Showing posts with label Lago Llanquihue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lago Llanquihue. Show all posts
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Bavarian towns
Lago Llanquihue, South America's third largest natural lake, was colonised in the 19th century by German immigrants. This German heartland of the Lake District is fronted by steepled Bavarian towns with authentic Teutonic buildings. Here is a selection of buildings we found on our wanderings:
Lago Llanquihue
One of our highlights from our 2013 Road Trip was Lago Llanquihue and its charming lakeside villages. We returned to the lake as the southern-most point on our trip, but as with Pucón, decided to stay out of the towns and along the lake shore. We found a cabaña between Puerto Varas and Volcán Osorno with access to the lake, which was very idyllic.
We have previously driven east around Lago Llanquihue to Volcán Osorno and Saltos de Petrohué, so on this trip we decided to go clockwise around the lake and up to Puerto Octay. We had read excellent things about Puerto Octay in our guidebook, but the reality was a little less charming than the Eyewitness Travel's superlatives.
Needless to say, we hastened back to our old favourite, Frutillar. It was no less lovely this time around and we had time to explore the town properly. We visited the Museo Colonial Alemaán which recreates pioneer-era life with life size buildings, including a mill, a farmhouse and a blacksmith's forge. The landscaped gardens are beautiful and the buildings and artefacts very interesting.
While Daniel went out for a long run, I headed to the Reserva Forestal Edmundo Winkler, a forestry school sanctuary which has a short trail through the woods at the northern edge of Frutillar. I saw some exquisite hummingbirds in the Valdivian forest, as well Laurel trees which were hundreds of years old.
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| Volcán Osorno from Puerto Varas |
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| Sunset over Volcán Osorno from our cabaña |
We have previously driven east around Lago Llanquihue to Volcán Osorno and Saltos de Petrohué, so on this trip we decided to go clockwise around the lake and up to Puerto Octay. We had read excellent things about Puerto Octay in our guidebook, but the reality was a little less charming than the Eyewitness Travel's superlatives.
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| Map of Lago Llanquihue |
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| View over Puerto Octay - pretty from a distance! |
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| The mill in the Colonial German Musem |
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| Us with Lago Llanquihue and Volcán Osorno in the background |
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| The iconic treble clef tree on the lake edge. Frutillar is famous for its music festivals |
While Daniel went out for a long run, I headed to the Reserva Forestal Edmundo Winkler, a forestry school sanctuary which has a short trail through the woods at the northern edge of Frutillar. I saw some exquisite hummingbirds in the Valdivian forest, as well Laurel trees which were hundreds of years old.
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| A 700-year-old Laurel tree |
Road Trip II
It's summer holidays again and Daniel and I took off once more to the south of Chile. We decided to revisit some old haunts from our trip last year and check out some new locations.
Highlights included delicious wine in Santa Cruz, spectacular landscape, woodpeckers and bonsais in Conguillío, lots of kuchen in Lago Llanquihue, and a forest full of fireflies and copihue in Concepcion.
During our 3,450km journey, we visited:
Santa Cruz
Parque Conguillío
Pucón
Lago Llanquihue (and its Teutonic buildings)
Huilo Huilo
Concepción
Highlights included delicious wine in Santa Cruz, spectacular landscape, woodpeckers and bonsais in Conguillío, lots of kuchen in Lago Llanquihue, and a forest full of fireflies and copihue in Concepcion.
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| Grapes at Viña MontGras |
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| A baby Araucaria tree in our campsite |
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| Us at the Salto del Truful Truful in Parque Conguillío |
During our 3,450km journey, we visited:
Santa Cruz
Parque Conguillío
Pucón
Lago Llanquihue (and its Teutonic buildings)
Huilo Huilo
Concepción
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