Santiago Chile Feb 2to 6

 Feb 2

We checked into our very nice hotel (Santaigo Solace) and had an hour settle-in.  Then we decided to walk to the sky tower as all other attractions were closed, it being a Monday.

This tower is the highest in South America (600 meters) and it is an engineering marvel as Chile is situated on continental rift and has the second most earthquakes in the world.  The view is spectacular from the tower and the river running through the city is in full evidence.  This river originates from a glacier in the mountains, which we could not see due to seasonal clouds.

The distant mountains were also picturesque.

The building is open to the sky and rainwater is collected for building functions (A/C, toilets for example)

The tower sits on a 5 story mall where we ate and did some shopping.

The tower sits on a 5 story mall where we ate and did some shopping.

Then we wandered back to our hotel...tired and ready to put our jet lagged bodies into a comfy position.

Feb 3 to 6

We explored Santiago, using the efficient Subway system for four days. We.visited museums, found nice parks, took in the Andes and walked many many steps.

The Museum of Pre-Columbian art

Plaza.des Armas (city centre)

The Andes

San Lucia Park

San Cristobal Hill

Familia Sagrada

We knew we had to adjust to a new time zone and so we made a decoision to visit our first attraction on the fay we arrives.  That way we would quickly become accustomed to the new time zone and our reality for the coming 10 days.   We jumped on the subway and made our way to the beautiful Familia Sagrada which was designed by the famous Gaudi.

Whata spectacular church!!  Thanks to stained glass windows and a reliance on natural light the very air seems coloured!

Spain

It all started with an innocent search of the internet!  I stumbled across a transatlantic cruise at a price that was too hard to turn down.  As it was leaving from Barcelona we decided to spend a few days in advance of the sailing date to explore...and so here we go...off to Barcelona after a mere week to make arrangements!

Glaciers

We started out on a beautiful sunny morning heading east with the ultimate destination of Hofn.  This four hour drive was destined to be interrupted by many stops we knew as the scenery promised to be spectacular.

No sooner had we started but we started to see an ice cap on top of the mountains shead of us.

We also came across some friendly horses...

And got close up to some basalt columns in a place called the Dwarf Çaves where we took a short walk.

We travelled ever eastward through changing landscapes.

And we saw another icecap on distant mountains.  As we drew closer we discovered huge tongues of the glaciers flowing down the mountainsides and cliffs.

Just beautiful!

Waterfalls, Black Sand Beach, Northern Lights

We carried on to the east ans stopped at Skogafoss Waterfall.  These are the highest wayerfalls in Icsland and are quite wide.  We were treated to a rainbow in the spray when we were there!

Our next stop was Sólheimajökull glacier.  A short hike over a rough path brought us past the glacial lake filled with bergy bits and to the glacier face.

It was very cold.and extremely windy!  We were getting colder by the minute!  We escaped to the car and rewarmed our cold hands and legs.   Then it was off to the black sand beach.

Finally, we arrived at our final destination near the picturesaue town of Vik.

The church in Vik is in a very pretty spot.

We turned in after a very full day!

At 4am we were treated to a display of the northern lights!  We found a dark spot to watch the for a short time...the perfect end to the day.