Montevideo, Uruguay

Montevideo is the capital city of Uruguay, located on the east bank of the Rio de la Plata. Though sometimes overlooked beside nearby Buenos Aires, Montevideo is a significant city in its own right: it's the cultural and political center of the country, home to well over a million people, more than ten times the size of the next largest Uruguayan city. The metro area has around two million—half of the population of Uruguay—but the friendliness and helpfulness of the residents will make you think you're in a much smaller city.

There are several theories about the origins of the city's name. The "monte" part is generally considered to be the hill where the Cerro fort is now. According to one theory the hill was named "Monte-VI-D-E-O(este)", which translates to Mountain six (VI in Roman numerals) From East to West. Another popular theory is that a member of Ferdinand Magellan's world circumnavigation would have shouted "Monte vide eu!", which translates to "I see a mountain!" when seeing the hill - however the circumnavigation happened two centuries before the foundation of the city so it might well have been another mountain he saw.