Category: Destinations

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Lyon

Arrival

Due to good planning, if I do say so myself, we had a short layover at Charles de Gaulle terminal 2. We took a 55 minute flight – what felt like a commuter – to Lyon Saint Exupery airport. Passport control and customs were a breeze at this smaller, provincial airport. We made our way to the ground transportation area just outside of the main terminal, and were able to “hail” an Uber directly from the airport. Very convenient, and no local currency needed to be exchanged, meaning no need to hunt for an ATM machine at the airport. There would be plenty in the city.

The Uber ride from Saint Exupery airport to the Presqu’ile neighborhood in central Lyon was almost as long as the flight from Charles de Gaulle to Saint Exupery! Our Uber driver – a young man – was sporting a BMW 5 series. I eventually engaged him in conversation, testing my French for the first time on the trip. I complimented him on his vehicle being so well maintained, and I asked how many kilometers it had on the odometer. I was surprised to hear that the 5 Series had 300,000 kms given that it was in such fabulous shape. Then the conversation turned to the challenges of driving on French roads, with their so-called “safety cameras” used to enforce speed limits. I was curious because I had a traffic violation when I was last in France in 2015, issued via the automated safety camera network. When I shared this with the Uber guy, he curiously asked how much I was charged for the citation. When I replied €45, he reacted with “Ooooooo… superr speederr!” rolling his Rs in the way only a Frenchman could. When I asked him what happens if you have too many of those, he eventually replied that for tourists, nothing, but for citizens there’s a number beyond which they take you to prison, and he laughed. I actually thought €45 was quite affordable for a super speeder violation. At that price I may budget for a couple of them per trip to France going forward.

Settling in

Having arrived at our apartment at the appointed time, and after proper introductions, our host gave us the grand tour of what would be our home for the next four nights in Lyon. Among the more important parts of our tour was getting a basic tutorial on how to work the washing machine – a key element for us because we travel with carry-on only. We simply admired the brilliant views from the apartment for the first time – across the Saone River to the Notre Dame de Fourvière. I looked forward to the views later that evening after nightfall, and I wasn’t disappointed.

 

We set off looking for something to eat as it had been a long day with nothing but airline and airport food. We walked about for at least an hour investigating the surroundings in the vicinity of the apartment along the Saone River in the Presqu’ile neighborhood. We stretched our legs after the day-long transportation confinement as we evaluated the restaurant recommendations made by our host. With the first couple of options booked full for the evening, we eventually decided on Le Grand Café des Négociants for our first Lyonnaise meal, which was not disappointing – high quality French food paired with complimentary French wine.

 

Discovery Trek

This section has a complimentary Google Maps route and photos. To follow the Discovery Trek on Google Maps, go to the map at the bottom of this post and click on fullscreen mode. Then select both “Route – Discovery Trek”, and “Photos – Discovery Trek” layers from the menu on the left side of the map.

The weather wasn’t exactly cooperative on the first full day in Lyon, and what was a drizzle in the air, with overcast skies looked to be an all day affair, per the weather forecast from Meteo France on my iPhone. But we came prepared both with clothing and equipment. And so we grabbed our umbrellas and set off for a day of discovery.

A short distance from the apartment, just as we set off, we stumbled upon a little café with indoor seating, thankfully. We stepped inside eager for a bite to eat to get ourselves prepared for walking around all day in the colder weather. I nearly caused an international incident by expressing a preference that my eggs should be cooked in any fashion different from that which the chef (yes in Lyon the dude that prepares your eggs is called a chef) had intended. More on that drama in the food scene section.

Next we walked to the Renaissance Quarter across the Saone River from the Presqu’ile neighborhood. There was an organized run of some sort in progress with a large number of participants as we made our way into the quarter. They didn’t pick the best weather for it, and neither did we – but the difference was we had umbrellas, and warm clothes on. This thought somehow made me feel better. We toured a small section of the Renaissance Quarter just north of the Cathedrale Saint Jean Baptiste, but were focused on finding our way to the top of the Notre Dame de Fourvière hill.

 

So we moved away from the Renaissance Quarter, climbing the Notre Dame hill. Due to the inclement weather, there wasn’t a lot of pedestrian traffic on the way. We did however have to contend with the runners from the organized event as they completed their circucuit, getting wetter as they went.

 

We departed the high Notre Dame hill and headed down toward the ruins of the 2000 year old Roman amphitheater. There was a complete Roman residential complex built around the amphitheater, and we took it all in void of any crowds, a weather-provided bonus.

 

We next found ourselves back in the Renaissance Quarter, at the Cathedrale Saint Jean Baptiste, which was situated on a square allowing for good photo opportunities. A little farther down river, we made our way through some classic narrow streets of that period. Turning on a narrow lane, we suddenly found ourselves facing Eglise Saint Georges. However, the streets are too narrow to accommodate good photography of the church front. But there’s always the close-up of the pediment above the entryway of Saint Georges slaying the ubiquitous dragon. Photos of the back of Saint Georges were possible from the Saone side of the Church.

 

The Renaissance Quarter wasn’t large. It was longer than wide, sometimes just a few streets deep along the Saone River. It was a lovely area with narrow medieval lanes, buildings very close together, and it didn’t take very long to work our way through the entire section. We ended up taking a lovely walk along the Saone, heading south to its confluence with the Rhone. We had a memorable luncheon at the appropriately named Le Petit Glouton – I rave about this place in the Food Scene section.

