Month: March 2019

A sad end to a fine ship.

In southern Scotland there is an area that used to be called Peebleshire, until 1975 when Scotland abolished counties as local government areas.

Robert Barclay of Glasgow, founded an engineering & ship building company in 1818, and and over the years it grew in size.

In 1875 he built the first four-masted, iron-hulled fully rigged ship in the world for R & J Craig of Glasgow. It was called County of Peebles. It had a cargo capacity of 1614 net tons, and on entering the jute trade between Great Britain and India she was, what we would call today, ‘state of the art’ for a windjammer.

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With the success of the County of Peebles R & J Crag ordered eleven more similar rigged four masted ships.  Each one was named after a Scottish county, County of Inverness being just one other of the sisters.

In 1898 County of Peebles was sold to the Chilean navy and renamed Muñoz Gamero so named after Benjamín Muñoz Gamero who was a Chilean naval officer & governor of Punta Arenas in the Straits of Magellan. He was killed during the Mutiny of Cambiazo in 1851.

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Another picture of County of Peebles 

During the late 19th century sailing ships could be competitive on long voyages to Australia or India. Overall they were faster than steamers, because they didn’t have to bunker for coal nor did they require freshwater for steam. At that time a steam ship would average about 8 knots, and had to call in various ports for bunkers etc.

Later steamers replaced the windjammers because they could maintain a schedule, and were not subject to the wind.

The windjammer era ended in the 1930’s.

Moshulu

If you are interested in life aboard a windjammer, may I suggest ‘The Last Grain Race’ by Eric Newby , The above is a photograph of the Moshulu the ship in which he sailed

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This edition was published in 1956 – the author who, became a travel writer, took part in the Last Grain Race in 1939 when he was eighteen. He shipped out as an apprentice seaman.

Back to County of Peebles – the Chilean navy had bought the ‘Peebles’ so as to be used as a coal hulk at Punta Arenas on the Straits of Magellan.

In the mid 1960’s she was beached and used as a breakwater, and is still there today.

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I took the above photograph, and as you can see her masts are ‘cut down’. A sad end to a fine ship that in 1880 sailed from Cardiff to Bombay in eighty three days; and in 1883 sailed from Glasgow to Buenos Aires in 59 days and her last voyage as a commercial vessel was  in 1898 , she arrived in Hamburg, 101 days out from Calcutta.

All our yesterdays . . . .

 

 

 

 

 

A ship’s biography

During WW2 the US Navy created a classification of ship as ‘Attack Transport’, which consisted of a specially built ship that would carry troops in to battle, but as normal troop ships were usually converted merchant ships, and relied on either docking or tenders to deliver the troops ashore an ‘attack transport’ carried her own landing craft so could land troops anywhere.

There is a film called Away all boats , which was made in 1956 and based on a novel by Ken Dodson, who was an officer who served on an attack transport during World War 2. The film stars Jeff Chandler, I’ve seen the film recently and it’s not bad.
Keep your eye out for a young Clint Eastwood – he doesn’t have a speaking part.

Riverside

USS Riverside

On the 13th April 1944 an attack transport, commissioned as Hull 870, was launched and acquired by the US Navy in June 1944 and was named USS Riverside.

She was assigned to the Asiatic- Pacific theater of the war, and at the end of the war spent time in Asia as Occupation Services.

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During her wartime appearance . . .

In January 1947 she was reconverted for the merchant service and sold to Pacific Argentina Brazil lines (P&T) in December 1948, and renamed SS P&T Forester.

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SS P&T Forester

She was later sold to Moore McCormack Lines Inc. in March 1957, renamed SS Mormacwave

 

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SS Mormacwave

In 1966 she was sold to Grace Lines Inc. and renamed SS Santa Leonor. Under her new name during her maiden voyage she was sailing from Rio de Janeiro to San Francisco. Her previous port of call was Buenos Aires, and her next stop was Valparaiso, Chile.

