MARTINA'S WORLD TRIP

CHILE: Feb. 25/26, March 2-9, May 2-4, 2005
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More Pictures from Chile
Punta Arenas - still on the way to Tierra del Fuego
This house almost looked a little Bavarian to me
Located on the western shore of the Strait of Magellan, Punta Arenas has a population of 121.000 and a very funny architecture: Elaborate mansions, dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, dominate the city centre but the majority of dwellings are small colourful houses built out of any material imaginable: wood, brick stone, steel plates, etc...
This fancy villa is known as the Sara Braun Mansion, built in 1895 by the widow of one of the first and most powerful landowners in Patagonia. She contracted a French architect, who applied contemporary Parisian style in designing a two-story mansard building that contrasted dramatically with the city’s earlier utilitarian architecture.
The view from the mansion's balcony along the main square
I was the only visitor at the mansion and the guide was eager to show me around. Unbeatable highlight, however, was the fact that he let me play the Steinway piano in the green salon. Touching the keys of an original Steinway is truly a thrill for every piano player!
Those of you, who've been following my travel diary for a while, know that I have this morbid fascination for cemetaries... The Cementerio Municipal of Punta Arenas was just another one that caught my eye (and camera lens).
Whereas nowadays people just get shoved in above wall units (although admittedly decorated with plastic flowers, photos and memorable insignia of their loved ones), the older part of the cemetary tells the story of the town's founding...
... with extravagant tombs of the town's first families hovering over more humble graves of the immigrants whose labour made such fortunes possible. Not surprisingly, you can find gravestone in many different languages. The one pictured above reads (in German): "Hier ruht in Frieden unser lieber Schnucki Putzi Harald Gomez (1926-1930)".
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The left photo shows the graves of early German settlers, whereas the right photo pictures the memorial for a German war-ship that sank in a naval battle near the Falkland Islands in 1914. I was quite amazed to find a piece of my country's history so far away from home.