From the bastión, the route back through the historic centre passes the Basílica del Santísimo Sacramento, which anchors the barrio's Plaza Mayor. The parish dates to the founding of the city in 1680 — the first church was a mud-and-thatch structure on roughly the same site — and the current stone building was erected by the Portuguese in 1808. It didn't survive intact for long: a lightning strike later ignited gunpowder stored in the building, nearly destroying it. Charles Darwin, passing through in November 1833, noted the ruins in his diary, describing the scene as a monument to "the power of electricity and gunpowder united." The basilica was finally rebuilt in its present form in 1842. Its towers remain the dominant vertical element of the entire historic quarter, visible from the river and from the plaza.
Evening on the Rambla
By late afternoon, the barrio's day-trippers (many of them arriving by ferry from Buenos Aires, an hour across the water) begin to thin, and the city settles into a quieter register. This is the moment to find a table on the rambla — the riverside walkway along the south edge of the peninsula — and sit with a glass of Uruguayan Tannat while the light drops toward Argentina.