During our recent cruise on the Azamara Pursuit in the Magellan Straits, we met the Santa Leonor –

 

 

 

 

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On the 31st March 1968 at 1.52 am the Santa Leonor ran aground on rocks off Isabel Island, approximately 20 miles into the Patagonian Channels, in an area called Paso Shoal.
The vessel slid back into the channel and floated a short distance, before finally came to rest on one of a small group of islands called the Adelaide Islands. Neither the vessel nor the cargo was salvaged. The crew and passengers were all saved.

If you would like to read more about this incident read the report  it makes interesting reading.

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The end of this ship’s biography.

 

 

A celebration of cold . . .

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Fjords, drama & cold

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This blog will be mainly pictures, with a limited amount of description.

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After leaving Puerto Chacabuco it was Chilean fjords all the way.

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I’ve tried to capture the grandeur of the scenery.

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The mist added, rather than distracted from the scenery.

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Flat calm and loneliness . . .

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While cruising through the fjord we came across a small ‘growler’. Note how much is under the water.

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Clouds or UFOs ?

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Temperature dropping and you only went outside if you had to  . . for picture taking etc.

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Is it any wonder that this area is still wild and undeveloped, except for a small amount of tourism.

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Our first glacier and we were quite a long way from it . . .

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Under the snow and ice is water, which lubricates the movement as if flows in to the fjord.

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Floating ice has become much more common.

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We moved closer to the glacier . .

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Ice is getting more prevalent . .

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A picture in blue.

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When we lived in the UK, in winter we had black ice, now we have blue ice.

DSC04587rThe ship seems to be attracting the ice.

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I leaned over our balcony to take this shot of ice clinging to the ship.

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Ship’s boat has been sent ice harvesting – we must have run out of the cold stuff.

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The piece that they brought on-board by using the ships’s crane was far to big to manhandle, so they had to break it up in to smaller pieces, and this is one of the smallest, which took four men to handle.
The ice was on display on deck and the one thing that we were told over and over, was not to use any of the glacier ice in our drinks, because it will be impure for human consumption. That made sense because we didn’t have any idea what had been frozen within the ice. Cooling one’s glass from the outside seemed OK .

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The entertainment was over and we sailed slowly away from the glacier.

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Glacier

I thought I’d leave the best until the last –

Azamara Pursuit drifting at the base of the glacier – I didn’t take this picture, but the ship’s photographer did, while the ships’s boat crew were harvesting the ice.

 

Puerto Chacabucco – a quiet town

In 1991 Puerto Aisén was the main port of the area along the Aysén Fjord, but from August to October in 1991 Mount Hudson erupted. The ash and erosion reduced the depth of the navigational part of the port, so the port had to be moved closer to the coast, where Puerto Chacabucco now stands.

The ship offered various tours – fly fishing in season USD$ 999 (5.5 hrs) or bike riding USD$159 (4 hrs), Patagonia Nature USD$179 (5 hrs) – all in all we decided that we would not take a tour because of the limited time that we had – only six hours in total, and we liked to be back on board an hour before we sailed.

This port was the quietest place I’d ever visited, other than a cemetery.
Fortunately our ship was small enough to berth alongside – we did not require to tender ashore.
We arrived at 1.00 pm, and as we didn’t plan on leaving the town area, we decided to walk around the town and go with the flow.

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We stepped ashore and walked up the small incline out of the dock area, which took us about four or five minutes. It was a Monday and the dock area was very very quiet – nothing was happening, and I think the passengers were the only living thing around, other than one local guy on the pier watching us.

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The market area and bus stop. We saw the bus (a mini-bus), but it didn’t stop at this stop, but stopped where ever a passenger waved his hand – I wasn’t sure if the person who boarded was a local or from the ship. As you see it was a beautiful warm day.

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Many of house appeared abandoned, and hadn’t been lived in for some time.

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I took this because of the street sign (the green one).

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The local council must think that the population (those who still live here) are unable to work it out that if a tsunami happens they should run for high ground . . .  or the sign could be to cover council legally, as in H & S or to be PC.

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Our walk (more like a slow stroll) was about an hour an a half in total. This shows how close we are to the ship after we’d completed a large circle.

