Ciudad Vieja, the "old city" in Montevideo.

We chose to stay in barrio of Ciudad Vieja (old city) in Montevideo because that’s what we do.  Our experience has been that the history and the culture of a city we haven’t been to before can be found primarily in the oldest neighborhoods.  Ciudad Vieja turned out to have a flavor all its own.

After living for three months in Ciudad Vieja we definitely have mixed feelings about this particular barrio.  There are things we really like about it and things we really don’t care for.  That is the nature of Ciudad Vieja.

At first glance, Ciudad Vieja is ugly with graffiti sprayed on the walls of the grey cement buildings and steel shutters over all the doors and windows.  Rambunctious youths talk loudly with their friends in groups around closed doorways.  Dogs wander where they like doing their business anywhere.  In the evenings most of the streets are almost completely deserted, adding to the eerie feeling you get if you first arrive after dark.

The light of day reveals another Ciudad Vieja.  Graffiti disappears as the shops roll up their shutters and open for business.  Souvenir vendors display their wares along the pedestrian only areas of Calle Sarandi and police are at every intersection.  People of the barrio go about their business carrying bags containing their morning bread, fruit and vegetable purchases. 

Ciudad Vieja has approximately 16,000 full time residents but over 100,000 workers regularly flow into this part of Montevideo on business days.  On most days there will be one or two large cruise ships in the port which adds several thousand more people to the streets.  For a while, Ciudad Vieja is crowded, noisy and vibrant.

Like any modern city that experiences the wonders of hosting tourists, there is quite a bit of petty crime.  From our apartment window we have seen two men arrested for fighting, another chased down and arrested for reasons we know not, and a local man arrested when the police were trying to walk away from him but he could not shut his mouth.  By far the most common crime is purse snatching by juvenile delinquents.

While not criminal, there are two things we have found extremely irritating about Ciudad Vieja.  The first is the number and methods of the beggars.  Hardly a child in this part of the city can bear to see a person pass without asking for money.  These are kids who are wearing nice, clean clothes with new shoes playing outside of the buildings they live in with their parents.  Please bear in mind that we have lived here for three months and I know some of these kid’s names.  At first we would ask them “why” or “for what” and the first answer was inevitably “to buy something” and when we shook our heads the answer changed to “to eat” or “for food”.  Don’t you just have pity for these kids?  Not.

The second irritating thing just grosses us out.  We have seen this happen in Pocitos and Punta Carretas (two very nice parts of Montevideo) but it is a constant in Ciudad Vieja.  The dumpster divers.  There is nothing like sitting in a café trying to eat your wonderful and expensive chivito while facing a man eating out of a dumpster.  This is an endemic problem in Ciudad Vieja and dumpsters are rummaged through several times a day.  A regular dumpster diver (not an eater) will generally have a backpack and might be riding a bicycle.  In some ways, these regular dumpster divers are worse because they tear open garbage bags, looking for whatever they’re looking for and generally strew garbage about for the wind to blow around the streets.  We absolutely hate it. 

We stayed on the corner of Calle Perez Castellano and Calle Sarandi which is right on the edge of the tourist area.  Police stationed in the small plaza in front of our building regularly direct tourists in one of two directions (the other two directions being relatively undesirable).  Following either of the two “undesirable” directions will take you to the river and the “Rambla” which is a beautiful, wide, well paved walkway that runs for miles along the river in Montevideo.

From our apartment a walk up the Calle Sarandi will take you past several cafes and pastry shops (pastelerias) and ultimately to Plaza Constitucion (old name Plaza Matriz) which has a nice tree lined park, some fast food restaurants and two or three nice but expensive cafes.  Occasionally there will be a musical performance and there are always artists and other vendors displaying their wares.

A walk down Calle Perez Castellano toward the Mercado del Puerto has a little different flavor.  As you walk you will pass solid building with wonderful wooden doorways of many shapes and sizes.  The locals pass a good amount of their summer evenings sitting outside their residences and will respond with a cheery “buenos tardes” to your greeting.  Further down you pass a pizzeria, a butcher, a wonderful sweet shop, a grocery store and several produce stores along with a variety of other shops, markets, cafes and bars.

At the bottom of Calle Perez Castellano you will find the Mercado del Puerto which has the reputation of being the most dangerous place in Montevideo.  This is true if you are an obvious tourist, wearing a lot of jewelry and loosely carrying a purse.  This can also be true for you men if you are loosely carrying a camera (with or without case) or if you regularly keep your wallet in your back pocket while passing through crowded areas.  If you don’t insist on being a mark, Mercado del Puerto has several very nice but expensive restaurants to enjoy. 

We spent several nights a week with our friends Carlos, Selenia and Julio at El Peregrino where the parilla (barbeque) and the atmosphere are terrific.  We also particularly enjoyed the ravioli at Bebieca which is right around the corner from El Peregrino but all of the restaurants in this area have good food and are friendly.  Beware, the serving sizes can be huge in Uruguay and the parilla for two in any restaurant in Mercado del Puerto may well feed four of you.

From a practical standpoint, Ciudad Vieja is close to the port which means there is easy access to the ferries and the cruise ships.  Buses run regularly to other parts of the city most of which are within 20 to 30 minutes depending upon traffic.  It is far, perhaps a 45 minute taxi or one hour bus ride to the airport.  The main bus station, Tres Cruces, where you can catch a bus to just about anywhere in the country, is a 15 minute bus ride.  Getting around isn’t a problem.

Ciudad Vieja is also close to many of the famous Uruguayan Carnaval celebrations with the Tablados in the Mercado del Puerto open Thursdays through Saturdays, Murgas being performed every night for almost two months on the beaches in nearby Palermo and the Llamadas beginning in Barrio del Sur (an adjoining barrio or neighborhood).  Everybody simply goes to the beach for the actual holiday of Carnival.

All in all, an interesting experience.  You can stay in Ciudad Vieja with a little less spice if you rent a place near to or above Calle Zabala.  We’ve both enjoyed and hated our experience here and for us, three months has been quite enough.  We don’t need to do this again, but we’re glad we did it.  Go figure.