Ola Uruguay Real Estate and Investments

A visit to the Port Market in Montevideo makes for a fascinating afternoon. Behind its large porticos, each stall and steakhouse displays delicious meay, achuras, and pamplonas. Outside, a wide range of handicrafts are on offer… and condombe music fills the air.

The market is set in Ciudad Vieja (the Old City), just a few meters away from the port of Montevideo, and the feeling of old extends to the market itself. Inaugurated in October 10, 1868, both the English and the Montevidean newspapers from those days reported on the new market, managed by the Spanish businessman Pedro Sáenz de Zumarán and a group of Uruguayan entrepreneurs.

Its construction, in the English style, was carried out at the Union Foundry workshops in Liverpool. The European architecture takes us back to those days, when all sale prices were determined by auction. Vegetables, fruit, and meat coming from the inland areas, as well as African slaves, and other illegal imports from old Europe, were sold here.

Fortunately, times have changed, and today the completely-renovated market has turned into an up-market venue where craftsmen, coffee-shops, restaurants, and other venues give a permanent welcoming atmosphere to its old entrance, which still looks onto the harbor area.

Thousands of visitors tour around the market everyday searching for antiques and souvenirs, traditional clothes and leather items. But it’s the steak houses that seem to be the greatest attraction. For decades, it has been a tradition to have lunch at the Port Market on Saturdays. Visitors have a snack at a bar or sit on a comfortable chair to have a relaxed lunch.

The smoke, which takes hold of the market and its surroundings at midday, draws the crowds that can’t resist such temptation. Traditional Uruguayan fare abound, including chivito al plato (a steak with ham, cheese, tomato, lettuce, and mayonnaise), canadiense (the same steak in a sandwich version), achuras (offal), asado (grilled meat), chicken, matambres (stuffed meat rolls), chotos (plaited intestines), and pamplonas (grilled stuffed-meat).

Outside, there is always a group of youngsters who display their dance movements, and the sound of the Afro-Uruguayan candombe, a tradition that can change any lunch or dinner meeting into an unforgettable party.