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I don’t know for certain, but I think these homes were for the various pilots who service the fjords and surrounding waters, hence the large number of pilot boats on which I commented in my last post.

On the way back we did see a few locals who were kind enough to greet us, and wish us well, which was nice.  DSC04483r

Back on board and leaning on the rail of our balcony I took this photographs, all peace and quiet.

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Suddenly this craft appeared – made me think of James Bond, didn’t see anybody and it just disappeared up the fjord that we used to get to this location.

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As we sailed I managed to catch the sun reflecting off the mountain.

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The evening turning in to night.

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One of the few local living things that I’d seen all day.

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The sun sets leaving a black sea and the outline of the hills.

With hindsight perhaps we should have taken the bus to Puerto Aisén, which was a slightly larger town, but the lack of taxis in the port made one wonder if we would be able to get back in time – isn’t hindsight great?

Northwest Patagonia . . .

We sailed from Puerto Montt at 5.00 pm for our next port of call, which was Puerto Chacabuco.

We passed a number of islands off the Patagonian coast, and experienced the majestic fjords that made one think of Norway.

The area known as Patagonia is split between Chile & Argentina, but I must admit I always thought of Patagonia as a part of Argentina rather than also being part of Chile.
Patagonia is the only place that the Welsh colonised, and in certain areas the locals still speak Welsh, and the children are taught Welsh.

The Welsh arrived in 1865 with the belief that their culture needed to be protected, because they considered it under threat in Wales.

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The Welsh / Argentinian flag.

It is estimated that 50,000 Argentinians can claim Welsh descent.

This post will be mainly photographs, because I enjoyed just floating passed some beautiful spots.

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Being an early riser has its compensations . . just to watch the sun rise.

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This is why I picked a cabin on the port side of the ship.

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All good things come to he who waits.

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A picture in blue

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We are inside a fjord – the water is flat calm as you see.

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‘Civilisation’, a small village on the point.

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Clear sky, but it suddenly poured with rain – check the the surface of the water.

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I was in the Living Room on the ship when I looked out and saw the sun reflecting on the water during a downpour, and had to click away.

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Starting to clear and the mountain in the background takes shape.

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Don’t forget we are in the middle of summer – February.

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Rain has stopped, but the wind has picked up a little. (white caps on the water)

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Nearing our destination – small sign of civilisation, with the pleasure boat.

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Our destination is around the next headland – on the port side.

‘Left hand down a bit, Mr Murray’‘ – you’d have to be of a certain age to remember this comment.

51xfiGPNQVL._SY445_A British radio show called ‘The Navy Lark’, first broadcast in 1959.

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At first I thought that this was the pilot boat, but it was a small tug that would carry our mooring lines ashore.

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I hoped that the pilot was not the same one who tried to berth this vessel . . . .

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I looked back as we entered the small port . . .

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The pilot boats – during our passage of the fjords we had a number of pilots living on board – I think there were six due to the complexity of navigating the various channels within the fjords.

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Alongside at last – the small boat that I’d seen, carried our mooring lines to the shore side gang.

I should have called this post Blue Skies . . .

 

Puerto Montt

Puerto Montt is a town in southern Chile known as the gateway to the Andes. It began life quite late, not until 1853.

For a ship’s tour of nearly eight hours the cost would be USD $169 per person, so it was research time to cut the cost.
It wasn’t long before I found GV Tours, a tour company that has several offices across Chile. They were easy to deal with, and they were prompt in answering all my questions. The cost for a three-hour tour, which is about our limit, was USD $55 per person, with the use of a small bus, driver & guide. Other people on the ship had the same idea and I think we ended up with about twelve to fifteen passengers in total.

We wished to experience a scenic drive to Petrohue Falls, see alpacas, and visit places of interest during the drive. The ship docked on time, but it was raining.
On boarding the bus I looked out of the window to make sure that I would be able to take a few scenic shots as we traveled to Petrohue Falls.

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Not the ideal way of photographing the scenery – and it was summer time.

