Colonia del Sacramento

The old city of Colonia del Sacramento is located 180 km west of Montevideo. It was founded in 1680 by Portuguese military to mark the western limit of their claims, after the 1494 Tordesillas treaty. I visited it a few weeks ago, during a sunny weekend.

The treaty determined limits by distance from the Cape Verde islands. As  in those days longitude could not be fixed with precision, many battles took place between Spain and Portugal for the posession of Colonia. The British also battled briefly here during their River Plate invasion in the early 19th century.

Colonia is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. You'll have to look hard to find this plate, but there it is.



The gate to the old city is always open.



Once inside, tourists make a bee line to Suspiros Street



Somehow, night suits Suspiros street better.  Few people remember that, before the old city restoration  which started around 1967, this was a red light district. 

The lighthouse, next to the stone remains of a building, is another tourist attraction.



Those shadows on the white buildings are one of the best subjects in the city. The guns in front of the Navy museum were recovered from River Plate wrecks, of which there is no shortage.

The city is very quiet in the early morning, with old houses that have been converted to the tourist trade.

Those yellow street lamps are everywhere. Either you like them or they get on your nerves.

I was lucky to catch an event. Representatives from traditional societies of Portugal, Brasil, Uruguay and Argentina converged into Colonia for a demonstration. They looked as if out of a time machine.

After their concentration in front of Government Hall, they streamed to the old city playing music.

Technical: B&W pictures are from a just acquired Russian Horizon, from about 1965, and a Minolta Autocord from 1953. Film was TMX developed in Beutler. Color pictures comes from a current Canon G12, since almost nobody develops C-41 these days.

More fish

They keep capturing good catchs and I keep photographing them. Fair deal.





Each one of the small fishing boats has a personality. It takes personality to look good against the background of those very expensive sport yachts in Buceo Harbor.


This small seawolf hangs around until it gets its share of the catch.

Palacio Salvo

We don't have castles but we have the Salvo.

This is the top portion of the most emblematic building in downtown Montevideo. Build in 1928, it was briefly the highest building in South America (105 m height). It has definitely seen better times.

Once it had a lighthouse at the top, and a tiny observation room just below the mast that could be visited by the public - I visited it back in the 1960s. Built as an hotel, nowadays it has only small flats and offices, and a couple of radio stations, probably attracted by the high mast.

Supposedly there are ghosts in the building. In 2010 there were rumours of demolition.

There is a twin building in Buenos Aires (Palacio Barolo) by the same architect.

The picture was processed digitally to give a negative image, because I like the way the lines come out with this technique.