Colonia del Sacramento

In terms of atmosphere, the historic Uruguayan town of COLONIA DEL SACRAMENTO is a universe apart from the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires, but it's only a short boat-ride away, across the Río de la Plata, and is a popular day-trip or weekend destination with Porteños. A visit here offers an introduction, albeit fairly atypical, to Argentina's small neighbour, as well as an enticing blend of colonial history, museums and a laid-back ambience. Although Portugal officially ceded Nova Colônia do Sacramento, founded in 1680 by Manoel Lobo, to Spain in 1750, its Portuguese settlers resisted and the Spanish Viceroyalty took possession only in 1777, destroying part of the town in the process. Meanwhile Colonia was established as a prime smuggling centre, exploited mainly by the British, while the Spanish were busy building up their colony in Buenos Aires. A stop was put to this when Uruguay was created in 1828, as a buffer state between Argentina and Brazil, both of which wanted its territory.   Colonia enjoys a superb location 180km west of Montevideo, perched on a diminutive promontory jutting into the great expanse of the Río de la Plata opposite Buenos Aires, and the warm light reflected off the bronze water, especially at dusk, further enhances the town's remarkable beauty. While its detractors complain that Colonia has been over-restored or that this once sleepy old town is now a playground for wealthy Porteños treating it like a suburb of Buenos Aires, it has managed to cling on to its charisma thanks to the sheer quality of its architecture - both old and modern - now protected by UNESCO. With its immaculate yet luxuriant parks and gardens, quiet cobbled streets and miles of beaches nearby, Colonia is a relaxing and well-tended place, without being sterile like some other "museum towns" around the world. Another asset is the warm welcome of the inhabitants: Uruguayans are among Latin America's friendliest peoples The Town It's not difficult to find your way around Colonia's Barrio Histórico , confined to the far western end of the headland, bounded by the Río de la Plata on three sides. The best approach from the port and the nineteenth-century "new" town - focused on Plaza 25 de Agosto - is via Calle Manoel Lobo, which steers you through the ornately carved Portón de Campo, the only remaining colonial gateway in the fortified walls. Colonia is best seen early in the morning, before the day-trippers arrive, or at dusk, especially when there's a good sunset, which there often is. By opting for aimless wandering around the roughly cobbled streets, you'll get different perspectives of the old town, with its well-restored colonial and neocolonial buildings, some of which house museums, shops, hotels and restaurants, mostly clustered around the lush Plaza Mayor. Providing an interesting contrast, sleek-lined modern villas, many of them weekend retreats for rich Porteños, have been harmoniously slotted into vacant plots of land, where colonial houses had been allowed to collapse. There are seven museums in all, none of which takes very long to see, and in any case you can buy only a multi-entry pass costing UR$10, entitling you to visit all of them; on the other hand, the climb to the top of the lighthouse for a bird's-eye view is free. Out of town in either direction are miles of sandy beaches, though the best one is 2km east at Playa Ferrando. Along the sweeping bay to the north of Colonia, 5km away, is the white-elephant curiosity of Real de San Carlos , a dilapidated tourist complex built at the beginning of the twentieth century and now a ghostly but fascinating attraction.