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The scene as we arrived at the main gate of

Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park.

The park is named after Vicente Pérez Rosales, who organised the colonisation by Germans and Chileans of the area. He was born in 1807 and died in 1886.

To reach the Petrohue Falls we had to walk along a muddy track & with additional hazards of slippery rocks in the pouring rain, but one can not blame the tour company for the weather.

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This might give you some idea of the conditions, umbrellas were the order of the day, and wet gear was required by everyone.

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The water was wild and dramatic as it poured over, under and through small gaps in the rocks.

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This what we’d hoped to see  in the background, but the mist & rain defeated us. . . .

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Even in the rain the falls were impressive.DSC04340r

 

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I wondered if we would see anyone trying the above  . .  we didn’t, I took a photograph of a poster of what you can do at the falls.

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Far more peaceful, I doubt that the fish would agree with me.

From Petrohue Falls we walked a little further to Laguna Verde, which is a lake hidden along a pathway in a thick forest of Coihue trees.

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You can see the rain on the water, which is green due to the algae and minerals in the water – they do say who ever drinks from this lake will have good luck for the rest of their lives . . . I had the feeling that drinking from this lake would shorten my life some what, so perhaps it is true . . . as long as your life is very short.

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What we’d hoped to see.

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Lake Ilanquihue –

We’d hope to see Osorno Volcano, across the lake – the above is what we saw . . .

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We left Petrohue Falls and drove to a lookout point for more photographs of the lake, but the weather was still ‘uncooperative’, so we crossed the road to check out a few wet animals.

DSC04358rAlpacas are gentle and curious as to what is going on around them – they followed our movements without fear and as I pointed the camera they looked in to the lens as if they all done it before.

 

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Alpacas are smaller than lamas, and are bred for their wool. Lamas are are bred as pack animals.

Our next stop was Puerto Varas and the weather was a lot kinder.

The town was colonised by German migrants who had answered the call from the Chilean Government in 1853 to open up the area, which at that time was a vast wilderness. Many of the houses that we saw had a strong German influence.

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German Club dated 1885

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The town had a pleasant feel to it, and I don’t think it was due to the blue sky, which helped to brighten our spirits.

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We found a small market that was selling mainly clothes, and many were made from alpaca wool. Although light in weight they were bulky so cramming them in to an already full suitcase was out of the question.

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Puerto Varas was built on the banks of Llago (lake) Llanquihue. We walked along the shore line and came to Teatro del Lago (Theater of the lake). The town has a festival of music in January and February each year but when they don’t have a concert the building is closed, although we were able to walk around the outside of the building.
In the largest auditorium it can seat 1200 people and is made completely of wood. From a distance it has a stripped appearance, and at first I thought that it was painted metal, but once you get closer one is able to distinguish the different types of wood.

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Lago

Main entrance area – this part faces the road.

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View from the side of the theater

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The walkway around the theater is also made of wood – the railings are metal.

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At last a view that we were able to photograph, even though we couldn’t see the volcano. Took this from the end of the walkway around the theater.

Overall we enjoyed our day out, but must admit I am pleased that we didn’t fork out USD $169 each!

  What we were hoping for

Thanks to http://www.sharynsstudio.com for the video.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sailing & White Night

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Cast off, the voyage has started as we make our way from the dock area to the open sea.

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Some just like to sit in the spa, with little interest in our sailing, but that is their choice

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A pleasant warm day with clear sky, but not all are interested in the passing scenery.

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Even after all their years at sea the two master mariners above still enjoyed the beginning of a voyage.

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We are now at sea as the land falls behind us  . . .

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I have dozens of photographs of sunrises and sunsets, and never get tired of the ocean view, and my limited attempt to capture the right moment.

White Night

White Night is an evening when everyone is encouraged to dress in white, but it is not compulsory.

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Preparing for the White Night, which is a BBQ style experience.

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The area around the pool becomes livelier as more and more passengers arrive to find a table with friends

DSC04998rOur wives in the spirit of White Night.

