The Adriatic Sea is rarely mentioned in comparison to the Mediterranean Sea, yet the Adriatic Sea is a northern arm of the Mediterranean Sea. My travels for the next few months will be to explore the Balkan Peninsula, not really a peninsula, and Italian Peninsula separated by this 500 mile long body of water.
For those of you who love water, I learned, the Adriatic Sea is relatively shallow, has clear, turquoise water and over 1,000 islands. Wonder if island hopping is a thing people do?
My time will be split: group tour and solo time. The entire travel involves places I have never visited, so this will be a true exploration! My blog posts are usually twice a week, however, if writing time is available, I’ll post more often.
Looking at a map, I’ll visit Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and some locations on the eastern coast of Italy. If you have visited any of these areas, let me know what I should not miss! Thanks!
My sketch below is to orient myself to the locations of the countries I’ll eventually be visiting. I’ll start on the Southeastern European side. Can you name the countries labeled B thru F? Then I’ll visit eastern coast of country labeled A. Will not visit country labeled “?”, but needed to include it for my sense of the area.
Italian and Balkan Peninsulas. Can you name the countries?
Here are the answers:
A= Italy
B= Slovenia
C= Croatia
D= Bosnia and Herzegovina
E= Montenegro
F= Albania
How did you do? What about upper right corner with question mark? Answer: Serbia
Time to travel … and explore foods, birds, history with eyes wide open and to meet people from all over the world!
Three countries, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, meet at one point, the “Triple Frontier”. Here the Iguazú River and Paraná River converge forming a natural border between these countries. Iguazú Falls is nearby.
We flew from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazú. First we visited an indigenous, the Guarani, community in Argentina. They maintain their traditional lifestyle. Individuals demonstrated their crafts, cooking, music and they clearly have great respect for nature!
He is showing how animals were caught.Beautiful handmade woven baskets.
Our visit to Iguazú Falls was first from the Brazilian side. The falls are twice as high as Niagara Falls and 65 feet wider. We walked a couple of trails to see the falls from different viewpoints. The thunderous water was falling at 2 million gallons a second! This was an amazing sight!
El Calafate was our base for a few days. It was easy to enjoy lamb and Malbec wine, but guanaco stew was not a favorite for me. I’ll post a food blog for this trip eventually.
We drove shy of a couple of hours to Los Glacieres National Park. I was returning here after 12 years and worried whether I would see no or less glacier field than my last visit. The glacier Perito Moreno is the 4th largest glacier in the southern Patagonian ice field and the 6th largest in South America. When I last visited the glacier, I saw it from the boat-view only. We had the unique opportunity to see it calving. The newly-formed icebergs I understand now have been known to block waterways and disrupt navigation.
Timelapse photos since 2020 show the glacier is retreating. More observations will report exactly what’s happening, I’m sure.
Years ago I only saw the glacier from the boat.
This visit we had a few different trails to walk and see the glacier from different viewpoints. The glacier is named after Francisco Pascasio Moreno (1852-1919). Perito means “specialist, expert”, thus the glacier was called Perito Moreno. He helped determine the boundary between Chile and Argentina with all the ice fields and mountains. Also was an explorer and anthropologist. He collected fossils, plant and animal species, and cultural items from Patagonian tribes. It was finally in 1988 the La Plata Natural Sciences Museum was opened to the public. Moreno would refer to it as the “first museum to follow the theory of evolution”. Moreno’s scientific generation is about 40 years after Darwin being in Patagonia.
Well-built walkways to view the glacier.Many icebergs seen here.From another walkway, a different view of the glacier.
We’re flying from El Calafate’s airport to Buenos Aires, then to Puerto Iguazú. An interesting point where 3 countries meet and there is the “8th natural wonder of the world”. I’ll be back in a few days. Hope you are enjoying the holiday season!
We drove from Bariloche, Argentina to Puerto Varas, Chile. We made record time because the custom line between the two countries was short. Our hyper, funny guide had us leave early enough, 20 minutes before his usual time, to beat the crowd. Yeah! If we did not take this long drive and flew instead, here would be the 3 flights: Bariloche to Buenos Aires to Santiago, Chile to Puerto Varas!