 

Food Scene

Le Grand Café des Negociants

This was our first meal in Lyon after a long day in transit. It wasn’t our first choice because we got a late start, but the café was quite impressive on the inside with formal French decor, and well dressed staff. We started with something simple, pâté de foie gras for starters, sea bass accompanied with black rice (which was unusual). The pâté was very rich and went well with the Côtes du Rhône wine recommended for me. The sea bass was also good, but not memorable like the pâté. It’s noteworthy that this was the only restaurant I felt was pricey on this trip.

 

Le Rocambole Café terrasse du Vieux-Lyon

As mentioned in the Discovery Trek portion of the post, I nearly caused an international incident. I ordered eggs over medium, and our lovely young waitress immediately put the palm of her right hand to her head, uttering “Mon Dieu.” It was serious. She invoked the name of the Lord. She indicated in English that she would try to explain my request to the chef. I immediately backed down on my unreasonable demands. But by this time she had already committed herself to do battle with the chef, with customer satisfaction and an American-sized tip in the balance. It turned out OK, although I think the eggs were a bit bien cuit.

 

Le Petit Glouton

We stopped here for lunch to fortify ourselves on the day of our grand discovery trek. I was very hungry from all of the walking in the cold, drizzly weather that day. We happened upon this restaurant – the name translates to “the little glutton.” I had ordered a pork knuckle – not something you’d find in Paris, but apparently it works in Lyon. It was absolutely fabulous – crispy skin, and all. And the mustard complimented the meat so well, a strong horseradish Dijon that opened the taste buds like no other mustard I’d tried.

 

Brasserie Léon de Lyon

This is the restaurant we were turned away from on our arrival day because they were booked and we didn’t have reservations. The food was very good. The foie gras in particular was very rich and noteworthy. Grilled, glazed cod over a bed of fresh spinach in a slightly mustardy, slightly sweet sauce, and grilled hake with carrot, beet, turnip on turnip sauce for the main courses.

 

L’Auberge du Lyonnais

What a delightful meal, and a great discovery in Annecy. The portions were generous by French standards, especially for lunch. We opted for a menu, which turned out be an excellent orchestration of entrée, main course, and dessert. This meal necessitated a long stroll around Lake Annecy to assist with digestion.

 

Brasserie Georges

Another meal where I felt more like I was dining in Germany, Czech Republic or elsewhere in Central Europe. The escargot were definitely French, and from Burgundy. I even had beer with the meal, making the meal feel even more Germanic. The boiled pork knuckle and sauerkraut were perfectly prepared. And the bacon steak was too good to describe. Eau de Vie de Poire was recommended and worked well as a digestif.

 

A l’Ecu d’Or

One of the best meals in France, and we found it in little Le Puy. We tried terrine of fish and shrimp – just a lovely appetizer. Grilled duck breast and beefsteak as the main courses. Followed by a cheese plate with 3 super selections. And finished with tiramisu, and creme brulee. The reason we walk, so we can eat like this.

 

Le Bistrot de Lyon

Starters of Lyonnaise salad with thick sliced bacon, and a terrine of duck pâté, sweet breads, pork fat, and gelatin. Insanely good, very rich, with big contrast between the ingredients. Main courses of pork sausage over a bed of lentils with a white wine sauce, and pike dumpling in a crayfish sauce. Both very good. Fromage blanc and rum biscuit with Chantilly and dried fruit.

 

Road Trip – Annecy and Chambéry

This section has a complimentary Google Maps route and photos. To follow the Road Trip – Annecy and Chambéry on Google Maps, go to the map at the bottom of this post and click on fullscreen mode. Then select both “Route – Annecy and Chambéry,” and “Photos – Annecy and Chambéry” layers from the menu on the left side of the map.

We walked to our Sixt Car Rental location not far from our apartment. It was an interesting walk because it was first thing in the morning, as I was shooting for an 8:00 AM arrival at the car rental location. Along the way we could see people going about their lives, heading to school or work, and just starting their day. We got in and out of the car rental location in about 15 minutes, as we were their first customers of the day. One of the reasons I like Sixt is because it’s a very well-run organization, and this is typical of previous engagements with them. Car rental isn’t the same in Europe as it is in the US. The Europeans are more bureaucratic than Americans, so it’s a pleasure getting through the process of car rental in short order.

 

Annecy was smaller than I had imagined based on my readings on and off the internet. There’s a lot of material out there on Annecy, as it’s been discovered by mainstream tourism. Most people that have traveled France to any extent likely have heard of it. For me, the only points of interest in Annecy were the riverwalk in the old part of town, and a couple of long walks possible around Lake Annecy itself. We had a wonderful lunch at the Auberge du Lyonnais restaurant along the river, and we spent about an hour there. Had it not been for that, we would’ve completed the Annecy tour in a couple of hours or less.



As we left Annecy, we had originally intended to visit Grenoble next. But based on the experience in Annecy, and my recollection that Grenoble was less interesting than Annecy, we decided to explore other options. Chambéry came to mind as a possible alternative, and it may be a bit off the beaten path – at least to me. Checking Google Maps revealed that Chambéry was closer to our location than Grenoble. And then we checked the top activities for Chambéry and Grenoble on Tripadvisor to get a big picture view of of interesting things to do in each destination. Grenoble’s top rated activity was a nearby national park, while Chambéry’s was its Ville Ancienne (old town). Based on that little research we decided we would go to Chambéry.

