Punta Arenas, Chile

After passing through large number of Chilean fjords, we arrived to the most southern city in Chile.
We have been in Punta Arenas in 2018 and in 2020.
Today, four of us (us plus another couple) decided to hire a taxi, go for a ride and then walk for an hour or so.
We took a shuttle from the cargo port to the center of the city. There is also commercial port, but the bigger Oceania ship Marina was in the port.
The shuttle brought us to the center of the city and we started to look for taxi. We found a taxi, but the challenge was to fit our wheelchair in a tiny trunk. I had to take the wheelchair apart to the last small part.
The next challenge was to explain what we want. The taxi driver did not speak any English and non of us spoke Spanish.

Our first stop was observation point.
Then we visited Cemeterio Municipal Sara Braun. It is a huge 4 hectares cemetary build in 1923.
Sara Braun was a Latvian-born Chilean businesswoman who became one of the principal employers in Patagonia. After emigrating with her family from the Russian Empire to escape persecution because of their Jewish heritage, the family toured Europe and then looked for work in Argentina and Paraguay, before moving to Magallanes, now known as Punta Arenas, in 1874.
The next stop was the Nao Victoria Museum. The museum's goal is to be interactive and offer its visitors the experience of interacting with replicas of the ships that contributed to the discovery of the area, colonization of the territory, or have a special and historic heritage significance for the Magallanes Region of Chile.
Nao Victoria, was part of the fleet commanded by Ferdinand Magellan that discovered the waterway around southern tip of the South American continent.
Another replica is Ancud, the ship that, was under an 1843 mandate of the President of Chile, Manuel Bulnes, claimed the Strait of Magellan on behalf of Chile's newly independent government, building Fort Bulnes.
Unfortunately, we could not spend more time there. It was very cold and started to rain and our taxi was waiting for us.
We were getting outside the gate of the museum when I saw a couple we met in 2017 on Insignia and became very friendly. They happen to be in Punta Arenas for a day on another Oceania cruise ship. That was wonderful!
Back in the taxi, we drove some more and then got back to the center of the city. We were prettier cold and decided to spend some time in a coffee shop.
We had a delicious coffee and a muffin, found our shuttle and were back on the ship by 2:30pm.
We are trying to warm up before dinner in a specially restaurant.Read more