Montevideo

You’re right, that line crept in during edits. Here’s the full version with it removed.

Montevideo greets you with drums. In Sur, Palermo, and Cordón, candombe crews roll barrel drums along the street, kids weave through the parade, and neighbors clap in time.

Spain founded the city in 1724 to block Portuguese moves on the Río de la Plata. A fort, a tight street grid, and a commanding hill guarded the bay. The city’s name likely nods to that hill across the water.

Montevideo learned grit during the Great Siege of 1843 to 1851. Food ran thin, spirits did not. Earlier, independence leader José Gervasio Artigas set the tone for freedom, and a young Giuseppe Garibaldi drilled an Italian legion on these streets.

Immigrants, mostly Italians and Spaniards, poured in and built a working port with cafés, bookshops, and social clubs. Afro-Uruguayan communities kept candombe alive, and murga troupes turned satire into song. Every summer, Carnival stretches for weeks, the longest in the world.

Two events watched around the world unfolded here. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first World Cup at Estadio Centenario, then won it. In 1939, after the Battle of the River Plate, the German ship Graf Spee limped into port and scuttled offshore as crowds watched.

Not all chapters feel festive. The dictatorship from June 27, 1973 to March 1, 1985 brought fear, censorship, and exile. Street art and theater later helped the city find its voice again.

By late afternoon the Rambla turns into the city’s longest playground. Kids fly kites, teens practice drum lines, and families bike between pocket beaches like Pocitos and Buceo. You can pause for sandcastles, join a pick-up fútbol game, or watch anglers cast as the water turns pink.

You will spot people carrying small cups with metal straws. That is mate, a hot herbal tea made from yerba mate, shared among friends like a traveling thermos of warmth.

Sundays spill into the Tristán Narvaja market where you can browse vinyl, chess sets, and odd hardware with stories attached. Palacio Salvo spikes the skyline, once among the tallest on the continent. The walls vanished long ago, yet the place they stood still separates the port quarter from downtown.

Bring curiosity and good shoes. Start at Plaza Independencia and the Artigas Mausoleum, tour Teatro Solís, then wander Ciudad Vieja. Eat at Mercado del Puerto, climb Fortaleza del Cerro for bay views, visit the Museo del Fútbol at Centenario, and cap the night by finding a llamada in Sur or Palermo.