We had a great time last evening. We had such a wonderful time dining with friends Stan and Mary. The meal was delicious and the conversation superb. Anne Marie ordered a cake to celebrate the anniversary of Keith’s retirement. It was a chocolate cake and very yummy. This was our first dessert of the World Cruise but we did enjoy a few desserts with the family on the seven day cruise.
After dinner, we went to a cocktail party sponsored by our Travel Consortium. They have one party per voyage of the World Cruise for a total of seven parties. We spoke with some passengers who are on the entire World Cruise along with a few other passengers who are on for a portion of the voyage. These parties do provide a nice opportunity to talk with some passenger’s who we don’t know very well or some who we have never met. Several crewmembers stopped by including the Cruise Director, Hotel Director and the Food and Beverage Manager.
Keith awoke even earlier this morning for his workout at the Fitness Center since we had a fairly early tour in Montevideo. We won’t say what time he was up there but not one single passenger was working out with Keith and he was up there for over 90 minutes.
Afterwards, Keith stopped by the Lido Café to bring back some coffee to the room. There were no passengers there either except one arrived as Keith was leaving. Keith was helped greeted by several of the infamous and outstanding members of the Lido Deck Steward team including Ray, Raymond and Romano.
This morning we arrived at Montevideo. This was the second time that we have visited this port. Our first visit was in 2007.
Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay. This is South America’s second smallest country. The economy of this country is thriving. It has high growth and a great balance of trade. Montevideo is this nations largest city. Its name originated from the words monte vides eu which means “I see a mountain.” It has a beautiful harbor. Over 90% of Uruguay’s land is used for sheep and cattle grazing.
Major attractions of Montevideo include the Plaza Independencia, the Iglesia San Francisco, the Plaza Constitucion, the Museo Historico Municipal and the Museo Historico Nacional.
Montevideo is located approximately 130 miles from Buenos Aires. While Uruguay is tiny in comparison to the size of most other countries in this region, the city of Montevideo is home to approximately half of the population of this country. As the capital of Uruguay it is the southernmost capital on the continent of South America. In many respects, Montevideo is the only large city in Uruguay. As a port city, it is home to a large portion of the fishing fleet in all of South America.
Unlike other cities in the region, the history of Montevideo is relatively simple. This city was first established as a fortress for the Spanish Empire and in the middle of the 18th century became a major port city. The architecture of this city represents a mixture of styles reminiscent to those from Spain, Portugal, England and France.
In the early part of seventeenth century this city was settled and was under Spanish rule until the 1800s. Over time various countries tried to settle in this area from the British to the Portuguese. Overtime, the people of this area declared their independence, as did their neighbors in Argentina.
In 1828 Montevideo became the Capital of Uruguay. In the years ahead there was quite a bit of conflict in this area due to both a civil war and other conflicts in the region. It wasn’t until the early 20th century where political order came to this area.
Today, tourism is starting to increase in this port city as more tourists are visiting this region to get away from some of the more touristy areas in places such as Chili and Argentina.
Our ship docked at the port of Montevideo and complimentary shuttle service was provided between the ship and the downtown area. The trip took about 15 minutes in each direction.
We booked a shore excursion through Crystal and the name of the excursion is Past & Present Jewish Life in Montevideo. This city has long had a large Jewish presence and this increased after the Inquisition of 1813.
Our journey took us to the Old Town, where Jewish immigrants first settled at the end of the 1800’s. We passed by many sites including the Maccabi Sports Center and the Golda Meir Square.
We stopped at the main Community Center and two synagogues; the Sephardic and the Ashkenazi. Following our visit to the two Synagogues, we visited the Goes area to see the colorful neighborhoods first built in the early 1920’s.
We then visited the Holocaust Memorial, which was inaugurated in 1994. The memorial was designed to resemble the Wailing (Western) Wall. It also has a noticeable blemish; a deliberate and symbolic crack, which represents the rupture in Jewish society, caused by the Holocaust. The memorial was quite moving.
We were thoroughly impressed with the tour and the places that we saw. The community center was very impressive between the school and the Synagogue. They have two bakeries and the smaller one was open today. The tour guide was terrific and actually was the one who developed this tour for the tour company she works for. We were also extremely impressed with Montevideo. As mentioned, we had been here in 2007 and we didn’t have the opportunity to do the type of touring we did today and to pass so many nice buildings that we saw today. We did have a police escort for the entire tour. Our tour guide told us this was a requirement of the places that we visited due to some problems that occurred in Argentina in the 1990s with respect to attacks on tourists visiting Jewish sites. She did not feel it was necessary but as they say better to play it safe than be sorry.
At the conclusion of our tour we went back to the ship and enjoyed a nice lunch at the Lido Café. We ate outdoors and enjoyed the views from the ship. It was a perfect day to sit outside.
In the afternoon, Anne Marie took a very nice long walk on the Promenade Deck. Keith played paddle tennis with a fellow passenger and with the manager of the Casino and another person who also works at the Casino. I was very hot out there while at the same time a lot of fun.
This evening we will attend a special world cruise event around the pool area. Earlier today construction took place to put up a temporary stage over the pool area for this event. This event includes pre-dinner cocktails, dinner and performances by several of the Crystal entertainers. Passengers were asked ahead of time if they wanted to attend the early or the later event. We chose early as did many of the passengers who dine early in the Main Dining Room. For those passengers who are on individual voyages, complimentary wines will be served during dinner in the Main Dining Room.
This evening we will set the clocks back one hour as we sail to Buenos Aires. After we leave Buenos Aires and cross over to Cape Town we will forward the clock not one or twice or three time but five times. Ouch.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…..
“If you want happiness for an hour – take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day – go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year – inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime – help someone else.”
Keith and Anne Marie
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