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The Captain (standing near the man in a coloured shirt) made a point of visiting every table to greet the guests and make sure that they were happy.

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The ships’ Master, Carl Smith, is from the Isle of Man (UK) and has been at sea for thirty years, not quite as long as my two friends.

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BBQ meat on one set of coals and lobster on the other

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You have your plate and this line of food is just one small area from which you can fill it, I went for the Asian dishes cooked to order (not shown).
I asked one of the cooks, who was Malay, to cook me a stir fry, and he asked how spicy would I like the dish, and so I told him to do it exactly as he liked it – so he made it as such, and it was great! Spiced just right . . .

We could go back to the food area as often as we liked, but I only went back for a small desert, and some cheese and biscuits – the choice of different dishes from around the world was mouthwatering.

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The evening moves on, and the deck light come on because at the end of the meal the dancing will start.

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The three of us first met in September 1960 – John (left) & Will (right) stayed at sea and commanded their own ships. I left the sea and joined an airline.

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The crew march around with the flags of their own nation, while the passengers wave their napkins.

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Speeches of appreciation from Captain Carl, after which the band strikes up for the dancing.

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At least nobody fell in the pool – the seating, BBQ and dancing is all around the pool.

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This is the last photo as Maureen & left to go to bed – a real sign of age, it was only 11.00 pm. . . .

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But I was up early enough to watch the sun rise – again . . . .

 

 

 

 

A look around inside ‘Pursuit’

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Our cabin – it was adequate, except that the pillows of today are multiplying – one doesn’t have a single or double pillow anymore, we have to have pillows for show, yet few viewers are invited in to one’s bedroom . . .  note the long tube like pillow that spent all day at the back of the sofa, out of the way.

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Azamara’s vessels are small, and have a feel of a country club rather than the razzmatazz on the large cruise ships that aim at families with children. The above is an area that leads to a few shops and on the right is a coffee bar with cakes (all inclusive), passed the shops is the ‘theater’, which is not all that large compared to other cruise ships, but more like a night club.

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The area was also used for chocolate evening – as much as you could eat . .

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Chocolate fountains and fruit on a stick – people were allowing the chocolate fountain to flow over their fruit stick – excuse the pun, but not to my taste.

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The theater – you can see how close the ‘stage’ is to the audience. On walking in you are asked what you would like to drink . .  all very civilised.

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The audience is very close to the entertainers – the two above are part of the permanent group of ship’s entertainers.

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Entertainers joined at one port, stayed a few days, and then departed either for home or to their next ship. This singer, Helen Jayne, had a Scouse accent (a Liverpool twang), and when I asked her where she was from, it was Lythem St Annes, which is just outside Liverpool. She has a very powerful voice. The video is not all that good, but you get the idea, fast forward through the chatty bits.

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Another indication of how close the audience is to these dancers – Dima & Sasha from Kiev – we’d seen them before in 2016, but well worth seeing again with their new routine.

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Discovery dining-room  a very pleasant area with tables that can seat from one to more than ten.

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On one particular day the centre of the dining room was turned in to a presentation arena for lunch, and the ship’s officers carved the joints and served the passengers. We  helped ourselves to various items, and then the ship’s officer would serve the fish or meat dishes. Once we found a table the steward would arrive with the wine list.

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A whole roasted pig, with crackling just waiting to be carved.

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Another shot of the dinning-room as the evening meals is about to start.

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One of the stairways from deck five to deck four leading to guest relations.

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Guest relations desk.

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Another example of the staircases from one deck to another – quiet quality.

As for bars, we had a good choice – the coffee shop that I mentioned at the beginning of this blog also offers wine and beer.

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At the entrance to the main dining-room there is a small bar – ideal place to wait for friends before going in to dinner.

