This blog contains all my travel adventures around the world. Traveling is my passion. I don't do it just for relaxing, but I love to learn and be a part of different cultures around the world.
Comments and suggestions are always welcome and hope you enjoy reading this blog!
As the hike continues across different places in Bavaria, this week we went on a very gentle "stroll" near the beautiful town of Garmisch. Yes, this is the same place where the G7 conference took place recently.
We got down at Klais. The height difference was hardly 200 m this time as we walked between 3 lakes -- Grubsee, Barmsee & Tensee, all of them located in between the beautiful alps. It hardly takes 3 hours to complete the entire walk and is definitely meant for people who do not want to do a hardcore hike but a gentle walk in a beautiful landscape.
Puerto Varas is one of the popular tourist destinations in south Chile apart from Punta Arenas, the southernmost major city. It is an amazing destination in the months of November-March if you want to escape the chilly conditions in some parts of the northern hemisphere.
I had the chance to visit this place for about two week in mid-march and was definitely worth it. This was the first time I visited southern hemisphere and was really looking forward to experience a different culture and language.
However, to some extent I was in for a bit of surprise. Puerto Varas was colonized by Germans in the 19th Century and much of architecture and the local cuisine is similar to Germany. In the local bakeries and restaurants, one can get "Kuchen" and "Pommes", one of the most common things in Germany. Some of the fire trucks still have "Feurwehr" written on them and they even have a German club in the center of the town. However, most of the locals do not know German and Spanish is the dominant language.
The town itself is quite small with a population of nearly 42,000 people. It is situated on the banks of lake Llanquihue, the second largest lake in Chile. Local people often fish in the these waters in the evening. Most of the restaurants and bars serve pizzas and burgers, though there are a few places where one can have just the local food.
The view of Puerto Varas from the balcony in my room
Lake Llanquihue with Volcano Osorno in the distance
Lake Llanquihue with Puerto Varas city central behind
Volcano Osorno from one of the viewpoints outside of Puerto Varas
A nice view of the city during sunset
Sunrise
One of the prettiest views from Puerto Varas is that of volcano Osorno. The last time this volcano erupted was somewhere around 1835 when Charles Darwin was exploring the Flora and Fauna in South America. The volcano is unique due to its conical shaped snow capped peak. It is just about an hour ride from the town. During summer, one has the possibility to hike up until the snow line and during winters, this is a popular destination for skiing. There is an amazing view of the lake from the top of this mountain and it is really worth admiring the size of this lake which is not apparent from the town itself.
Volcano Calbuco (which erupted just recently in April 2015) as viewed from the top of volcano Osorno
Vincente Perez Rosale National park as viewed from the top of volcano Osorno
Volcano Osorno (up close).
Puerto Varas has quite a few museums. But museo Pable Fierro catches everyone's attention while taking a walk along the lake shore just a few minutes from the town center. It has all the "vintage" style collections of literally everything. The house has a lot of old pictures, typewriters, bikes, cars, tempos, coke bottles from decades back, piano, cuckoo clocks and many other things. Pictures will tell the rest of the story but it is worth visiting this museum.
Museo Pable Fierro
Museo
Museo
Museo
All in all, living in Puerto Varas was a nice experience. It is one of the best spots to take a break if you are travelling around South America.
End of the hike with a beautiful view of the castle from Marienbrucke
Hiking in the bavarian alps continued for the third time after a week's rest and this time we went to Tegelberg and Branderschrofen. This place is amazing for paragliding and there were dozens of people launching from this peak. It is very close to Neuschwanstein caslte and hence, we took a route which would end up near the castle bridge itself.
One needs to get to the town of Fussen by the German railway network and then a bus (78) to Tegelbergbahn which is the starting point of hike. The skies were clear and it was in fact very warm that day with temperatures reaching nearly 29 degrees C. Such conditions meant more water and light backpacks.
We started from an elevation of 800 m and our final peak (Branderschrofen) was at an altitude of 1880 m. The initial part of the hike, which was just to get to the peak, was very steep and took us about 3 hours to reach Tegelberg and another 30 minutes to reach Branderschrofen.
On the way to Tegelberg, one gets really beautiful views of the Neuschwanstein castle and the lakes in the midst of lush green Alps. The paragliders launched every minute from the top.
After reaching Tegelberg, the way to Branderschrofen is quite difficult and requires a bit of climbing with the help of ropes attached. It is highly not recommended for people with conditions like vertigo. But it is definitely worth the effort and the view from the top is really amazing. One can see the crop fields on one side and just mountains on the other. At this altitude, the sun felt really strong.
We got down and made a stop at one of the restaurants at Tegelberg. On the way down, we took a long route with a gradual descent. The route ended at Marienbrucke with an amazing view of Neuschwanstein castle.