Chambéry was a lovely little town, and we very much enjoyed exploring its 19th century-feel Ville Ancienne architecture. The town was sparsely touristed, and less densely populated – less than half the size of Annecy, for example. But large enough to have all of the desired amenities, like cafés and restaurants. I probably say this too often, but the photos don’t do lovely little Chambéry justice. This is another place that only being there brings true appreciation.

 

Road Trip – Le Puy

This section has a complimentary Google Maps route and photos. To follow the Road Trip – Le Puy on Google Maps, go to the map at the bottom of this post and click on fullscreen mode. Then select both “Route – Le Puy,” and “Photos – Le Puy” layers from the menu on the left side of the map.

The drive to Le Puy was a bit longer than the trip to Annecy and Chambéry. Once we got out of Lyon and into the countryside, we started to gain some altitude as we were ascending the Massif Central, the grand plateau that occupies a good portion of south-central France. It was noticeably cooler because of the elevation as compared to Lyon.

On arrival to Le Puy we noticed immediately how much undulation and elevation change there was in town. Hundreds of steps, separated the lower part of town from its upper part. It was hard to imagine how one would get around Le Puy in winter time. This part of France does get winters with significant snowfall. Le Puy with its cobblestone lanes all over the town would be quite the challenge in winter. I couldn’t imagine walking on snow and ice laden cobblestone in the middle of winter while trying to descend from the upper part of town to the lower or vice versa.



Le Puy is the stuff of picture postcards. The Cathedral of Notre Dame du Puy is both historic and impressive, and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Le Puy is noted as being the departure point for the Way of Saint James pilgrimage route, also known as the Camino de Santiago. This super cool video gives an overview of the Camino originating in Lovely Le Puy.

 

We had a fantastic lunch in Le Puy at a restaurant on its main square, then headed for the most visibly impressive attraction in town. It’s a few hundred step climb up to the Notre Dame de France monument at the top of its hill – it looked like the hill was made for the monument, but most likely vice versa. This Grand Statue reminded me more of the Statue of Liberty than anything else. But wow, what amazing views from the very top of the monument. The statue was actually hollow and had a tight spiral staircase that allowed access to the top – covered by the admission charge. At the top of the monument, there’s a portal inside the head of the statue allowing access to a 360 degree panoramic view of the surrounding area.

 

Comprehensive Map

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1ev9DVHAtZrYW67rYpOTLQxVvz3E&w=640&h=480]

The map shows all of the places discovered and photos taken along the way for Destination Lyon. To use the map to its potential, click the rectangle in the top right corner of the map to open it in a new tab. Set your browser to fullscreen mode so that you can see as much of the map as possible. Browse the map layers by selecting or deselecting the check boxes on the left side of the map. A good example in selectively exploring the map would be to check only “Photos – Discovery Trek” and “Route – Discovery Trek” on the side of the map. This would display just the Discovery Trek elements on the map. Then zoom in as tight as you like to view parts of the route of interest, along with the photos taken there. I’d love to hear feedback on this use of Google Maps to enable interaction with travel content. Enjoy!

 

Epilogue

Reflections on Lyon. Big. It’s far larger than Annecy, Chambéry, or even Bordeaux. Busy. It has more traffic, and feels to me like a larger city than it actually is. While its population within the city limits is in the 400 thousands, the greater Lyon cosmopolitan area is well over 2 million – which what I think contributes to its larger city feel. Classical architecture. Architectural eye candy all over the parts of town we visited – from Roman, to medieval, to 19th century, reminiscent of Paris. Great food. To die for, unpretentious good food. I need to return for the food alone, to stopover for just one day and hit an untried Bouchon and indulge.

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Puerto Natales – Chilean Patagonia

The flight from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas, the gateway to Chilean Patagonia, was without incident – my favorite kind of flight. LATAM airlines does a fabulous job in accommodating their customers. The in-flight entertainment was served up via an app that you could use on your phone or pad at no cost. It worked so well, some US air carriers might want to pay attention to the quality of service that little LATAM was able to provide. Even the attention to detail with respect to snacks was better than most carriers in the United States.

Getting the rental car in Punta Arenas was uneventful as well. I reserved a Subaru Forester with all-wheel drive. The vehicle offered to me had clearly made the run from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales many, many a time. And while it was still serviceable, I could tell that it had been through some rough driving miles. It felt pretty beat up for the miles showing on the odometer. I mentally prepared myself for rough roads in my future.

We began the drive from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales using Google Maps that I downloaded to my iPhone at home before departure. In offline mode, you can keep your cell phone in airplane mode with no need for cellular service, or Wi-Fi. You still have all the functionality of Google Maps save for the turn by turn directions feature, which is completely unneeded as you stay on Ruta 9 for 229 KMs – no turns. I downloaded the maps as a precaution, expecting to have poor cell service in the expanse of Antarctic tundra separating Punta Arenas from Puerto Natales, as well as the uninhabited regions between Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine National Park.

 

The scenery on the drive from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales was stark, flat, endless Antarctic tundra without a tree in sight to the horizon – with the occasional reassuring traffic sign reminding you that you’re on “Ruta del Fin del Mundo.” The land was suitable for grazing, because we spotted sheep and goats on the first leg of the drive. The farther north we drove, the more variation we saw in the landscape, eventually the Antarctic tundra evolved a little roll, and we could see off in the great distance some more hillier terrain. With such a flat road, and so few vehicles on it, I was able to make very good time on the drive, getting to the hotel in Puerto Natales in under 2 hours.

