the taste of Chile

When you are in Chile you definitely have to taste the famous Chilean wine. Chile has a long viticultural history for a New World wine region dating to the 16th century. It is now the fifth largest exporter of wines in the world, and the ninth largest producer. We visited the winery Casas del Bosque followed by a nice wine tasting. That sounds like a good thing to finish our trip to Patagonia. :-)

Valparaíso

Valparaíso is built upon dozens of steep hillsides overlooking the Pacific Ocean and serves as the headquarters for the Chilean National Congress. In the second half ot fhe 19th century the city played an important geopolitical role, when it served as a major stopover for ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by crossing the Strait of Magellan. Valparaíso was declared a World Heritage Site in 2003 based upon its improvised urban design and unique architecture as well as its unusual system of funicular lifts. The city nowadays is in a deep sleep but features thousands of tourists every year (however fewest among them stay there, they do only a day trip).

One can see Valparaíso's glorious past when standing at Plaza Sotomayor. The focus of the square is the monument that honors the Chilean sailors who fell during the Battle of Iquique and the Battle of Punta Gruesa. On the opposite side is the building that housed the Intendencia de Valparaíso, which currently is home to the headquarters of the Chilean Navy. Beautiful and interesting port city.

Santiago de Chile

Santiago is the capital of Chile. It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of 520 m. The city has a downtown core of 19th century neoclassical architecture and winding side-streets, dotted by art deco, neo-gothic, and other styles. There are several stand-alone hills and mountains of the Andes chain can be seen from most points in the city. The Chilean executive and judicial powers are located in Santiago. We went through the city watching La Moneda Palace (the seat of the president) as well as Plaza de Armas (main square with Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago).

Later we went up the Cerro San Cristóbal. On its summit is a 22 meter statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The hill offers a beautiful view of Santiago as well as the Andes.

Down again we roamed the streets of the neighborhood Concha y Toro with its medieval-like street plan. Afterwards the Pueblito Los Dominicos was our destination. That's a crafts market and popular tourist shopping destination in a heritage zone of Santiago. For the evening's schedule we visited two hip bars in the neighborhood of Cerro Santa Lucía: the wine bar and the pisco bar! ;-)

volcán Osorno

Osorno Volcano is a 2,652-metre tall conical stratovolcano. The mountain is also noted for its similar appearance to Mount Fuji. The upper slopes of the volcano are almost entirely covered in glaciers despite its very modest altitude and latitude, sustained by the substantial snowfall in the very moist maritime climate of the region. We went up the road to the ski resort La Burbuja and then took the chairlift that brought us close to the summit. The Bee did a little bit funny snow tubing up there! On our way down we catched a great view of the mountains 'Red Crater' (a 'flank crater').

región de Los Lagos

We started our day at the Chilean Lake District with a hike through the picturesque Petrohué Falls. After that we did a relaxing boat tour on the emerald Todos los Santos Lake. The lake is surrounded by steep mountains leaving only minor plains. A short stop at Laguna Verde made our outing perfekt.

Puerto Varas

What a beautiful town on the shore of Llanquihue Lake. Puerto Varas is famous for its German traditions and its natural environment. The snowcapped peaks of Osorno Volcano and Calbuco Volcano are clearly visible from the lakefront. We enjoyed to stroll through the town.

Puerto Montt

Our first sight at Puerto Montt was the local fish market. Hmmm! That was followed by a short visit of the city centre (which we primarily used to withdraw money – our first Chilean money of this trip).

on the way to Punta Arenas

On our way south we had dinner at Estancia Puerto Consuelo at Fjord Eberhard. The Estancia is run by a family of German descent. We spent the night at Puerto Natales and early in the morning we continued our journey to the Strait of Magellan. We catched a view on Tierra del Fuego and then a short domestic flight brought us from Punta Arenas to the Los Lagos Region.

meeting the guanacos

Hello guanaco! We met lots of that animals on a three hours hike to Lago Sarmiento. Guanacos are the parent species of the domesticated llama.

Lago Grey

We had a toast for lunch at Hotel Lago Grey. (In Chile everthing from burger to sandwich is called toast.) After that refreshment we did a boat tour on Grey Lake to the Grey Glacier. The Glacier is in the south end of the Southern Patagonia Ice Field. Due to the draughty conditions our boat was breaking through the waves of the rough sea and it took us nearly one and a half hours to reach the glacier. We saw beautiful icebergs on our way and the glacier itself offered a deep blue colour. Beautiful!