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Nothing better than sitting outside in the sunshine and having a drink with friends – I never get tired of watching the wake.
But our favourite place was the ‘Living room’, which was a large semicircle comfortable location overlooking the bow. DSC04527rQuiet, light music at 5.00 pm, and hors d’œuvres, hot & cold, were also served at 5.00 pm.
The Living Room was open from very early to very late and one could wander in there at 9.30 am or earlier for coffee or what ever you wanted. We used to meet our friends in the Living Room at 11.00 am on sea days –

pre-lunchtime drinks . . . .  DSC04526r

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The picture windows around the Living Room allowed one to photograph anything of interest, without going outside, particularly if it was cold. I copied this picture from Azamara’ s web site.

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One of my favourite places was the Drawing Room,which was also the library.

The picture is from Cruise Critic, for some reason my copy didn’t register. . . . . .

Sail Away & White Night to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

Santiago to San Antonio

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Santiago is over 100 kms from the port of San Antonio, which is now the main cruise port for Chile. It used to be Valparaiso, but the unions became too troublesome so the Chilean government moved the main port to San Antonio, where they don’t seem to have the same labour problems.

To get from our hotel to the port could have gone via public transport (bus), which takes over two hours, but we would have to take a taxi from the hotel to the bus depot in Santiago, and again in San Antonio from the bus depot to the cruise ship.
Or we could hire a minibus and driver and receive a door to door service . . . . no argument from anyone . . . . we all wanted our own transport.

After some research I found Santiago Chile Travel that specialises in private transport. I booked an eight seater mini-bus with plenty of space for all our luggage. If I could find another couple we would be able to reduce the cost per couple overall, so I advertised on Cruise Critic and an American couple (Bob & Donna) ‘bought’ the two empty seats. The big plus was that we would not be expected to pay for the bus until after we arrived in San Antonio, so if anything went wrong (sickness etc) and we had to cancel, we would not be out of pocket.

I must admit dealing with Chile Travel service was a dream – very easy to deal with and prompt in replying to my e-mails. For the record, in case anyone wishes to use them, this is their web site http://www.santiagochiletravel.com

Fortunately Bob & Donna planned to stay at our hotel, so we were able to meet before the journey to San Antonio.

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Happy Hour had just started . . . . .

Once out of the city the road opened in to a highway and the driver didn’t waste any time. Foot down, and we were soon traveling at speeds of over 100 km / hour.

The first photograph of this blog shows the highway not long after we left Santiago, but as time went on the traffic thinned.

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Was it because I had arranged the transport or was it because I was tall, that I had the seat next to the driver. On the other hand it could have been that nobody else wanted to be so close to the windscreen at 110 + km/ hour.

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Door to door was just under 90 minutes.

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We arrived at San Antonio – a real working port, with few frills for passengers,

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The cruise terminal . . I think the authorities are planning a new one . .

and we could just see our cruise ship through the cranes.

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Azamara Pursuit  – our cruise ship.

Originally one of eight sister ships for Renaissance Cruises – but this cruise company went out of business.
The ship was launched in 2001 when she was known as R Eight. After the company went bankrupt she was seized by creditors and laid up in Marseilles in France.

She entered cruising again as Minerva II (2003 – 2007) for Swan Hellenic, a British cruise company, she was their only ship, she later became Royal Princess (2007 – 2011), Princess Cruises , and then Adonia (2011 – 2016) for P & O Cruises, and under the same name she was used by Fathom Line, and was the first ship in fifty years of a US cruise line, to sail in to Havana harbour and offer cruising holidays to the Cubans.
This lasted just over a year, after which, the Adonia was transferred back to P & O, before being sold to Azmara and becoming Azamara Pursuit. 

Carnival Corporation owns all of the above cruise companies, except for Azamara.

The ‘Pursuit’ joined Azamara Cruises in March 2018, and after having her hull inspected in dry dock in the Bahamas she sailed to Harland & Wolff in Belfast, for complete refurbishment to bring her up to the same standard as her sister ships Azamara Quest & Azamara Journey, which the company already owned. Her ‘new’ maiden voyage was August 2018 from Southampton in the UK.

The Azamara brand is owned by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, and the Azamara Pursuit is the first major expansion for Azamara in ten years.

The Pursuit is 30,277 gt with a passenger capacity of about 750, although she was not full when Maureen and I sailed in her. She has a crew of 380.

