We had booked a wine-tasting excursion through Princess Cruises for our day in Uruguay but to get there by steam train we first had to board a coach and that gave us a chance to take in a short photo stop at Plaza Independencia. The visit to the plaza was very pleasant, helped by some truly glorious weather. However, that same weather – not too hot, barely a cloud in the sky – did present some problems due to the early start of our excursion as it put the low sun directly behind arguably the most impressive building surrounding the square, the Palacio Salvo. If we’d had a little more time in Plaza Independencia I might have been tempted to wander down one of the roads for a chance to take some photos of the Palacio Salvo with some better lighting but we didn’t so I didn’t. Other people on our tour who got off the coach to take photos concentrated on the Artigas Mausoleum, resting place to one of Uruguay’s national heroes, but I was more interested in the range of architectural styles of the many buildings surrounding the plaza.
