a personal class for just...
Lazy Morning Since our timed tour of the Borghese Gallery wasn’t until 2pm, we had a lazy morning. After a late breakfast, we found a great bookstore connected to a palazzo, with a caffè as well! Libreria Palazzo Esposizioni is a lot bigger than it first appears, with multiple rooms in the back, including a dedicated area for author readings. A notebook with a...
We had an early morning guided tour of the Vatican Museums (and Sistine Chapel). We also saw the gardens and automobile collection (Pope Mobile!), but didn’t go inside St. Peter’s or the crypts. I highly recommend a guided tour of the museums. There’s so much to see, and it’s so much better when you know what it is you’re looking at...
We met our guide from Enjoy Rome at 8:45am for a 3-hour tour (cue Gilligan’s Island theme song) of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum. I had tried to get tickets from the official website, but the guided tours all sold out immediately. They go on sale 30 days in advance, and I was up in the middle of the night (morning, Rome time), but no luck...
We got up at 6am and headed straight to Trevi Fountain (a 6 minute walk from our hotel). Instead of hundreds of people packed like sardines, there were maybe a dozen or so early birds (including an annoying “influencer” and her partner who must have taken over 100 photos and acted as if they owned the place—I may or may not have wandered into their shot a...