Between the two countries, as we crossed the Andes Mountains from Argentina to Chile, the paved road becomes unpaved. There we entered “no man’s land” until we reached border patrol and checked in at Chile. Back on the once again paved road. Our Argentinian may be creating some of the stories versus his Chilean friends … but I do find them similar, yet different in personalities. Anyway…. Short drive to stop for lunch, sort of in the middle of nowhere, and a visit at an auto museum in Moncopulli. So many studebakers! And other vehicles and stuff!
We arrive eventually after this long day of driving at Puerto Varas, a town of 66,000 people with a fantastic view of a volcano! Look across Llanquihue Lake and see Osorno volcano. During our drive I learned: Chile is large exporter of tulips and salmon. Main industry is mining copper and lithium. Agricultural products are cherries, plums, potatoes and blueberries. The country imports gasoline and oil. There are 3,000 volcanoes with most active 14 volcanoes. They worry when the earthquake is over 8.0. Last major eruption was in 2011.
Some clouds at the volcanoWe did have clear views of the volcano.
We had a nice hike in Vincente Perez Rosales National Park. Weather was perfect for hiking as long as you dressed appropriately. Not a difficult couple of miles hike in a forested area. Loved the hike!
WaterfallOur local guide discussing the plants
We visited a music school for talented violin and other string students. The students performed for us. It was great to see these at-risk students receiving music and general education.
Our home-hosted dinner was with a lovely couple. He is a landscaper with 10 employees and she is a physical therapist. We were welcomed with a pisco sour, talked on many topics, made our own cheese empanadas and had corn stew for dinner. Delicious Carmenere wine and dessert. We were entertained with guitar playing and singing. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet local people and ask questions about any topic we wished. Always nice to hear from locals.
House constructed with freight containersHome-hosted meal with fun people!He and his wife were lovely!
Off to Chiloé Island. I’ll be back in a day or so.
Two hour flight from Buenos Aires to Bariloche, Argentina was informative as my plane neighbor was arriving in the area for a 3 day, 18 mile per day run or walk, and camp each night competition. He has been training for the past year; very excited to participate in the upcoming activity! And don’t you know, a few days later when we drove to Puerto Varas, Chile we see the runners. I knew exactly what they were up to!
Bariloche I loved! It is the “Gateway to Patagonia” or the “Gateway to the Lake District” and the “Heart of the National Park”. The national park has grown around this town… all of it beautiful! It reminds me of Park City, Utah, USA with the mountains, a walkable downtown with outdoor clothing and gear shops, restaurants and breweries. The architecture though reminds me of Swiss chalets and some refer to the town as the “Switzerland of South America”. True to what I remember of my 2013 trip in Patagonia, the wind is always blowing. Locals refer to little wind as no wind. I walked the lakeshore and did see a variety of birds!
Nahuel Huapi National Park is the oldest national park in Argentina, established in 1922 and reconfigured in 1934. Our guide mentioned Teddy Roosevelt encouraged people in Argentina to protect this land. Glad they did!
Bariloche on a huge lake and mountain scenery
We met with a Mapuche tribe member. Their love of the land and nature surely reminds me of many native tribes around the world. Unfortunately too are the atrocities they persevered. His message: dependent on the political system in power, then determined if they were considered human or not. Only then could some constitutional changes be made. Their fight continues; however, they also believe all native tribes are keeping the rest of the world in balance.
Mapuche tribal member and our guide translating.
Our local guide provided a demonstration of their drinking Yerba mate. The cup with metal straw in the mate and hot, not boiling water, was a refresher for me. I wondered if I had kept my cup from my past trip. What’s also fascinating is the Argentinians easily pass it from one person to another to drink the tea. Americans could never imagine sharing a drink from one cup with another person; I’m sure!
Yerba mate to drink
What fun! We had a horseback trail ride. Thankfully my horse knew where it was to go as I watched 2 European hare run off in the distance. This activity was part of a home visit. Our “home host” family was originally from Germany in 1850 and ranched 1000’s of acres of land. They were very generous with their time as we rode the horses, asked many questions about their life, and enjoyed a BBQ of lamb, beef and sausage… and delicious German-style potato salad!