Parque Nacional Torres del Paine

Big impressions on a high-wind day! The centerpiece of todays trip was the Cordillera del Paine from different sides. Paine means 'blue' in the native Tehuelche language.

Small valleys separate the spectacular granite spires and mountains of the massif. Around Salto Grande we did a short hike.

estepa patagónica

During the night it had snowed and the hills surrounding El Calafate were white in the morning! Nevertheless, let's go south, let's go to Chile. It took us some hours driving through the Patagonian steppe and then again the immigration took some time but in the early afternoon we entered Chile at Cerro Castillo. We changed our conveyance and the Chilean coach brought us to our fantastic hotel at Torres del Paine National Park located just right at the foot of the majestic 'Torres del Paine' mountain range (Hotel Las Torres).

bosque petrificado La Leona

We had a day for something special – a whole day outing on the patagonian steppe! Never seen things like these before we decided to do a trip to the petrified forest La Leona. We've been walking through a beautiful desert landscape packed full of large petrified tree trunks, some 1.5 m in diameter and heaps of fragments of dinosaur fossils. What a great excursion (although we couldn't see Mount Fitz Roy on the shores of Viedma Lake due to the clouds in the distance).

Glaciar Perito Moreno

One of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentinian Patagonia is the Perito Moreno Glacier. It is one of only three Patagonian glaciers that is growing. First we did a boat trip to the southern flank of the glacier. Then our bus brought us to the northern site and we hiked for several hours to the center of the glacier where the tourist office is located. Pressures from the weight of the ice slowly pushes the glacier over the southern arm of Lago Argentino, damming this section and separating it from the rest of the lake. Periodically, the pressure produced by the height of the dammed water breaks through the ice barrier causing a spectacular rupture. The last one occured in 2013.

El Calafate

After a four hours flight we arrived at El Calafate in Patagonia. The city is situated in the southern border of Lake Argentino (which is the biggest freshwater lake in Argentina). The name of the town is derived from a little bush with yellow flowers that is very common in Patagonia. El Calafate is an important hub to visit different parts of the Los Glaciares National Park. We spent there three nights in a nice hotel that had the best water pressure ever! :-) During our stay a curious gaucho festival took place in the city.

San Isidro, Tigre y el delta del Paraná

Close to Buenos Aires is located the city of San Isidro that is well known for its neogothic cathedral. The tower stands 68 m tall. After that short stop we went forward to Tigre where we did a nice and cosy boat ride through the delta of the Paraná River. We traveled through a web of inter-connecting rivers and streams surrounded by english-style rowing clubs, countless marinas, elegant mansions from the 'Belle Époque', as well as small pensions, restaurants, teahouses and simple picnic sites.

Buenos Aires

Let's go to the southern hemisphere! We left the autumn behind and started our trip into spring at Buenos Aires. We can call it a hot spring down there with about 30 degrees Celsius. At downtown Buenos Aires we visited the sights around Plaza de Mayo (Casa Rosada, Catedral Metropolitana, Cabildo) as well as the Teatro Colón, the Congreso de la Nación Argentina and the obelisk at Av. 9 de Julio.

If you are at Buenos Aires there are two urban quarters you won't miss: La Recoleta and La Boca. The latter is well known for its colourful housing made of corrugated sheet iron from old ships. There is also the football stadium La Bombonera home of one of Argentina's most famous football clubs: the Boca Juniors. We also attended a Tango Show when beeing in that neighborhood. At La Recoleta one visits the famous cemetery that contains the graves of notable people, including several presidents of Argentina, Nobel Prize winners, a granddaughter of French emperor Napoleon and Eva Perón. Getting a mausoleum at that cemetery is more expensive than getting a flat in downtown Buenos Aires.

We had also time to visit the new barrio (district) of Puerto Madero, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank. This old harbour is today one of the trendiest boroughs in Buenos Aires with a hip waterfront. Every street in Puerto Madero is named after women (!).

We enjoyed very much our stay at Buenos Aires, the old domiciles, the southern ambience and especially the blooming jacaranda trees.