San Antonio is a real working port –

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I took the above picture from our balcony . . . .

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One has to get ones priorities right -we’re on-board so it must be lunchtime.

What wine is it today? Certain alcoholic drinks are included in the ticket price, and the wine changes daily – both red & white – the white this day was Italian and New Zealand (chardonnay for the Italian and pinot gris for the NZ wine). I think the red was a choice between Californian or French. The changing of the wine was always something to look forward to each lunchtime.

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A wide choice of food and you just wandered around and helped yourself – waiters brought the wine and any other drinks that you wanted. I did like the Sicilian white that was on offer later in the cruise.

It’s very easy & enjoyable to get used to a certain life style . . .

 

 

 

 

 

Cerro San Cristóbal

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From our bedroom window we could see the top of San Cristóbal Hill and the white statue.

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Our friends from the UK  had arrive while we were sight seeing via the Hop on Hop off bus, so during ‘Happy Hour’ in the Club Lounge we all decided to visit San Cristóbal Hill, the following day. The hill is 850 meters (2798 feet) above sea level.

The hill was named by the Spanish conquistadors for St Christopher, in recognition of its use as a landmark, the original indigenous name is Tupahue. The statue of the Virgin Mary is 14 meters (46 feet) tall on top of an 8.3 meter (27 feet)  pedestal, and the total weight is 36,600 kgs. (80,689 lbs).

We spoke to the travel desk of the Crown Plaza and they advised taking a taxi to the cable car station for the ride to the top, and to return via the funicular railway. Our Hop on Hop off tickets were for two days and gave us access to both the cable car & the train service.

Because the UK couple didn’t have the Hop on Hop off tickets we all shared a taxi to the cable car station, this cost us USD $3 / couple, and when we reached the cable car ticket office our UK friends claimed a ‘seniors’ ticket (which we all could have claimed) and their ticket was a lot less than the extra that we paid the previous day as part of the hop on hop off ticket! We live and learn . . .

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The climb begins

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The city morning haze had not yet burned off . .

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The haze was clearing . .

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If you feel energetic you can walk up to the top, which will take you about 45 minutes, and requires 300 meters (985 feet) of elevation, or you can drive up if you have a vehicle – there is a parking fee when you reach the top.

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Near the base of the statue was a small church  . .

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Inside the small church.

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A panoramic view of Santiago.

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The statue that we come to see.

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The images inside the pedestal of the statue – I read that Pope John Paul II prayed in here, and later blessed the city of Santiago on April 1, 1987.

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Below the statue there is an amphitheater, which is used for various religious ceremonies. On the right of the white roofed stage, in the above picture, is the entrance to the funicular railway.

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The funicular railways has been running since 1925 –

the angle of drop is 45 degrees.

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It reminded me of the Peak Railway in Penang, Malaysia, and also in Hong Kong.

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Both trains stopped as if it was a Mexican stand-off – who goes first?

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We both began to move at the same time . .  pride has been satisfied

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Trains that pass in the day . .

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All clear . . . the above is the rear of the upward bound train.

At the foot of the hill the train station is at the Bellavista area, which is classed as the Bohemia of Santiago. In this area are many restaurants, bars, theaters, galleries & clubs, as well as handicraft and clothing shops. When we walked through the area it was late morning and very few outlets were open.

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We crossed the bridge, which would take us back towards our hotel, and noticed that the railings were covered in ‘love locks’.

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The next section changed to blue locks . . .

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We found our way back to Plaza Baquedano and time for lunch and we thought we’d give Blasco’s a try. It was a mix of bar and restaurant.

We were shown to the basement, which was the dining area. The waitress’ were friendly and tried their best to understand our limited Spanish, but it was all good fun.
We were offered menus in English, which gave us a choice of a decent number of local dishes. Maureen managed to get across that she required a gluten free meal, which was speedily created.
A happy memorable meal, after which it was back to the hotel to pack for our trip to the port tomorrow to join our cruise – plus we didn’t want to be late for Happy Hour this evening . . .

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