 

Settling in

We arrived at the hotel just before 9 PM local time, hungry from the day’s travels. The hotel itself looked like it was made out of a shipping container. It looked like they spared all possible expenses, and targeted pure functionality. Based on my research, I selected Hotel Boutique El Muelle as it was rated well on all the sites I found it, and the amenities were good for the price. There are plenty of hotels to choose from, but this is not a resort area, nor a destination catering to those seeking high levels of accommodation. It’s the sort of place people use hostels and very inexpensive accommodations for the night or two that they spend on their way to Torres del Paine National Park.

At 9 PM on arrival, it was daylight with plenty of sun in the sky, and we needed a hearty meal as we ate lightly during the traveling part of our day. We got a recommendation for a restaurant at check-in time, and we headed there immediately after tossing our luggage into the room. The meal really hit the spot, and we probably rated the restaurant better than it deserved simply because of how hungry we were. It was well after 11 PM as we walked back to the hotel from the restaurant along the waterfront. There was still plenty of light even though sunset had long come and gone.

 

Torres Del Paine National Park – Mirador Las Torres

The following day we drove directly to hotel Las Torres, which is the closest parking to the Torres Del Paine trail head leading to the Mirador Las Torres. The drive was much more varied than the previous day’s. The Antarctic tundra had more variation with what passed for trees visible in the distance, and some mountains occasionally came into view. I’m not sure about the local fauna, but the livestock was more varied with alpacas, llamas, some cattle, and lots and lots of sheep.

 

We got a late start and we didn’t arrive at the parking lot until about noon. in retrospect, we should’ve saved this portion of our Patagonia venture for another day – essentially swapping the days for the leisurely Lago Grey catamaran trip with the Mirador Las Torres hike. As it turned out, this would be a very long day. Grabbing our equipment, we left the SUV at the parking lot, and followed the sparse crowd towards the trail head. The weather was cooperating spectacularly well for the hike, with temperatures in the low 60s, with a blustery wind against a backdrop of blue sky and sunshine.

The hike started as a meandering stroll through flatlands leading to a gravel path that undulated more as it progressed. At the beginning the scenery was interesting because it was all new, but not unique – with three flights, and 4 to 5 hours of driving behind me, I was expecting some pretty cool scenery. The vistas at the beginning of the hike were not inspiring, but we knew to expect a spectacular ending. The hike was advertised as being an 11.2-mile trek over 7-8 hours for the very fit, with 3,000 feet of elevation gain.

 

Undulating paths gave way to scree, boulder fields, and dry riverbeds. There were some rough parts of the trail. We came across multiple foot bridges to cross the creeks along the way. And we crossed some creeks by following boulder paths where the water levels permitted. The hike was demanding as we didn’t train specifically for this activity. Our typical travel adventures include plenty of discovery walking, where we log somewhere between 10 and 20 miles per day, depending on the day. But this was different for us, and we took rest stops along the way to acknowledge the rigor of the hike.

Finally, after 2 hours of hiking we hit the halfway point at Refugio Chileno. A refugio is like a hostel in the middle of the wilderness. Indoor, bunkbed style accommodations are available for a select few. Camping is possible, and they do sell some provisions. You can even grab a meal if you come at the right time of the day. We stopped at the refugio, had a bite to eat, quenched our thirst with the remainder of the water we were carrying, then refilled our bottles. The 30-minute break was heavenly. Chit-chatting with the folks working at the refugio, we got the sense that the second half of the trek starts pleasantly as a walk through the woods, and ends up at the toughest part of the hike with the ascent to the Mirador.

 

As we set off from the refugio, we did indeed have a stroll-through-the-woods start to the hike. And as we made our way farther from the refugio, closer to the vista, the trail – where there was one – did get much more rigorous and physically demanding, with more elevation gained. More scree, dry river beds, and boulder fields, but this time with much more elevation gain. At one point, we stopped, took a look at each other, needing to take stock of ourselves and decide whether we were going to do this thing. We decided that we needed to do it, simply because we had come so much of the way, we just had to see the Mirador at the end of the hike.

 

We could see glimpses of the towers as we made progress through the switchback, but because of the steepness of the climb towards the end, the Mirador was not visible at all. It wasn’t until we worked our way around an enormous boulder, making the switchback that we first saw the full view: The three towers standing majestically overlooking a turquoise, glacier fed lake. As we walked closer to the lake we could simultaneously see the towers and their reflection in the water at the same time. Wow! We ascended to the Mirador by 4:30 PM, and sat just breathless for a few minutes. The scene was inspirational, and so worth every step we took to get there. We arrived to the Mirador so late that the crowds were thin – even void for a few minutes. We had the Mirador practically to ourselves, and we took some very cool photos. We had a very pleasant 20 minutes bathing in the success of it all, and then started the trek back down.

 

Because the trail – where there was one – was so undulating, it wasn’t downhill all the way back to the parking lot. There was down, and back up, and down, and back up. We descended to the Refugio and realized that it was possible to take a horseback ride to the trailhead. Unfortunately, we had just missed the cut off by an hour or so because we had a late start to the hike. Had we arrived in time, I would have jumped on the opportunity to ride down – price would not have been a consideration.

