It's located along the Rio Uruguay, tribuatary to Rio de la Plata, midway up the country's western edge, where the General Artigas Bridge crosses to Argentina...
But we were headed for Plaza Constitución, the main town square...
We parked among more colorful cars before hefting our bags into Casa Grande, the town's best hotel...
And, "con suerte", with luck, we were given the best room with a private deck over the rear gardens. If you plan on going, ask for room number ten...
Our estancia host, Anne, had arranged for a personal historical guide to meet us at the hotel, and our tour began in the plaza where a statue of General Leandro Gomez stands, towering over a fountain and a subterranean mausoleum where his ashes are entombed. In 1865, he lead the Uruguayan military in a famous defense against an invasion by the Portuguese. Although the city never conceded, the heroic general was executed by the occupying forces...
Nearby, a young citizen of Paysandú--maybe...maybe three years old--proudly enjoyed her silver cup, bombilla, and herbal tea of mate...
Across the street, outside the town basilica, sat a large brass bell, willingly forged in 1689 by Guarani Indians who had been converted by Jesuit missionaries. It once hung in the wooden tower of a humble adobe chapel, and was rung when Uruguay signed its constitution July 18, 1830...
The town cathedral was built in 1860, added a clock tower in 1880, a new altar in 1881, new frescoes in 1898, and a marvelous Walker organ--a rare 24 register 3 keyboard instrument with over 1750 pipes--all after surviving the Portuguese assaults of 1865...
We enjoyed a tourist sign of sunblockers and mate-swappers as much as the billboard encouraged us to "Enjoy the new beaches of the Uruguay River"...
We walked down main street, which had an unusually unique bustle under the cluster of protruding signs--it's not the usual subdued appearance of other small Uruguayan towns. We quickly noticed that most commuters chose motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles, and long lines of two wheelers would form a skirt along the curbs, leaning on their kickstands like dominoes frozen in motion...
The performing arts center also began construction in 1860, opened in 1876, and was renamed in 1921 for one of Uruguay's famous writers...
The current Police Headquarters served as the command post during the seige of 1865...
Inside, an elegant marble sculpture that appears to be a well, actually lead to a tunnel...
...where people could escape into a underground network. Now, the room below the courtyard keeps police and military relics safe...
After our walk, we took a drive through town, seeing more historic, industrial, recreational and commercial sites, eventually idling along the Rio Uruguay where fishing boats bobbed, boys jumped from the piers, and in the distance floated the faint elevated line that is actually the cantilever international bridge named for Uruguay's most famous historic figure, their liberator, José Gervasio Artigas, whose main span is just over a kilometer long...
The final stop on the tour was the Leonardo Falcone Winery...
The current matron is Rosa and she, along with her husband and daughter, showed us around her family business, built in 1886 by the Italian immigrant great-grandparents...
The original grape press still sits in the welcoming lobby--Rosa joked that they don't know how it's still in one piece after seeing decades of dust. Locals steadily dripped in, saying their "holas" and "buen dias" before filling their re-usable containers with red wines from a selection of giant jars...
As one of the oldest and most elite vinters in Uruguay, the walls were covered with awards for every variety: chards, cabs, blancs, merlots, malbecs, and of course, the regional specialty, tannats...
It was harvest time, so most of the modern vats were filled with fermenting juice...
Others were being cleaned for the late harvest grapes. This guy was inside the monstrous metal can spraying down the walls with a massive pressurized hot water hose--like working in a gargantuan inside out shower...
Outside, the full leaves matched the landscape and contrasted with the colorful clay homes and gray skies...
A modern press was busy turning hand selected grapes into liquid, and spitting out the skins...
Palettes were stacked with wines, ready for transport, both nationally and abroad...
Speaking of bottles, Leandra threw me her "Magnum" look--a highly sophisticated modeling maneuver that only the greats, like Zoolander can perform--as we strolled into the tasting room, where breads, meats, cheeses, reds and whites were breathing--or should I say, taking their last breath?--before we would skewer them with toothpicks, or pour them in thin glasses, swooshing and sniffing them before swallowing...We bought a bottle of their 120 year anniversary wine that came in an ornate hand carved and crafted box with a fired painted tile on top...
Later that night, we had reservations at Los Tres Pinos, "The Three Pine Cones", the town's best parilla, for a mouth watering steak dinner in the outdoor courtyard...
(I've put in so many pictures of my beautiful wife smiling over our most amazing meals--well, now you know why...Mmmmmm, gulp!)
We strolled the streets back to the hotel and found the city lights bathing the basilica...
And, as we sleep walked down the sycamore paths to the Gomez monument, the previously still fountain spit and squirted to life. ...
It sure is tough touring all the time, but some one has to do it. Thank goodness tomorrow's stop is an even more remote estancia just south of Salto surrounded by open countryside, spotted with cows and horses, birds, lakes, palms, and, most importantly, hot steaming thermal pools...
No comments:
Post a Comment