Veinticinco de Agosto

Veinticinco de Agosto (25 de Agosto) is in Florida Department in the Central Interior of Uruguay.

Understand
Veinticinco de Agosto was founded on September 11, 1873, by Ramon Alvarez, who was also the founder of La Paz. The town is named for a very important day in Uruguay's history: it was on the 25 of August (in 1825) when Uruguay celebrated its independence as a country. In the early days the town was known as Paso Juan Chaso because of the only place in the river where the horses could cross; Uruguay's national hero General Artigas crossed it with his army to get to Montevideo to surround the city.

Four years after the inauguration of Uruguay's railway, the lane from Montevideo to Veinticinco de Agosto was finished. This brought the town some changes, for example the creation of a big bridge across the river and the train station. People started to build up different kind of new businesses, like places to spend the night or have dinner. When buses appeared the change was obvious: people didn't travel here by bus as much, and so the town lost a lot of popularity.

Get around
To get around the city you can walk, ride a horse (in some places), ride a bike or motorbike or drive a car. There's no public transport inside the town.

See
There is a group of craftsmen led by a French family that came to live in the town some years ago. The French family bought some houses and a wagon to teach painting to the locals. A lot of houses in the town are painted on the outside, this brought the attention of many tourists and people from other parts of Uruguay.

You can also see the old train station and a small football stadium.

Do
The most common activities are seeing the paintings, the big bridge and the squares, as well as camping, swimming and fishing.

Buy
There are a lot of supermarkets or minimarkets.

Eat
There are just two food delivery services in the town, and one restaurant.

Drink
As usual in small towns in Uruguay, there are some bars to drink beer, play cards and watch television. Also a place for kids to buy beverages at the campground.

Sleep
Dr. Otto Bittenbinder Campground has a lot of places to camp with toilets and electricity. It's right next to the Santa Lucia river where people can swim and go fishing. The place also has a stage for local bands to play, also used to celebrate a festival.