We managed with some difficulty to climb all the way down to the trailhead, and find our way to the parking lot. We had our share of challenges because of the rigors of the hike, and the trail conditions, but we made it to the SUV by 9 PM – a total of 9 hours elapsed. 7 to 8 hours for the very fit, 9 hours for the rest of us. Not too bad considering we didn’t train for this sort of thing.

Sitting in the SUV as we prepared for the 2-hour drive back to Puerto Natales, we heard a knock on the window from a pair of wayward Connecticut hikers. They explained that they were staying just outside the park, which was 5 more miles of hiking from the parking area. The 2 young dudes were in dire need of a ride, and were happy to find that we spoke English. We agreed to give them a lift, but didn’t realize until halfway to the park entrance that they had a service dog with them, which somehow got into the vehicle without either myself or my wife taking note. We had a pleasant conversation with the Connecticut hikers. As it turned out, they jumped the gun on the W circuit, having set aside several days to do the whole thing. They wanted to get a feel for it and set off to hike it for a short stretch, and instead ended up covering more than half of it in a single day, exhausting themselves in the process. I related well to the exhaustion part.

By 11 PM, I was relaxing at the hotel, sipping on some Pisco, and unwinding from the rigors of the day. We were both surprised to find no fanfare at the midnight hour as New Year’s Day was welcomed relatively quietly in Puerto Natales – the locals were not party animals.

IMG_3282
Feliz año nuevo

 

Discovery Trek

We had our discovery walk around Puerto Natales on New Year’s Day. We found a little place to get some coffee and breakfast to get us started as we walked along the waterfront. We hit all of the tourist attractions, and there weren’t many. There were some shops, restaurants, and a park. That aside, we just strolled where our feet led us. We explored all around town as we searched for a particular restaurant recommended to us by a local, through the course of our walk, but it was closed for the holiday. We had lunch instead at a restaurant found through the Tripadvisor app, where we had some very nice local seafood to highlight the day.

 

Notice all of the houses built out of corrugated aluminum – lightweight, easy to ship, compact because it’s stackable.

 

Food Scene

Restaurant El Bote

This was the place recommended to us by our hotel upon our late arrival after a full day of multi-modal travel. The food was basic, but good – although I think I was so hungry, anything would have been rated well.

 

La Burbuja

We happened by this restaurant via Tripadvisor on our New Year’s Day walkabout after we couldn’t find the highly recommended place by the rare English-speaking local we bumped into on our trek.

 

Provincia Ultima Esperanza

We were on a seafood theme throughout our stay in Puerto Natales. This place was a real find for seafood variety, including cuttlefish.

 

Torres Del Paine National Park – Lago Grey Catamaran

The second adventure we had in Chilean Patagonia in Torres del Paine National Park was the catamaran trip on Lago Grey. We drove a couple of hours on a slightly different track to get to hotel Lago Grey. It was necessary to park the car and walk a couple hundred yards to get to the hotel. We purchased our tickets, but were quite a bit early to the catamaran ride, so we ended up getting some coffee and enjoying the views from the glassed-in hotel observation lounge. Tree covered hills were visible from the hotel, the mountains and glaciers didn’t come into view until the catamaran was under way.

 

The most rigorous part of this day was a 1 mile hike across a spit of sand to get to the catamaran boarding area. The weather once again was very cooperative. While cool and a bit foggy early in the morning, the day eventually turned to blue sky and sunny. But it never really warmed up, and as the wind kicked in hard on the lake, it was necessary to put on the winter down jacket and a warm hat. Once the catamaran was underway, it was like a sightseeing tour. The catamaran made multiple stops and either dropped off hikers, picked them up, or both. Eventually we got to the top of the lake which was the purpose of the ride. This was where all they eye candy was on display, this is where most of the pictures were taken, and this is the spot where we saw the small icebergs adrift.

[wpvideo STpD19df]

 

We met an interesting couple of hikers that happened to be sitting at our table in the catamaran, Greg and Heather from Vancouver, British Columbia. They were picked up at one of the stops as we made our way to the top of the lake, as they finished their W circuit over a period of 4 days. They looked in pretty good shape for spending 4 days in the wilderness, completing hikes like the one we did to the Mirador. We offered Greg and Heather a lift back to Puerto Natales to avoid waiting a few hours on their bus ride. This time there was no surprise service dog, I checked. And we had a long chat about travel, future destinations, and the kinds of things that pass the time on a two-hour trip across mostly nondescript lunar landscape.

 

Comprehensive Map

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/2/embed?mid=1ZjGyBl1BKs1m6f-W86u3BT8NIfo&w=640&h=480]

The map shows all of the places we discovered and the photos taken along the way, there and back. To use the map to its potential, click the rectangle in the top right corner of the map to open it in a new tab. set your browser to full screen mode so that you can see as much of the map as possible. Browse the map sections by selecting or deselecting the check boxes on the left side of the map. A good example in exploring the map would be to select only “Lago Grey Catamaran Sights and Scenery” and “Route to Lago Grey”. Then zoom in as tight as you like to inspect very specific parts of the route, and the photos taken there. I’d love to hear feedback on this use of Google maps to provide the ability to interact with content in this way. Enjoy!

