October 19, 2025 . Americans in Uruguay . Day 4: 5* Hotels, Wineries, and Celebration of Workers!

Greetings from Montevideo–We followed the NO Kings demonstrations as best we could and thank all of you for participating on our behalf. We were with you in spirit!

Wow – what a day. It’s now Sunday night (around midnight) and we are back in Montevideo at our charming, old Hotel Alma Historico. We began the day in the lap of luxury and modernity, with breakfast at Bahia Vik, and checking out the hotels pool(s). We then met up with Peter and Jairo, and headed out to visit the Bodega Garzon, a winery located about 30 miles from the town of Jose Ignacio, where our hotel was. But on the way, we wanted to see another hotel we had seen online that is also a “Vik hotel” that we had really wanted to stay at but the price was a bit beyond our lifestyle, and it was further from where Peter and Jairo were staying. So we decided to check it out before we left town, and given that we were staying at a Vik hotel, we figured visiting would be easy.

We drove north, about 10 minutes, onto a very long and impressive driveway and there we were — at Estancia Vik, where we met the manager, an energetic woman who seemed full of information and very willing to show us all around. While Bahia Vik was quite wonderful, upscale, and hip… Estancia Vik was beyond description. Just 12 rooms (about 500+ sq ft each, and two that are 900 sq ft) in a main building of about 50,000 sq ft (which includes about 20,000 sq ft of patios, covered walkways, and covered courtyards. The floor of the main swimming pool (65′ long) has fiber optic lights that mirror the constellations in the sky above.

The public spaces are filled with works of art by famous Uruguayan artists at scales that required some rooms to be built around sculptures that would be too large to install after construction was complete. Estancia is a ranch with more than 4,000 acres—complete with stables, private polo grounds, and more. Of course if I stayed here, I’d need to take polo lessons! We got to see two of the rooms—each room was designed as a collaboration between the architect and a Uruguayan artist. Mike has already identified a couch at the end of one of the covered walkways that he feels he could spend the rest of his life at…just sitting and thinking.

But the story of Estancia Vik and all the Vik hotels is also interesting. If I have it right—the owner/developers are a Norwegian couple with ties to Uruguay because his mother was Uruguayan and the daughter of the Uruguayan ambassador to Norway. They initially developed the first property (Estancia) to be their home in Uruguay but then decided to expand the idea and develop a hotel that merged art, architecture, and nature (as the promo pieces say). OK.. enough about this luxurious hotel for the ultra wealthy.

We then headed to Bodega Garzon, a vineyard located near (really not that near) Uruguay’s “riviera!,” Punto del Este. Apparently the soil in the area is among the oldest in the world and this helps the quality of the grapes. The vineyard is huge and includes ancient rocks that protrude into the underground cellars, and form part of the unique architecture. We arrived a bit late, but Peter really wanted us to see the winery and without taking the tour you can only see the lobby and entry area. He and Jairo had already taken the tour during a prior visit. Frankly we would have been fine just seeing the building, but we wouldn’t have been allowed beyond the lobby without the tour. So off we went. The building is pretty interesting and the tour included tastes of 4 different Garzon wines so that made it good. Also we learned about corks versus screw top wine bottles. Beyond that Mike and I mostly drifted around looking at the building–which is very impressive. And the wine was quite good. Tannat wine–made from a grape that was grown historically in Southwest France is now one of the most prominent grapes in Uruguay, and is the main wine served at all restaurants.

From there we headed back to Jose Ignacio to walk across/around the round bridge at the lagoon, which we had seen last night in the dark. It is next to impossible to photograph the bridge without a drone, so if you are interested, I’d recommend you search the Internet for images of Laguna Garzon Bridge. It is said that it is round so that drivers slow down to accommodate pedestrians who can cross to the other side and also for drivers (and bicycles and pedestrians) to take the time to appreciate the panoramic views and enjoy the pristine landscapes of the Uruguayan coast. How civil!

We then headed through Punto del Este and Maldonado to a lovely place for lunch where we had a great view of the sea and didn’t have to actually walk on the sand.

Then we headed back to Montevideo, hoping to join the celebration for the 105th anniversary of the Communist Party! It was held in a big park, and although it should have been over by the time we arrived, in typical Latin time, the event was going strong when we arrived, so we managed to catch the major speaker–the head of the party who is also (I think) the Labor Minister for the country. My Spanish wasn’t good enough to really get all of what he was saying, but he was definitely a powerful and inspiring speaker. We strolled around the event for a while before returning to Hotel Alma Historico… and then headed out for dinner (just Mike and me). We ate at a small restaurant just about four blocks from our hotel called Es Mercat (a fish restaurant) and the food was great. We started with some kind of tuna sashimi with a sauce. The dish was called Tiradot. And our second starter was a roasted squid. For the main course we shared the black sea bass which was very good.. simply prepared but perfect.. And ended with tiramisu. And white wine.. Directly across the street from our restaurant was another restaurant/bar that was packed and very very noisy with live music that spilled onto the street. At first we thought that was the restaurant that we were going to, but fortunately Es Mercat was quiet, with brick lined walls, and no music. At the other restaurant the crowd was probably in their 20s and there was a lot of dancing–but the Uruguayans do not appear to be great dancers, so I’d say there was a lot of “swaying bakc and forth” and an occasional “hop.” Our friends say, the Uruguayans really like to party with Brazilians because they can really dance!

Sorry for the length. It was a packed day.