Description: Once inside the city gate, most visitors head for the lovely town square, Plaza Mayor. This is the heart of the Barrio Historico. It hosts many of the points of historical interest and also effectively doubles as a botanical garden with its age-old fig trees, palms, cycads, jasmine and bougainvillea. We saw that ancient bougainvilleas are popping up from the sides of buildings, adding a lot of colour as they climb the white and brightly coloured walls. Strolling down alleyways from the Plaza adorned with the scent and colour of red, pink and purple bougainvilleas in the hot sun, with the waterfront only a few steps away, you quickly get the impression of the Mediterranean.
Around the tree-lined square there are several small colonial museums exhibiting historical and other interesting items. On the west side of Plaza Mayor is the Museo Municipal where you can glimpse the colonial past of the 17th - 18th century. Next to it is Casa de Nacarello, a restored, 18th century Portuguese house. On the south-eastern side of the square is the Museo Portugues, which exhibits Portuguese customs and traditions.
Possibly the most interesting of Colonia's seven museums is the Municipal Museum, once the residence of the Irish Admiral William Brown, who played a heroic role in Uruguay's independence. It offers the most comprehensive collection of exhibits connected with the town's history. On top of 50,000-odd documents in Spanish and Portuguese and wide-ranging collections of colonial furniture, cannon-balls and stuffed animals, there are a number of utensils and weapons used by Charrua Indians, the former hunter-gatherers of the region who were massacred and dispersed by colonization.
In one corner of the plaza, next to the ruins of a 17th century Franciscan convent is the 19th-century lighthouse, offering a fine view over the town on a nice day. El Faro, the lighthouse, was constructed in 1857 from stones from the ruins of Convento de San Francisco. I would highly recommend people to climb the lighthouse but watch your head because of the low ceiling. There are nice views of Colonia and if the sky is clear you can see the Buenos Aires skyline in the distance.
Plaza Mayor is also a pleasant place to rest and have a drink or lunch. Here you'll find some of the town's nicest bars and restaurants. There are also a few gift shops for casual browsing. This historic district looks like a town frozen in its colonial past. Different from the Spanish colonial sites, this charming Portuguese settlement with its winding cobblestone streets and colourful homes is a delight to explore. Sunday Market in Plaza Mayor is a very interesting tourist attraction.
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