I spent the last six days in Patagonia in the north in the small towns Bariloche and Villa La Angostura within Nahuel Huapi National Park. The landscape is completely opposite to southern Patagonia and is characterized by extensive lakes, forest and mountains. Lots of forest. Too much for me and I couldn’t really get warm to this kind of landscape, which wasn’t entirely unexpected because I’m not a big fan of …
DetailsThe icebergs in large and small shapes around the Antarctic Peninsula really impressed me and I couldn’t get enough of the structures and colors. I spent hours on deck and watched with great joy and fascination as the ice giants glided calmly past our ship. I particularly liked these two icebergs because of their beautiful shapes and for once Antarctica also showed its wonderful light at the end of the…
DetailsTo begin my seven weeks in Spain, I spent a week in mid-February in the picturesque coastal town of Peñíscola on the Costa del Azahar. As already described in my previous blog post, the old town with a fortress of Peñíscola is located on a rocky peninsula and is surrounded by an impressive medieval city wall. A wonderful motif at both sunrise and sunset and I was able to capture some beautiful lighting …
DetailsFor me, the four-day scenic cruising in the waters of the Antarctic Peninsula was one of the absolute highlights of the cruise with the Sapphire Princess at the end of December. I spent most of my time on deck admiring the wonderful icebergs of all shapes and colors sliding through the icy blue water. It was overcast most of the time with low clouds that almost reached the continent’s ice cap. However, on…
DetailsMount Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre are two of the most famous and impressive mountain peaks in the El Chaltén region of Patagonia, also known as the “Trekking Capital of the World”. I spent around a week in El Chaltén and was able to explore the impressive granite mountain landscape during long hikes. Fitz Roy is a prominent mountain peak with a height of around 3,405 meters above sea level. Its steep rock …
DetailsA highlight of my time in El Calafate was the Mini Ice Trekking on Perito Moreno Glacier that I made one day. Glacier walks are only permitted as part of a mountain tour in the national park, which is entirely understandable. It would be far too dangerous to let tourists – with possibly unsuitable equipment – walk around individually on the glacier with its many crevasses! There are two tours on which you can …
DetailsBocairent is a picturesque village in the province of Valencia that I visited on my way to the south of Spain. The village is located in the Comarca Vall d’Albaida, on the edge of the Sierra Mariola nature reserve, and is known for its picturesque old town with well-preserved medieval architecture. The old town of Bocairent is a labyrinth of narrow streets, cobbled streets, fountains, stairs and historic buildings …
DetailsThe grand finale of the cruise with the Sapphire Princess was the day visit to Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands. Well, capital “city” is a bit of an exaggeration, because Stanley only has around 3,000 inhabitants, which we easily doubled with the arrival of the ship! In Stanley I had booked an excursion to Seal Bay. A tour limited to 24 visitors per day (at all times, not just when cruise or expedition ships are…
DetailsDuring my time in El Calafate in Patagonia, I took my time and several days to explore the Perito Moreno Glacier and went on various excursions. One of them was the “Safari Azul” that is operated by the local tour operator Hielo y Aventura. The excursion began in El Calafate with pickup at my accommodation and the bus travels around 80 km to Los Glaciares National Park. You can also drive yourself, but I …
DetailsAs part of my winter escape from Germany, I spent a week visiting the picturesque coastal town of Peñíscola in the province of Castellón on Spain’s Mediterranean coast. Peñíscola, on the Costa del Azahar, is one of the most popular summer resorts for both Spaniards and tourists with its long sandy beach, but is clearly different from the tourist towns such as those on the Costa Blanca or Costa Brava. Now in …
DetailsAfter the Sapphire Princess sailed through part of the Strait of Magellan and was finally in calmer waters, we reached Punta Arenas in Chile. The highlight of the otherwise quite uninteresting place is the possibility of taking a catamaran tour to Isla Magdalena in the Monumento Nacional Los Pingüinos. The island, located in the Strait of Magellan, is an important breeding area for the Magellanic penguin …
DetailsMount Fitz Roy is a 3.406 meter high granite mountain in the Argentine-Chilean Andes near the small town of El Chaltén within the Los Glaciares National Park. In addition to the Perito Moreno glacier near El Calafate, the rugged mountains around the Fitz Roy and its no less spectacular neighbour Cerro Torre were a place that I definitely wanted to visit. The striking narrow rock finger Cerro Torre is 3.128 meters …
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