Our home host wearing a “boina”
Another activity, another day, was a hike through a forested area to a viewpoint. It was wonderful to stretch our legs each day we stayed in this area. We saw a very expensive hotel as we looked down from the top of a hill. On another mountainside we took a chairlift up and down. Everywhere one looked, it was beautiful and the weather truly cooperated for us!
Simply beautiful!
We spend a good amount of time in Bariloche to enjoy meals… I did try wild boar which was tender meat, … chocolate and craft beer. We also had a speaker tell us about the Nazi war criminals caught decades later in Argentina. One was caught at the speaker’s school when she was just a young teacher. It was interesting to see the magazine and newspaper headlines as she told us the facts.
There are many universities in Bariloche. Universities provide free education for all. Brazilians come here to see the snow in winter. Argentinians go to Brazil for their beaches. Many Chilean school groups were visiting now on their summer vacation. Don’t come mid-May to mid-June as that is the rainy season. Also, look both ways when crossing the road, make eye contact with driver, as they don’t slow down otherwise!
Some of my fellow travelers floated the Limay River. I did not. My time was instead walking along the lakeshore. Many yellow-billed teal, 2 ashy-headed geese and a Patagonian tyrant were now new birds to my life list. How wonderful to also see some birds again: chimango caracara, neotropic cormorant, and black-faced ibis.
I’ll write again in a few days as we travel by land from Bariloche, Argentina over the Andes Mountains to Puerto Varas, Chile.
There are many places to stop and visit in Buenos Aires. It’s a large city. Of course I was always looking for birds. I did see a couple of new birds, but I’ll create a post regarding birds another time.
We visited the first public cemetery, 1822, which comprised only of mausoleums. There was no required style so it was interesting to look at them. Each mausoleum had steps down to where shelves held the individual caskets. Our local guide shared background info about a few of the inhabitants of some mausoleums and the “keepers” paid by families to maintain the mausoleum.
They all are deep into the ground, like this one being built.
There is a huge stadium in Buenos Aires! It seats 86,000 people and holds 100,000 people. Amazing! People from around South America come here for concerts. Popular musicians may perform for 4 -8 nights to many thousands in the audience.
Bookstore: a theater was transformed to a bookstore. Absolutely great use of a beautiful space!
Paraná Delta- is as large an area as metropolitan Buenos Aires! We took a boat ride and saw the houses built on stilts, with rocks or concrete wall in front,electrical lines, septic tank, gas tanks and Direct tv satellites. There is no drinking water, but if people put out their huge water containers, water is delivered. I noticed some places had multiple filters on water they were pumping to their property. There is a mail boat, supermarket boat and many people kayaking from place to place besides the tourist boats on the water. The delta is a huge, muddy area from what I can see, yet solid enough to have all these homes, church, schools, etc. Amazing!
In 2013, I saw the tango show, so I skipped it this time. But we had a tango lesson! The professional dancers were convincing as they said, “ If you can walk, you can do the traditional tango.” That statement may be debatable, but we had a good time!
Buenos Aires was a city I visited 12 years ago; however, I had new places to discover. It’s a huge city with various architectural styles and plenty of restaurants. Known here for its beef, many a meal included it for me!
Our sight-seeing included:
Barrios- neighborhoods, such as LaBoca. This is a colorful, touristy, 3 streets by 2 for a casual walk. Artists, tango-dancing poses for your photo with a dancer, musicians, places to shop and/or eat and historical plaques and murals on the building walls.
Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo – political demonstrations are held at this location. Individuals wear diapers as a kerchief on their head to protest the disappearance of their birth mother, thus you see that white symbol on the concrete. We listened to a young man whose mother disappeared 15 days after he was born. He never had a chance to know her. His father, also a university student like his mother, went into hiding so he was raised by his grandparents. But the military raised pressure on them or they would take their grandson. It was a military dictatorship from 1976 – 1983 when people “disappeared”. Some executed, or thrown from a plane alive into the Atlantic Ocean, or cremated. His mother was found in a grave 40 years later. She was shot 7 times. There is so much more to history. Please research it, if you wish, since I cannot give it justice with this short note.
