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Live from Viking Octantis - Antarctic Explorer - January 17-29

Australia08

By Australia08,
in Viking Ocean

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Australia08 "Live from...." Rare

Australia08

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LauraS
This post was recognized by LauraS!

"Another from Australia08! Thank you for generously sharing your time at sea with everyone at Cruise Critic!"

Australia08 was awarded the badge '"Live from...."' and 5 points.

January 12 - We’re still a few days away from our Antarctic adventure, but I decided since we were already in South America, I would start recording info about our adventures pre-cruise.  Originally, we had signed up for the Viking pre-excursion to Easter Island, but Viking canceled that back in September.  Since we had purchased our own air, we decided to keep our outbound trip to Santiago in place and do our pre-excursion on our own.  We flew down on Tuesday night.  The overnight flight on Latam was nice since were were in business class, but I’m not a fan of overnight flights, so I was still a bit groggy when we arrived after the 10 hour flight.  Navigating the Santiago airport was fairly easy, but we did have to download a form on our phones officially confirming that we did not have any plant or animal products with us.  We decided to call an Uber, which was also fast, but we had to go up to the departures area to be picked up - not the arrivals area.  Our hotel room was not ready since it was still early in the morning, so we dropped off our luggage and went for a long walk, which included a coffee shop break, walks through several parks, and ultimately a mall that was back near our hotel.  One of the restaurants there had been recommended by the hotel for typical Chilean food.  Of course, Mike had a local beer and I had a pisco sour.  We were off to a good start, but that pisco sour and the fact that I’d recorded 22,000 steps on my fitbit reminded me that our room might be ready by now, so we headed back to the hotel. The Santiago area where our hotel is located is called Vitacura and it is an upscale residential area with lots of restaurants and shopping.  My first impression of this area is that it is so clean.  As we walked this morning, I was amazed at the lack of trash anywhere on the streets or sidewalks.  We were told that shopkeepers and homeowners can be fined for not tending to trash or debris.  After we settled into our room, we went out for one more early evening walk as the temperatures had started to cool.  

 

This morning, we had a city tour planned at 10:00 am.  Our guide took us to San Cristóbal Hill first where we took a gondola to the top of the hill for beautiful views of the city and the surrounding mountains.  The Andes to the East are very imposing - the mountains close to the city are 9,000 to 10,000 feet.  The snow-capped mountains further from the city are 12,000 to 16,000 feet.Tomorrow, we’ll be even closer to them because we are taking a tour to two wineries in “the shadows of the Andes.”  Today, however, we descended San Cristóbal Hill and completed a panoramic drive to see the major historic and cultural sights of the city.  Our guide gave us a very interesting overview of the early history and period of independence as well as the political history of the last 60 years.  Our next stop was in the Eastern part of the city at Pueblo de Los Dominicos Artisan Center.  We opted to spend some time having lunch here, but our quick walk around the artisan shops here revealed very high quality artisanal work.  If you are a shopper, this is the place to come for beautiful gifts to take home.  But our focus wasn’t on shopping, it was on our last tour stop - Cousino-Macul winery.  It is in the Maipo Valley, but still very close to Santiago.  This winery is a historic winery, started in the mid-19th century and still run by the original family owners.  It was a lovely spot, and the wine tasting took place at various locations as we walked through the historic wine barrels, libraries, cellars, and into the vines. This area is known for its Cabernet Sauvignon and its Carminere wines, and of course we tasted those as well as one of their dry Roses and a Riesling.  After the winery, it was back to the hotel.  Since we had a rather substantial lunch, we decided to take a walk, get some snacks for the room (to enjoy in front of our windows that open towards the Andes), and settle in for a restful evening before our tour tomorrow into the countryside.

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ehc

ehc

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15 hours ago, Australia08 said:

Sampling wine is always fun!

This is a Sauvignon Gris.

C4874FDD-4E06-45E6-BF71-765766EA90D6.jpeg

We will be embarking Octandis the day you disembark, will follow your blog to learn what we should prepare.

thanks!

 

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Australia08 "Live from...." Rare

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6 hours ago, lakeforestCA said:

We are leaving for Antarctica in a month. Can’t wait to read more about your trip and the Octantis. We will be in cabin 3021. 

