Buquebus – Temple & Iceberg Trails: A Journey Through Asperger's

24 November 2022 – Buenos Aires – Colonia del Sacramento – Buenos Aires

Early the morning I set out for my daytrip to Colonia del Sacramento courtesey of Buquebus. I booked a return ferry trip and an English walking tour of the old city.

Some scenes from my walk to the terminal..

Getting to the terminal, I walked straight through to the check-in area as I already had my ticket and did not need to check in any luggage – little daypack only. Up the escalators, throught the baggage X-Ray… passport stamp “out” of Argentina… all well.

Then at the next desk – passport stamp “into” Uruguay we hit a snag. A difficult one as english is not quite the language of preference… I present all documentation… but no.. apparently I need the equivalent of a “Boarding Pass”.. not just a ticket. After some to and fro… being ‘in between countries’ I have a security guard escort down back to the ticket line… to stand in line to obtain said boarding pass… So, you may save time obtaining a ticket beforehand, but you still need to stand in the same line… ticket, check-in luggage (if applicable), obtain boarding pass… then up the escalator…for the rest.

Me and my security entourage got bustled back up the escalator.. and I had to go through the X-Ray again… some confusion at the Argentina immigration – I’m already checked out there… but eventually I get back to the Uruguay immigration desk and satisfied with the slip of paper produced, I get stamped in… and showed through to the waiting area and a little coffee shop doing brisk business. I definately needed coffee after this.

At just after 8am we started boarding the ferry… down a walkway painted with happy flowers.. grabbed a seat and soon we left Buenos Aires behind.

At around 9:38 we watched the walkway at Colonia del Sacramento port extend to welcome us to Uruguay.. and somewhere down the passage there was a big ‘sign’… To me Uruguay was country visited number 37.

We waited around 15 minutes for the English guide to collect all the passengers and then we started our “walking tour”.. and man.. she was quite serious about the “walking” part of this tour.. there was loads of walking…. brisk walking…

We walked out of the port building.. and literally over a big parking lot.. through a little gate, past a visitors centre and past the old train station… with the train station to our right and the river beach to our left. A few hundred meters further we were at the historical old town.. quite easy to do if you decide to go on your own.

You literally turn right and up the steps at the end of this little group of colourful houses and you are at the old city gate… and just retrace your steps to return to the ferry.

Somewhere not too far from the gate there is a small tourist office with neat public bathrooms.

We had a quick orientation walk-around, much explaining I cannot remember details of and the we had some free time until the we had to return to the ferry in time for the formalities – exit Uruguay and I cannot remember if you enter Argentina here or in Buenos Aires.

There are some museums you can visit – some are combination tickets, some a ticket on it’s own. You can pay with USD or credit card and there are facilities to exchange for local money, but there is a minimum amount. There are also various restaurants around.

The only thing I remember from her talk and I don’t know why… is that the one street was built with ballast stones from ships that arrived at port… and the other was paved with “local stones”.. and I’m hoping I’ve got the two right…

I wondered around, taking pictures and then had lunch and a 1/2 Sangria at the cute restaurant with a view on the catheral – hoping to catch it open at some point and purchasing a rosarie for the collection.Yeah, no, that didn’t happen… wasn’t my day. The Sangria and the food was excellent though.

Empty sangria… still closed church door… Ces’t La Vie!

The “Old Town” is really really photogenic… and with some fridge magnets I made my way back to the riverfront and eventually the air conditioned port.

The return trip was uneventful and at around 19:00 I slowly made my way back from the Buenos Aires terminal to my flat.. taking pictures along the way…. including some very fancy designer ice cream shop….