Years ago I visited the Opera House and the Metropolitan Cathedral. This was the church where the late Pope Francis said mass. He was elected Pope the 2013 night I was here in Buenos Aires. Quite the celebration in this city that night! We also looked upon the balcony that Eva Perón had spoken from at the Pink House. I did again on this visit. Of course, Evita, as she was known, also has plenty of history…actress, human rights advocate and short life but much loved by many in Argentina. I wish you could hear all the information our local guide shared with us about Eva Peron and her husband. Research it, if you are interested.
Changing of the Guard
Buenos Aires info will continue in my next blog post.
My visit to Rapa Nui, Easter Island, was filled with so much history! No doubt, I will research more about this island, in the middle of the Pacific, when I return home.
Stones
Moai are carved stones to honor a leader or an important ancestor. The amazing info to me was where carvers started their work and transported the stone to the burial site, an ahu. We visited the quarry on the island. Some stones are still attached to the quarry wall. Others were beginning their transport … maybe with 5-6 men using ropes or a rocking motion to move the stone…. some fell over, broke and still remain in place. Many others were successful in the move; yet I’d really love to see how they moved such huge stones since we all can only speculate! Let me share some photos from the quarry site:
Looking closely where moai were carved from and closer are moai that were being moved.A closer look.A moai looking up; unrestored, weathering away.
Volcanoes
The quarry was a huge site to walk around. So was our visit to another part of the island, the rim of the Rano Kau volcano. As we stood at the crater’s edge, we look down onto a freshwater lake with reeds. A part of the crater has collapsed and you can see the Pacific Ocean.
Rano Kau volcano
The island resulted from much volcanic action. There were 3 major volcanic sites and also smaller volcanoes adding to this island’s creation. The freshwater lake in Rano Kao is only 18 feet deep. In the 1980’s, a plant was found to be of great medicinal importance with transplant healing.
Birdman
At the crater’s edge, Orongo, is the starting location for the annual Birdman competition. You will see stone houses and carvings here. For a couple of hundred years, the tribes competed till the introduction of Catholicism in 1867.
Restored houses for teams in Birdman competition.
All 12 tribes of the island may each send their tribal leader, a young man, who will compete, and their families Hereford the start of the competition. The young man will run down the crater’s side, swim in the ocean about a mile to collect a sooty tern’s egg, place it in their headband, swim and climb back. They had to time their effort with the nesting and egg-laying time so as to be successful and not have a broken egg! The winners are three: the tribe, the leader and the young man; however, the “Birdman” for a year is the leader. Please research more, if you are interested, as it is all quite fascinating!
Human form with bird head… see petroglyph below:Each a different Birdman? Maybe.
We are off to Buenos Aires, so I will write in a week. Adios!
Santiago is a long way from noon Arizona flight to late evening flight from Houston, Texas to a morning arrival in Santiago, especially when I never seem able to sleep on these overnight flights!
Seated next to me was a young man born in Santiago and now living in Florida. He returns every couple of years to visit family on a ranch, a long drive south of Santiago. He was surprised to hear of my upcoming travel to Easter Island as he has never been there. He said, one can drive from Santiago east one hour to the mountains and west one hour to the coast and south for days to towns closer to the tip of Chile.
It was with great sadness as I learned of hikers who became lost and died in a sudden snowstorm and highs winds in Torres del Paine, southern mountainous area in Chile. They were in the backcountry, still a distance from the hut, their destination, for the night. Blinding and sudden snowstorms are difficult, especially when winds are 120 mph! And they were caught in the storm while hiking in. What sadness though for the families of these hikers. I suspect those hikers were doing a dream hike and unfortunately met with Chile’s ever-changing mountain weather. When I visit those mountains later on this trip, our tour will not be in the backcountry. But everywhere one needs to be ready for changing weather, thus my backpack holds clothing for all types of weather. We always hope to be prepared!
So after two flights, with one 9 hours and me wearing the compression socks, I thought the socks comfortable. No swollen legs, so good news on that front. I took them off soon after the flight. With the warm Santiago weather I did not need knee-high socks on.
I arrived at my hotel, checked my luggage with the concierge with a plan to return hours later when my hotel room became available. Amazingly I met 3 women who are on an earlier tour than my own and was invited to join them. It worked out perfectly as I was exhausted, wanted to visit places they mentioned and had the camaraderie while touring the city.
