After the most pleasant time in Montevideo, we went to the city of Colonia. This is a historical town disputed by Portugal and Spain during the early days of South American continent. The historical part of the town is called Colonia del Sacramento, which is the original name of the town.
Colonia is a calm and beautiful town. Surely a place to rest while contemplating the awesome view, spending time in the historical sites and walking by Rio da Prata (Silver River) shore:
Since it was disputed during a long time, the old town is a fortified one. Remainings of the fortification can be seem everywhere. In this picture one can see Brenda holding the chains of the Main Gate>
It’s safe to walk the old town even after sunset and there are some pubs that are open until late surrounding the Plaza Major (Large Square) where one can spend a pleasant time, even if it’s cold -such as during the time we’re there. The sunset, itself, happens over the river… a gift of its own:
Brenda and I had a wonderful time in Colonia. We hope to go back there sometime.
We’ve heard Santorini have the most famous sunset in the world, and that the best part of the island to watch is from the city of Oia, north of the island. So we got a hotel (actually a “traditional house” – rooms digged in the rock of the cliff) there.
What a beautiful place. Everywhere we went gave us a new view for a picture, and we took lots of them. Oia is a beautiful village with great places to eat or to shop handcrafted things. Everywhere we went, the ever blue sea greeted us in a different angle.
For completeness sake, we visited Thira, the “capital” of the island. Also a beautiful place, but too crowded and not really any better than Oia. From our “cave” balcony we watched the sunset all three days we were there:
The night also gave us the best night pictures so far. We visited every corner of Oia and everywhere we went people were kind and willing to help. We got lost sometimes, but I hardly can think of that as an annoyance (and it led us to find some “hidden” places with typical restaurants).
To the south of the island is the famous beach of Perivolos. It’s a beach of dark sand with a stone platform that can be rather slippery. Surprisingly there were not many people there, what made our experience very confortable (for crowded beaches I would have stayed in Brazil). Beware of the sun… We wore fps30 lotion and we still got our skin a little sunburned.
