JANUARY´S FEATURED DOOR OF THE MONTH – COLONIA DEL SACRAMENTO – URUGUAY

SouthAmerica January 8, 2018March 3, 2021 colonia del sacramento, Doors, Doors of South America, Doors of South America book, Historic quarter, James M. Wise, old town, south america to the world, southamericatotheworld, Unesco, Uruguay, Yanira K. Wise

When we first heard about Colonia del Sacramento we did not know much of it. Our dear friend Facundo mentioned it when we made him aware of a planned visit to Uruguay, which was another country in our list for our long ongoing project Doors of South America. We had Montevideo and Punta del Este on the trip plan. We rented a car from Montevideo to drive to Punta del Este. After Facundo learned of our project he suggested for us to visit Colonia del Sacramento. The way he described it was as a small historic town, and the place we should go to take pictures. “Do not miss Colonia,” he said.

The drive to Colonia was a nice experience. We followed The Rambla route, or the Esplanade, which parallels the Rio de la Plata. Route 1 takes about two hours to get there.

On our way there we stopped to admire the Rio de la Plata especially because we explained to our son Owen that we were driving along a river route. He insisted that it wasn´t a river but instead the ocean. He called it a brown ocean. We had stopped along the way to take a good look of the river and indeed Owen was right it looked more like an ocean with big waves that were loudly splashing. This was the year 2013 they were hit with enormous amounts of rain and the river was overflowing. We also experienced strong winds along the way; it was raining when we arrived to Colonia making our project a little more interesting. We waited in the local coffee shop while the rain passed. Once you get to Colonia del Sacramento you first feel as if you traveled back in time because of the cobblestone roads, the old cars, the lanterns adorning the town, and the pace all combined for an incredible experience.

southamericatotheworld.com — Colonia del Sacramento Doors of South America

Colonia del Sacramento has a Barrio Historico. This historic quarter is a World Heritage Site by Unesco. This was the jackpot for us in terms of door photography. Just walking on the narrow streets provided fun exploration. Most of the houses have colorful doors, and all of them are made of wood. Another characteristic that we liked were the door knockers; these were designed as women’s hands nicely positioned, giving the door a delicate touch. These doors have the address numbers made with a distinct white ceramic tile painted with blue numbers. The antique style iron lanterns suspended from the walls next to the doors gave a scenic combination for our project.

We spent the night at the Posada Plaza Mayor, which is an old boutique hotel located in the middle of the historic town. We absolutely loved it. If you are planning to visit Uruguay definitely consider the side trip to Colonia del Sacramento.

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