Colonia del Sacramento

A Portuguese colonial town on the east bank of the Río de la Plata, Colonia del Sacramento is a very popular destination for excursions from Buenos Aires. The modern town with a population of 22,000, which extends along a bay, is charming and lively with neat, leafy streets. The small historic neighbourhood is particularly interesting because there is so much well-preserved colonial architecture. There is a pleasant Plaza 25 de Agosto and a grand Intendencia Municipal (Méndez and Avenida General Flores, the main street). The best beach is Playa Ferrando, 2 km to the east. There are regular sea and air connections with Buenos Aires and a free port. Colonia del Sacromento is in Uruguay. Remember to take your passport with you. There are no transport taxes although you will be subject to immigration formalities if you travel further into Uruguay.

Sights

With its narrow streets (wander around Calle de los Suspiros), colonial buildings and reconstructed city walls, the Barrio Histórico has been declared Patrimonio Cultural de la Humanidad by UNESCO. The Plaza Mayor (Plaza 25 de Mayo) is especially picturesque. At its eastern end is the Puerta del Campo, the restored city gate and drawbridge. On the south side is the Museo Portugués; see also the narrow Calle de los Suspiros, nearby. At the western end of the Plaza are the Museo Municipalin the former house of Almirante Brown (with indigenous archaeology, historical items, palaeontology and natural history), the Casa Nacarello next door, the Casa del Virrey, and the ruins of the Convento de San Francisco (1695), to which is attached the faro(lighthouse) built in 1857. 

Just north of the Plaza Mayor a narrow street, the Calle Misiones de los Tapes, leads east to the river. At its further end is the tiny Museo del Azulejohoused in the Casa Portuguesa. Two blocks north of here is the Calle Playa which runs east to the Plaza Manuel Lobo/Plaza de Armas, on the northern side of which is the Iglesia Matriz, on Vasconcellos, the oldest church in Uruguay. Though destroyed and rebuilt several times the altar dates from the 16th century. Watch out for the free concerts held each Friday during the summer months on church grounds. Two blocks north of the church, on the northern edge of the old city, are the fortifications of the Bastión del Carmen; just east of it is the Teatro Bastión del Carmen. One block south of the Bastión, at San José and España, is the Museo Español, formerly the house of General Mitre.