Wednesday December 26th 2018
Not much to say for this day, just flying. From Milan to Rome and then from Rome to Buenos Aires.
Thursday December 27th 2018
We land early in the morning (around 5am) and a driver takes me to my hotel, Hotel Two. The hotel is in good position, pretty central and nice. My room is already available, so I take a break there, get breakfast and start to visit the city. I walk around the hotel to Plaza de Mayo, where there are the most important buildings: the cathedral (it’s open, I can visit it), the “Casa Rosada” (the seat of the Argentine national government and house of the president’s office), the Museo del Cabildo. From here I walk a bit in the pedestrian streets and up to Plaza S. Martin. To get back the hotel, I walk in Avenida 9 de Julio (a very large street, one of the largest in the world). Walking there I see the Teatro Colon and the Obelisco.
Back to the hotel for a short break and then a quick lunch. In the afternoon I have a tour of the city with the bus. I expected something better, they skipped the main square, but it was ok because I saw some other areas of the city. The first stop is at Cementerio de la Recoleta where there are tombs of many famous people.
Then by bus we see the University, Floralis Generica (a sculpture) and the embassies area. We stop at La Boca to see the stadium and to Caminito, with its coloured buildings. Going back to the city center, we stop at the harbour area. Here we see many restaurants and pubs, and the Puente de la Mujer (by Calatrava). Back to the hotel. For dinner I go with other italians again to the harbour area (by taxi), and after dinner back to hotel. Tomorrow morning I will have to get up early.
Friday December 28th 2018
Patagonia, I’m coming! Wake up early, at 2 am they come to take me to the airport. The plane land at 7am, in Trelew. Here we enter Patagonia. We have to wait some hours, so they take us to our hotels in Puerto Madryn, where we take a little break, and then they take us back to Trelew airport (to get other people). By bus we reach Punta Tombo where we spend a lot of time to see the penguins.
They are everywhere and sometime people have to stop to let them walk. For lunch (late) we have a sandwich at the entrance of the site. In the late afternoon, we are back to the hotel.
I have some time to see the city, do some shopping and have dinner. It’s my first day in Patagonia, and I start to notice how big everything is here.
Saturday December 29th 2018
After breakfast they pick up us at the hotel to explore the Valdes Peninsula. It’s pretty far and we will have to stay on bus for many kilometres (a bit too many for me). We take a short break at the visitor center and then a longer stop at Puerto Piramides. Here it would be possible to take a cruise to see whales, but it’s not anymore the right season, so I decide (like other people) not to go for it.
I spend some time walking around the small town and along the beach. The colours are very nice. When the other people come back from the cruise, they say they didn’t see any whale (just some dolphins). Later we stop to a viewpoint to see some dolphins (but nothing compared to Punta Tombo), and then we reach Punta Delgada. Here we should have lunch, but there are too many people. So we see first the sea elephants and then (once again late) we have lunch (not really good, but it’s the only place to eat something). Back to the bus, we have to drive back all the way to Puerto Madryn. We reach it in the late afternoon. I have dinner in the same place of the previous day.
Sunday December 30th 2018
In the morning we go to the airport. The plane will take us to Ushuaia, called “Fin del Mundo” (end of the world). It’s the most southern city in the world and also the Southern spot of Patagonia I will visit. The weather is cloudy but better than expected (the forecasts said snow).
So they offer us to change the order of the excursions and do today (instead of tomorrow) the navigation in the Beagle Channel. Here we see some more animals like cormorants and sea lions. And at the end of the tour one of the symbols of this place, the lighthouse “Les Eclaireurs”. Now we should return to the city, but the captain take us a further more, because there are 2 whales swimming there. We spend some time to look at them, then we are back to the harbour. In the evening dinner and some walk around the city.
Monday December 31st 2018
Today it’s sunny, better than yesterday. They pick up us at the hotel and take us to the National Park “Tierra del Fuego”. Here we see some spots and we walk a bit, mainly in 3 spots: in a wood, at Bahia Lapataia and near a lake. At the end we are given the chance to take the train “Fin del Mundo”. It seems a bit too touristic, so we decide for not going to it (some people go and they don’t seem satisfied at the end). In the meanwhile we have lunch.
When we are back to Ushuaia it’s still early. I would like to go to Laguna Esmeralda, but it’s too late, the last bus already left. So I have to change my plans. Another place I planned to see is the Martial Glacier. At the beginning I think to walk there from the city, but after a while I notice it’s too far. I take a taxi. At this moment I think to be lazy, but later I will see this choice was really good. The taxi take me to the skilift. It’s not working because it’s summer.
From there I walk on the ski track up to the starting point of the skilift. This was my goal, but as I took a taxi, I can walk some more. So I continue for around 45 minutes to reach the glacier. The landscape is stunning, the weather is good. I’m happy to be here. While I go back to the skilift (to take a taxi to go back to the hotel, an hailstorm starts. Incredible, half an hour before it was sunny and hot. I take some relax at the hotel. Later I search for a place to have dinner. It’s an hard work. Many restaurants are closed. There isn’t any celebration for the end of the year here. So I ask to many restaurants and I start to think I won’t find any. At the end I find one, Jagger, where I get a nice dinner (food is good, price too). But no celebration. Then I walk back to the hotel.
Continue reading about my trip to Patagonia here.
