Page "Geography of Uruguay" Paragraph 23

Since the 1950s, Montevideo's prosperous middle classes have tended to abandon the formerly fashionable downtown areas for the more modern high-rise apartment buildings of Pocitos, a beachfront neighborhood east of the center.

Still farther east lies the expensive area of Carrasco, a zone of modern luxury villas that has come to replace the old neighborhood of El Prado in the north of the city as home to the country's wealthy elite.

Its beaches were less polluted than those closer to the center.

Montevideo's Carrasco International Airport is located nearby, crossing the border to Canelones Department.

The capital's principal artery, 18 July Avenue, was long the principal shopping street of Montevideo, but it has been hurt since the mid-1980s by the construction of a modern shopping mall strategically located between Pocitos and Carrasco.