We are in cabin 3052. Usually we book the penthouse veranda cabins but couldn’t rationalize the extra cost for this cruise. I’ll let you know how the room works. 

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Australia08 "Live from...." Rare

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4 hours ago, june18susy said:

We will also be embarking Octantis the day you disembark.   Have a wonderful time. 
Do you think people will be dressing in nice clothes for dinner?  I really don’t want to bring extra clothes for that.

Since half if our vacation will be in 80 degree temperatures, I brought only a couple of outfits that can be dressed up a bit for dinner. I don’t think this cruise will be as dressy. At least everyone will have to put up with my two or three evening outfits. 

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January 13, 2023

 

Another great day in Chile.  Today we had a late morning to sleep in, joining our tour guide at 11:00 am.  We headed out of Santiago toward the Aconcaqua Valley.  Along the way we were able to view the 22,000 ft Mt. Aconcaqua, the highest peak in the Western hemisphere.  We also saw the monument commemorating the Battle of Chacabuco where the forces of San Martin jointed with the forces of Bernardo O’Higgins in the war for independence against the Spanish, a battle that was the turning point in the war of independence.  Our first winery stop was at the In Situ Winery (formerly known as San Estaban Wines).  The setting was stunning with the snow capped mountains in the background.  We had a wonderful informative tour followed by a very relaxing wine tasting, including a Chardonnay/Viognier blend, a Carminere, and a Cabernet blend.  We were also provided with a wonderful selection of nuts, locally sources cheeses, and dried fruits.  The setting for the wine tasting was on an outside vine-covered patio with wonderful view of the mountains and vines.  Our next stop was about 30 minutes away at the Errazuriz Winery. It was if we had traveled several hundred miles away because the terrain seemed so different.  Here, we had a private tour.  We were able to see the barrel caves, the historic building from the 19th century and the modern production building just opened in 2010.  After a relaxing walk through the vines, we enjoyed a lovely wine tasting in a private dining room - we tasted a Chardonnay (unpacked), a Carminere, a Malbec and a Cabernet Sauvignon.  Again, we were provided with nuts, cheese, and crackers.  Another lovely presentation.  After leaving Errazuriz, we went to a restaurant in the countryside, called Juan y Media for more typical Chilean dishes (empanaditas, pastel de chochos, and porción de humitas).  I had another Pisco Sour and Mike had another Chilean beer.  After our early dinner, we headed back to Santiago.  Tomorrow, we’re heading to Valparaiso (with a late afternoon stop in at a Casablanca Valley winery).  Yes, we love wine!

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Australia08 "Live from...." Rare

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 January 14

 

We took another private tour today, this time to Valparaiso.  Our tour guide drove us to the Northern edge of the bay (ConCon), then we worked our way along the nice beaches and rocky coves toward Vina del Mar, and finally reached Valparaiso. We stopped several times along the coastline to take photos, see the sea lions, and in Vina del Mar we went by the outside of the art museum to view the Moai that was a gift from the people of Rapa Nui.  Since we weren’t going to be able to make it to Easter Island this trip, it was nice to see an artifact from that island. Once we made it to Valparaiso proper, we took one of the funiculars up where we began our walking tour.  There was vibrant street art, colorful flowers, and unique architecture around every corner!  Even the stairs leading from one level to another were colorful.  Our guide had reserved a wonderful view table at a great seafood restaurant for our lunch. We shared their appetizer specialty - razor clams topped with Parmesan, then I had a local fish with a butter and caper sauce and roasted potatoes with rosemary and Mike had a seafood risotto.  Mike had another Chilean beer and I had a pisco sour. After our relaxing lunch, we headed back toward Santiago with a stop in the Casablanca Valley for a wine tour and tasting at Casas del Bosque Winery.  They specialized more in white wines since this valley has cooler temperatures than the Maipo Valley near Santiago or the Aconcaqua Valley we visited yesterday.  It was fun to experience yet another collection of wines with a different style tasting presentation. Then it was back to Santiago where we decided to get in one more long neighborhood walk before the evening ended.

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