This article continues my extended story of our cruise on the South America and Chilean Fjords on the Viking Jupiter in January 2023 with our day in Punta Arenas. The introductory article in this series can be found here.
Punta Arenas is the world’s southernmost city with more than 100,000 inhabitants and claims the title of southernmost city in the world. It also is said to be the coldest coastal city in South America, which bearing in mind the weather on the previous day at the Amalia Glacier, that could well be true!
We had chosen the included tour in this port, which was simply a walking tour of the city, but it actually turned out to be pretty interesting and there was also time in the afternoon for another stroll around the waterfront with my telephoto lens to capture some of the wildlife in the area. It was actually dry and a bit sunny this day although I’m not sure what the weather on the optional tours into the interior was like that day.
There are some really interesting wall murals along the promenade, some of which are not that obvious at first glance. This welcoming building housing the local vet was one:
And a closer look:
And just a little further along the road was this extensive wall mural depicting life in Punta Arenas in earlier years. I did some “repairs” to this photo to fill in some missing pieces.
Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese explorer passed close to the present site of the city in 1520 when he was circumnavigating the Earth for Spain and there is a magnificent statue to him on the waterfront:
Our guide was very knowledgeable about the history and the city and clearly well known locally, as we got a private tour of the Opera house as we just happened to be passing when the curator was opening the door. Magnificent inside! We were then off to the main square and the Roman Catholic church with this very beautiful interior:
From there we climbed higher in the city for a panoramic view of the port with the Viking Jupiter docked on the pier. One thing about this South America cruise – you are not likely to meet other tourists from other ships!
As I mentioned earlier, the sunny afternoon welcomed me back into the city to stroll about on my own. It felt a very safe place to wander with the main downtown area and square being a few blocks away from the coastline. Just along from the ship was a monument to the famous Antarctic expedition led by Ernest Shackleton pointing the way to Antartica (and our ship!)
And just behind him, you can see the ruins of an older pier jutting out into the ocean. This was the home to thousands of Imperial Cormorants resting before flying back out to sea.
I was also fascinated and amused by this little group that seemed to all have a mind of their own and ignoring the presence of everyone else!
And, with that, I made my way back to the ship, passing by this magnificent antique clock and meteorological station at the entrance to the pier.
Our journey continues with Glacier Alley and the arrival in Ushuaia in Argentina
