My calendar reminds me that 4 years ago I was in the Lake District of southern Chile. So I am going through the photos and videos shot then, and wonderful memories come flooding back. Damn how I miss the days in South America!
I just realize that I haven't written any travel posts about that region yet, so let me start with Frutillar, a pretty small town sitting on the edge of Llanquihue Lake.
今天请大家跟随我的脚步，到智利南部的湖畔小城弗鲁迪亚游览一番。这里被称作“音乐之城”，有南美音效最好的音乐厅，每年夏天举办为期两周的音乐节，吸引着世界各地的游客。
这座小城在十九世纪中期由德国移民建立，深受德国文化影响，连来自德国的小吃都保留了德语原名。满街多彩的木房子和漂亮的小花园非常养眼。从我航拍的照片可以俯瞰清澈的湖水和湖畔的音乐厅。德国殖民博物馆保留了早期移民的生活原貌，值得一去。
Frutillar is a young city founded by German settlers in 1856. One early explorer Bernhard Eunom Philippi described the Llanquihue Lake as similar to Lake Geneva of Switzerland, and he persuaded the Chilean government to attract German families here.
That's the time of the industrial revolution when some Germans were planning to migrate to America. The Chilean government then started a state-sponsored program in the hope that their local economy would be well developed with European technology. As a result, more and more Germans came to settle in this region in the following years.
With this dose of history in mind, you will see why this place has such a distinctive German influence.
- LAKESIDE -
Walking along the lakeshore, the first structure I saw was this beautiful dock. To give you an idea of how vast the lake is, I am also posting a map screenshot from my phone.
With an area of about 860 square kilometres and a depth of 1,500 metres, Llanquihue Lake is the largest lake entirely within Chile.
Frutillar is famous for its music events. Half a year after I visited this place, it became part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. It's the first Chilean city nominated, as well as the world's southernmost Creative City of Music.
Below you can see my drone shot of Teatro del Lago, the largest concert hall in Chile that offers top orchestras all year round. It is also considered the best acoustic theatre in South America.
This theatre also hosts Semanas Musicales de Frutillar, a music festival lasting 2 weeks each midsummer at the end of January and the beginning of February. The annual cultural event attracts visitors from all over the world.
From the shore, you can see part of Osorno Volcano on the other side of the lake. It's like the Mount Fuji of Chile :) and can be seen from many corners in this lake district. I will show you its close look in my future post about the more exciting trip to Petrohue.
Here are 2 drone shots from above the lake. Look at the crystal-clear water!
The golden hour is coming:
- FOOD -
Now let's have a look at the Chilean specialty I had. The fish dish Caldillo de Congrio is made of a type of cusk-eel common in the Chilean Sea.
Caldillo is the stew or broth made from mixing congrio, vegetables, potatoes, cream and a savory stock. You get the stock by boiling fish heads, onion, pepper, garlic, cilantro and carrots.
The one I got here doesn't have a nice presentation but tasted pretty good. I believe a bit less soup and some fresh cilantro on top would make it look more enticing.
I had better ones in other places, and I could understand why Pablo Neruda even wrote an ode dedicated to this dish! =)
As I mentioned above, you can see German influences in Frutillar, like Kuchen and Strudel, these choices of typical German food. I remember we had some Kuchen and empanadas there, but seems I didn't take any pictures. It might be because I was too hungry then ;) and too used to them. The completo is a Chilean version of hot dogs, usually served with vegetables like sauerkraut, chopped tomatoes and avocados. It's normally huge filled with heavy salsa. I'm not a big fan, but it's very popular street food in Chile.
- STREETS -
After food, let's have a stroll through its streets. I love those colorful wooden houses and yards spread all over the town.
Araucaria or Monkey Puzzle/Tail tree is native to central and southern Chile. This Chilean pine is their national tree and is such a common sight in Frutillar. Even now when I see Araucaria in other countries, I always think of Chile. If you are interested in knowing more, here is a post I once did: Monkey Puzzle Trees & Nahuelbuta Park of Chile 🌲.
At last, I'll recommend a local tourist attraction: German Colonial Museum. The early German settlers built these properties such as a watermill, a blacksmith workshop, a country house, and a cemetery... Their descendants decided to leave them for the museum project that shows the way their forefathers used to live. It opens from 9am to 5:30pm every day, and it's almost closing when we visited, so I could only have a quick look at this big open-air museum. If you have more time, it would be nice to walk leisurely through its garden and larch woods.
图文 by Donica
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