Pictures From Uruguay (Part IV)

Time for another installment!

Today, just a few street-scenes from the Cordon.

This is one of several little streets in the Cordon that are only like, one or two blocks long.  The spot with the little flags where the street ends is a a daycare of some kind.  Again, you can see the big variety of architectural styles.

Probably my favorite of these micro-streets is "Arismendi" street.  It's named after the founder of Uruguay's Communist Party; and it's a pointless street that goes nowhere.  I think that's very fitting.

As you can see, Montevideo is a fairly green city, and the Cordon especially so.  One of the boundary-areas of the neighbourhood is the Parque Rodo, which is a large urban park with a number of interesting spots and statuary (and even a little castle!).  One of these days I'll go take some photos there to show y'all.

I can't remember if these shots were taken on a Sunday, or in the afternoon.  either cases would explain why everything is closed.  In pretty much all of Montevideo, most stores are closed on Sundays.  In the Cordon, they have the curious habit (something that was once common all over the city, but is now very rare outside of this area) of having stores close during an extended lunch-time/siesta period in the middle of the day. You'll note that first store is a bookstore:  Montevideo has more bookstores than just about any city I've ever seen.  They're everywhere.

And for the last one today: here's a shot of a 'mini plaza'.  Montevideo is marked by a number of very big plazas which often form the epicenter of a local neighbourhood .  The big ones cover an entire city block.  But it also has a variety of tiny plazas; and the Cordon in particular has a large number of these.  They all have names (stuff like "Plaza Salvador Allende"), and usually but not always have at least one tree.  Occasionally they have a statue or some other piece of art.
In this case, this one is basically just an island in the intersection of several streets; that spot to the left of the plaza is actually a monument, though, I think to political prisoners of fascist regimes or something like that. I'm not sure, because someone stole its sign the last time I looked.


Stay tuned for the next installment, where I'll be showing you a local delicacy of the city that is probably bound to make you jealous.


RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Lorenzetti Oversize + H&H's Beverwyck