 

Epilogue

The return trip home consisted of a total of 16 hours of transit time – 14 by air, and 2 by road, with the customary layovers in between. This gave me plenty of time to reflect on the epic nature of our Puerto Natales adventure. The great outdoors of Chilean Patagonia took center stage, but it was not exclusively about that. The question is, should it be the next time. I would love a next time focused on completing the W circuit in Torres del Paine, including preparation and conditioning to a level where we would be confident in our capabilities, and better enjoy the hiking. And while I’m at it – the next time I would definitely schedule a flight from Punta Arenas to King George Island, Antarctica, knocking it off the bucket list. Definitely a next time.

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Puerto Varas – Los Lagos

I love to drive. Unfortunately, the geography of Chile doesn’t lend itself easily to driving. If attempted, the drive from Santiago to Puerto Varas would have been over 10 hours and 1000 kilometers on some sketchy roads. It’s the kind of time not available on an 8-day itinerary.  It’s an hour and a forty-five minute flight from Santiago to Puerto Montt, and then another 30 minute drive from the airport in Puerto Montt to Puerto Varas. Much more preferable than the drive, although a lot less adventurous. The flight was on a Airbus A321 on LATAM Airlines, basically the first leg of three to get us to Puerto Montt for a two day stay,  and then from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas for the part of our trip promising the most adventure and discovery in the Chilean Patagonia north of Puerto Natales.

Getting the rental car at the Puerto Montt airport was very straightforward. The drive from the Puerto Montt airport to our hotel in Puerto Varas was a meandering trek through sparsely populated Lakes District countryside on what continued to be a lovely sunny day, but a bit cooler due to being farther south. Puerto Varas is focused on tourism with hotels and restaurants all along the lakefront. This was evident as we entered the city by car from the airport, and made our way toward our hotel driving through the residential parts of the city.

 

Settling in

Puerto Varas reminds me of a lesser frequented Florida beach town – it’s touristy but not overwhelmingly so. On arrival to the Hotel Cabana del Lago, we checked in, and were pleased to discover that all the rooms were facing Lake Llanquihue, and all the rooms and cottages had panoramic views of the volcanoes across the lake. We had a cottage with a kitchenette, and a living room area. The main room in particular had lots of glass to take in the panoramic scenery.  Stepping onto the balcony was like stepping into the panoramic views.  it was just gorgeous, like the kind of scenery that can’t be truly represented with as many photos as one takes, and as carefully selected as one tries, it just doesn’t convey the same feeling as being there. The hotel was a multi building complex with plenty of amenities, including spa, workout facilities, swimming pool, restaurants, in short everything you expect from a high-end hotel. The most welcoming facilities for me were the glassed in informal dining/bar area, and the expansive terrace with panoramic views across the the lake toward the volcanoes.

 

Tour of Volcan Osorno

With the views so beautiful and enchanting right in front of me, I wanted to see the rest of it from a more intimate vantage.  So we hopped into our rental vehicle, a little Ford four-wheel-drive SUV not available in the States.  All wheel drive wasn’t a necessity, it’s what they offered at the airport rental counter. We took a tour around Lake Llanquihue, completely circumnavigating in a leisurely day trip excursion from the hotel. Along the way we stopped at several points to take in the scenery and bring back memories.

The trip around  Lake Llanquihue basically broke down to four parts.  For part one we stopped at the Parque Nacional Perez Rosales Laguna Verde. Certainly not a highlight, but the first stop in the circuit. For part two we drove to the Saltos Rio Petrohue section of the park, an area where we had fast-moving rapids, surrounded by picturesque scenery. Stop number three we arrived at a place where we could park the car and hike along a sandy path to the mouth of the Petrohue River at the junction with Lago Todos los Santos for some very cool photos of Volcan Osorno in the distance. This was a bit of a bittersweet experience because while the views were amazing, we had to contend with biting horseflies menacing us whenever we stood still to take a photo. You know you’re off the beaten path when there’s not a soul in sight and you’re horsefly chow. The final leg of the round-the-lake trek was the drive up Volcan Osorno Centro de Ski.  There were very few people wandering about as it was summer, and the main use of the facility was for skiing.  There was a self-serve zipline facility from near the top of the volcano.  But the most interesting part was wandering about, taking it all in, and returning with some hard to describe photos.

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1kqfnBqcSQvFRwoMjDJrHwFtaob8&w=640&h=480]

 

Discovery Trek

The town of Puerto Varas is basically the interior of the Lake Llanquihue facing resort complex of hotels and amenities. The interior of the town neither had a lot of pedestrian traffic nor a lot of automobile traffic. There was no need for an automobile unless leaving town as everything was easily accessible on foot. The weather was lovely mid-70s blue skies –  couldn’t ask for better walking weather.  With the low humidity, we had the sensation of being in the mountains with a little nip to the air, but in reality we were just a couple hundred feet above sea level.

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1SIgXTPAY7IgjsvNgCa6Vf5LgMsM&w=640&h=480]

 

Food Scene

We kept seeking out “local fare” with a bent towards seafood.  We asked for restaurant recommendations from the concierge.  I’m not sure I got the best of recommendations as I believe the staff was put off by us not dining at the hotel. My hunch is that the hotels do have the best fare in Puerto Varas as strongly hinted by the meal we had at Hotel Cabana del Lago.  The food at the restaurants we patronized to this point on the trip was good, but didn’t rise to any loftier level beyond good.