Santiago is the capital and largest city in Chile at an elevation of 1706 feet with about 10 million people. Traffic is crazy. This city is not an easy walkable city, despite my seeing cyclovia (bike lanes) and walking path beside them, in some areas where we wanted to go. Thus we took Uber to each place with a ride always available in under 5 minutes. Throughout the city there is plenty of street art. Off in the distance one can see Santa Lucia Hill. Fifteen million years ago it was a volcano. The city is surrounded by hills and in the distance snow-capped mountains,
We visited these sites:
Parque Metropolitano: we rode a cable car to the top of San Cristobal Hill, saw the large statue of the Virgin Mary, and stopped in at the church and sanctuary, then took the funicular down the other side of the hill to find a restaurant for lunch.
Blessed Virgin Mary statue on the hillChurch on the side of the hillFunicular coming up as we went down
For lunch I had … let me simply provide photos below. It was tasty and too many fries, but perfect timing as I was hungry. The price is $8.990 which is almost 9 thousand Chilean pesos, about 9 USA dollars.
Menu item and my choiceHere was the tasty meal, but way too many fries!
Thankfully for me in my exhaustion, I bought some Chilean money from my new friend who had gotten too much Chilean money. Even for my single fifty dollar USA bill, I now had a stack of one and two thousand Chilean bills. Each thousand Chilean bill is worth one USA dollar.
We also visited Pueblito Los Dominicos where many handicrafts are made and sold by local artisans. As you walk around the many, many shops you do feel as though you are in a traditional village. I did find my first new bird for Chile here! An Australian thrush which at first glance I thought was a robin. It’s a common bird as are the noisy monk parakeets. But the austral blackbird was the next new bird for my life list.
A note re my blog: I usually write two times per week. However, I may add more per week to share my adventures with you. So, I’ll be flexible and I hope you enjoy my notes.
Chilean wines were on my pre-trip checklist … all things to do before I leave home! I decided to try a couple Chilean wines. Will I enjoy the coastal to mountain range wines or enjoy those from the foothills of the Andes Mountains? Must do my research!
Two wines were purchased at our local Total Wine store. A 2022 Carmen Gran Reserva -cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc and a 2021 Vistamar Bordevalle Reserva – malbec. My taste buds love these wine tasting opportunities!
Carmen Gran Reserva
The Carmen Winery is the oldest Chilean winery, named in honor of the founder’s wife in 1850. The Gran Reserva wine has grapes grown in the Maipo Valley which boasts a Mediterranean-type of climate and soils with great drainage and moisture retention. It appears to be a valley south of Santiago. The company does have 4 other valleys where their grapes are grown. The Maipo Valley is large. I liked the wine; smooth, not acidic, and tasty. Wonder if I will find this wine while on my trip. No doubt, I will be looking for it!
Vistamar Bordevalle Reserva
The Vistamar malbec is an easy-drinking wine. Thanks to the grape originally coming from the Bordeaux region of France to South America in 1850. This Bordevalle Reserva comes from the Maule Valley located between the Pacific Coast and the Andes Mountain Range. This valley appears smaller than the Maipo Valley. This grape is often a blending grape. I recall my 2013 visit to Argentina enjoying a glass of malbec wine with each meal. Now I’ll try malbec wine in Chile also!
Yes, To Visit a Chilean Winery!
Is there ever a wine I did not enjoy? Yes; however, I am hoping to find more good wines to enjoy and sip with a meal each night on this trip! We will visit a Chilean winery, Cousiño Macul. I checked their website and was fascinated with their sustainability efforts. Their liquid industrial waste plant uses bacteria treatment so the waste is transformed into irrigation water. Compost converts organic waste into fertilizer. They recycle plastic, cardboard, glass, paper and aluminum with local facilities. The installed solar panels mitigate the annual emission of 200 tons of carbon dioxide into the air … equivalent to them planting more than 5 thousand trees. Besides wine tasting while visiting here, I will want to hear about these efforts.
More to learn though. I need to discover more about the Carménère grape since it is no longer produced in Bordeaux, yet more popular in Chile. Anyone know anything about that grape? Or Carménère wine? Let me know, thanks! In the meantime, I will try to find out while in Chile! “Chao”! … is the standard farewell, not “ciao” … lots to learn!:)
Beginning December 1, my travel blog on trip begins…😃… will write more often then… adiós!