 

Las Buenas Brasas

This place was tucked away, needing a walk through little garden to enter the restaurant.  It was a mainstream restaurant catering mostly to tourists. This was one of the very few restaurants that had an English speaking waiter.  More seafood, and it was good, but of note was the Sea Urchin roe – Uni in Sushi Speak.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when I found it on the menu.  I asked the waiter how it was prepared, expecting to hear something bizarre I hadn’t come across before.  He offered to bring me a sample to avoid the effort of a difficult explanation.  The sample turned out to be more generous than what would pass for a $20 serving at a good US Sushi Bar. It was great. Absolutely fresh. Naturally I ordered it as an appetizer, and it turned out to be more Uni than I’d had before – like accumulated ever.  I have to emphasize how fresh this was, because this sort of thing is to be avoided if anything other than very fresh.  People that love Uni will know what I’m talking about.

 

Donde el Gordito

This place was featured in one of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations episodes, and there’s a photo of him with the owner proudly on display.  It’s a hole-in-the-wall mom and pop run seafood restaurant featuring large seafood portions, hence gordito in the name. It was good, and there was plenty of it.

 

Hotel Cabana del Lago

This was our final meal in Puerto Varas before heading to the airport in Puerto Montt for our flight to Puerto Natales.  This was by far the best meal in Puerto Varas, which is why I suspect the better fare is at the hotels in this town.  The food was elegantly prepared and served. Everything was fresh, and the service was impeccable.  The view can’t be beat either.  Trying to go local for food, which is one of the things I like to do to accomplish immersion, is not what I would advise here. The local stuff was “meh”, and the hotel offering was superior.

 

Epilogue

In closing, Puerto Varas was the perfect stop off before getting to the epic portion of the Chilean trip – Patagonia and Torres del Paine National Park. There was enough to do to keep us well engaged for a couple of days. The circumnavigation of Lago Llanquihue, and the visit to Volcan Osorno was just as inspiring as it was beautiful, and memorable. And the little walkabout the town of Puerto Varas away from the touristy bits also was interesting. From a food perspective, The Uni experience in Puerto Varas will stand out as a memory for a long time.  All my favorite Sushi places will have a new mark to hit for Uni – but never to be attained for quantity, even if they hit the mark for quality.  The Lakes District, if not Puerto Varas specifically, would be a very interesting place to come back to for further exploration. There are lakes scattered all over the map leaving plenty of opportunity for exploration, and justifying why the rental car companies offer all wheel drive vehicles.  Surely there must be places where that feature would be put to good use.

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Santiago

Drink the water. I can’t give that advice for all cities in South America, but it’s good advice for all of Chile. And it hints at Chile’s tidiness and level of safety.

Having been to Santiago previously on business, I am aware from my own experience that personal safety is not a concern in this modern, youthful, South American city. I was able to order my own taxi from the airport when I was there previously on business. While this is something people living in most parts of the world today would take for granted, it’s not something I could do universally in South America, per my company’s travel policy. There are cities where I must have a private car and driver (sometimes armed) while traveling on business. Fast forward a few years and I am able to summon an Uber at the airport without incident for the 45-minute ride to the Providencia neighborhood, my home in Santiago for 2 days.

 

Settling in

Santiago is a collection of 32 neighborhoods with great variety. Some are more residential, quiet, and off the beaten path. While others are lined with cafes, restaurants, and boutique hotels. I selected Providencia as my residence in Santiago because it’s lively, walkable, and to me represents a slice of life in Santiago. Our boutique hotel is located in the heart of the Comuna Providencia on Orrego Luco street, a short walk from Providencia street. The hotel was centrally located and all points of interest were accessible by foot from there. The neighborhood is green with tree-lined side streets, where the trees looked like they might be a hundred years old. It felt safe, even at night. I was comfortable walking with my wife all over town from this location.

The Hotel itself, Le Reve, is on the intimate side, offering 31 guest rooms, with an interior courtyard that made me feel like I was in a private garden. Our courtyard facing room was peaceful and quiet, and belied the fact that the hotel was in a lively night-life area. My room was spacious, with a grand window opening onto the courtyard, had an American sized bathroom with amenities that I would expect. The bed was very comfortable – important for a hotel, and few people mention such things. The hotel was well rated on Tripadvisor, as well as booking.com, which was the resource I used to make the reservation. I would stay at Le Reve again, as well as recommend it to others.

Our quiet, comfortable courtyard facing room at hotel Le Reve
Our quiet, comfortable courtyard facing room at hotel Le Reve

 

Discovery Trek

The best way to get to know a place is by walking through the heart of it at a pace that allows for discovering the little things that might otherwise go unnoticed.  The entire trek was just over 12 miles and a little over 6 hours, broken up with stops along the way for sightseeing, and lunch.  It was a beautiful day for a walking tour, early summer in Chile with a breeze, not a cloud in the sky, and temperatures in the mid 80s — amateur traveler’s sunburn weather.

I like the visual nature of Google maps.  I could go on for paragraphs about the route and things seen along the way.  Or I can show you the map.  Enlarge the map and you should easily see the 4 sections of the trek: from the hotel (pin 1) to Mercado Central (pin 2); from Mercado Central to Barrio Lastarria (pin 3); from Barrio Lastarria to Cerro san Cristobal (pin 4); and Finally from Cerro San Cristobal back to the hotel.  Click on each of the 4 pins to see the details associated with that particular location, especially the photos. You can see the photos I’ve imported into the map, as well as other photos Google Maps has in its inventory for a particular location.  You can click on any establishment on the map along the path walked to get Google Maps details related to that place, including photos.  This is a pretty cool way to explore our Santiago discovery trek, and explore it beyond the media I had originally set aside for this post.

 

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1ZD0Q8gv_-Fvu4-i4mUKT8fx98yQ&w=640&h=480]

 

Hotel Le Reve to Mercado Central along Providencia Street (pin 1 to pin 2)

This is leg 1 of the trek, and is represented by the circuit from pin 1 to pin 2 on the map.  This was the longest leg of the walk and followed Provedencia Street for most of the way.  This particular day was a Tuesday, a regular weekday between the holidays at the end of December.  This leg of the walk gave me a sense of the pace and vitality of the city as people were out and about with their daily mid-morning activities.

 

Mercado Central to Barrio Lastarria (pin 2 to pin 3)

This is leg 2 of the trek, and is represented by pin 2 to pin 3 on the map.  We specifically walked to Barrio Lastarria for lunch at the restaurant Bocanariz.  It was a quieter walk as compared with leg 1 because it was away from the main road, Provedencia Street. A video is required to share the feel of this leg of the walk, but alas I didn’t think to take one.  Second best would be a complete Google Street View of this leg of the walk, which I made available through this link.  It’s too bad Google doesn’t allow the use of Street View directly from user-saved maps, like the one I embedded for this post. Such functionality would take user saved Google Maps to a new level of cool.

 

Bario Lastarria to Cerro San Cristobal (pin 3 to pin 4)

This is leg 3 of the walking trek, represented by pin3 to pin4 on the map.  This is a shorter walk relatively speaking, taking us from the Bocanariz restaurant where we had a fabulous seafood meal, to the funicular at the base of Parque Cerro san Cristobal.  This too is an interesting walk, and more picturesque than the cityscape encountered on the first leg.  I am including the Google Maps Street View images for this leg of the walk with this link.  This image set was saved with a resolution of 720P.

 

Food Scene

Liguria

Arrival meal at typical local Santiago restaurant. This place was recommended to us by our hotel concierge.  This was our first exposure to how little English was spoken everywhere in Chile.  So, this restaurant is frequented by locals, and we arrived for lunch around 12:30 to find the place empty.  We were the first customers, originally thinking that this restaurant wasn’t very popular, but it filled to capacity within the hour, with people waiting in the doorway for entry.  This is where Google translate comes in handy as there was just 1 person that spoke even a bit of English.  We managed to convey that we wanted to try typical Chilean dishes, and the waiter recommended beef roast and pork roast with the help of our translation app.   The roasts were slow cooked to be tender, but the pork rib could have used some additional cooking time.

 

Le Bistrot
Classic “Moules et Frites” as served at any French or Belgian café.  This is where we first tried the Pisco Sour, apparently the drink the Chileans stole from the Peruvians.  My wife liked it just fine, but I found it to be a little on the “girly” side. I eventually switched to chilled Pisco, which reminded me a lot of Bulgarian Muscat Rakia.  Very aromatic.  It took quite a bit of convincing for the waiter to bring me just a snifter of Pisco on the rocks.  Apparently only gringos like me do this sort of thing.

 

Bocanariz

Restaurant near Bario Lastarria.  We stopped at this restaurant to fortify ourselves during our 12 mile Santiago discovery trek.  This place was pretty good, the food preparation was definitely a step above Liguria.  We had Octopus carpaccio, fresh ceviche, Serrano ham and cheese stuffed smoked trout, and conger eel, shellfish, and clam chowder.  It was a big meal for lunch, but needed given our level of activity.

 

Bahia Pilolcura

Restaurant in the basement of a small seafood storefront with a Che Guevara poster. We asked our concierge at the hotel for a recommendation for a restaurant for dinner. Looked up the recommended restaurant  on Tripadvisor, and it wasn’t well reviewed and ridiculously expensive. So we found this mom/pop hole in the wall seafood restaurant, and we gave it a try. At least their politics is mainstream.  The storefront couldn’t have been more than 10 x 10 feet, with steep stairs accessing the “restaurant.” We looked at each other at the top of the stairs wondering if we wanted to do this, and decided to go ahead with it.  At the bottom of the stairs, the restaurant had enough seating for 8, may be 10.  We were the only customers.  The owner/waiter brought me a can of beer and a bottle of chilled Pisco.  He showed me where the cooler was should I need more beer.  The waiter understood zero English.  This was truly an adventure, but we eventually ordered, and enjoyed the meal – although it’s not the inexpensive experience one might expect.  The food was good and fresh, well prepared, and served as if we were the only customers – which we were.

 

Restaurant Perú Gustoso

Layover on Return Trip Home.  We had too much time at the airport on the return flight home, so we hopped an Uber back to Hotel Le Reve, dropped off our luggage for a few hours, walked around and ended up at this restaurant.  By this time we’d had enough of Chilean fare, and wanted to try a Peruvian restaurant.  This menu looked pretty good, with lots of seafood, including Octopus and Squid – some of our favorites.  The Pisco, however was Chilean – I asked. So I question the overall Peruvian authenticity… 😉

 

Epilogue

It was interesting, and we made the most of the 2 days we spent in Santiago.  It’s more of a modern city, with a few historic spots from its Spanish Colonial era. It’s was an interesting visit, and we enjoyed the time we spent there, in particular the discovery walk.  But I wouldn’t return to Chile specifically to revisit Santiago.

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