Valdivia January 2011: Spanish Forts and Chilean Beer!

We said in our last post that we would start looking back at our older photos - in this post we're travelling back in time to January 2011 when we were down in the South of Chile. We posted a few photos in this summary (which was all we had time for), but we want to go back and post about a few things we previously alluded to in more detail. So this is the first of those posts - we'll show you some more photos of the tranquil city Valdivia and the surrounding area, and talk a little about an important related topic: the awesomeness that is Chilean beer!

Valdivia is quite different from most of the Chilean cities we have visited, although it's fair to say that once you get out of the central part of Chile everywhere has its own unique feel. Valdivia has a Northern European feel to it, very civilised, hosting the prestigious Universidad Austral, and with a beautiful wide river flowing through the city. Contrasted with Santiago's Rio Mapocho the three rivers that converge on Valdivia are incredibly beautiful and unpolluted. We weren't too surprised to find that rowing is popular down here.

a friendly sealion

that's how they scratch

Here's a few pics of the riverside market:

mmm, seabass

purple cauliflower

The best thing to do down in Valdivia is to explore the river estuaries on the river taxis - Valdivia sits on the confluence of three great rivers, and the islands and coasts are dotted with small settlements and ruined Spanish forts. More archaeology times! If anyone reading this ever goes there, you don't really need an organised tour, just get a taxi or bus down to Niebla, and get on the excellent river taxi service...

copy of the old map of the river estuary showing the Spanish forts

river taxi

arriving at Isla Mansera

Struan helping a local with her TV

We had a good explore of Isla Mancera, our first stop:

Back in the 18th century the island was an important element of the Spanish defence and trading system in the estuary, and was populated more heavily than now. The photo below is the old colonial Plaza, previously paved and with surrounding buildings - honest.

But the archaeology is there if you have a root around (click on the photo to expand if you need):

More cool little houses and blue sky:

Being the south of Chile, the weather around here seems to change every few minutes - you can see the grey clouds gathering here, making the sky go from vibrant blue to a dull grey in a few minutes, then onto the inevitable rain.

essential Valdivia kit

Now time for a fort, Castillo San Pedro de Alcantára, built in 1645:

Struan in front of the view from the main battery

the door to the powder magazine

Anna waiting for the river taxi

back on the river taxi

another river taxi going the other way

arriving at the next port

At the next stop, a village called Corral, we had some food, amazing seafood!

all sorts of good stuff on offer

seafood empanadas - yum!

Struan with a chupe de jaiba

while we were eating the re-enactment crew marched past

After lunch we headed off to the next fort, a walk along the coast from the village...

taken over by sheep

Then later back to the place we started, the village of Niebla, where we had a look at the really well preserved fort.

this is a furnace next to the cannon battery so they could make cannon balls right there

The modern lighthouse and some views across the estuary with a clear sky:

this fort used the natural promontary as part of its wall, here you can see man-made merging into natural

After all that, it was time for some relaxing, and where better than ...

Kunstmann is a well-known higher end Chilean beer, the brewery is based in Valdivia and was originally founded by German immigrants. The brewery museum and bar is just outside Valdivia:

remember it's january, those xmas baubles are beer barrels...

Obviously Chile is known for its excellent wine. But less well known is that Chile also makes some awesome beer, stuff that can match most mass-produced Belgian or German beers. That's not surprising when you know that Valdivia and the area south down to Puerto Montt were settled by German immigrants invited over by the Chilean government after Chilean independence from Spain. They came in large numbers partly due to economic problems in Germany - crop failures similar to those in Ireland in the 1840's, you know, the Potato Famine. The Germanic populations in Chile and Argentina retained something of their cultural and ethnic homogenity - which is not hugely surprising when you realise that, aside from the small number of indigenous people and descendants of Spanish conquistadores in the region, in the 19th century the northern European immigrants were the population of this part of Chile. That said, there's an awesome picture of one of the first documented German settlers in Patagonia in the musuem in Punta Arenas: wild eyed with a huge beard, looking like Gandalf, with his Mapuche wife and children.

The German colonial museum, maintained by the Universidad Austral, is housed in one of the grandest original Casas Patroniales in Valdivia (more of which in our next post): Casa Anwandter. This house belonged to the first beer brewer in Valdivia, a German pharmacist, Karl Anwandter, who left Germany after the failed revolution in 1848. In 1851 he set up a brewery in Valdivia which, by the turn of the 19th century, became the largest brewery in South America.  

the original Anwandter Brewery in Valdivia

inside the Kunstmann bar

a massive tube of beer!

We try not to take photos directly of people we don't know too often - obviously it's just rude - but the difference in the look of many of the people around here in Valdivia (particularly the rural parts) is quite striking. Chile's population is pretty homogenous, a recognisable mix of southern European and indigenous (Mapuche, Atacameño etc) - what you might expect from South America given its history overall.

like this lil' lady we met back in September

Because of the mix of European immigration to Chile, you will always see people who don't fit this description, but on the whole that's like one in fifty people* you'll see with say blonde or red hair (to be distinguished from what we call "Chilean Rust" - the colour that the naturally dark southern European or indigenous hair pigment goes when ferociously attacked with bleach, currently very fashionable here), or totally European facial features.

* Entirely made-up statistic

Around Valdivia there are many more people who, put simply, look German, and not very much like the majority of Chileans. We got this photo on one of the islands in the river estuary, a lovely family who were being visited by someone on the same boat as us.

We're not suggesting for a second that there's a sort of The Village style isolated community down here, but certainly we have found it's relatively unusual in Chile to see families where everyone is northern European looking, so it's something worth mentioning. Anyway, it's good that the Germans made it down here, because they have left an amazing legacy of beer and architecture (more on the latter in our next post). Back to the beer...

Kunstmann brews a selection of ales ranging from the very blond to something like a stout. One of these is the "Kunstmann Anwandter", a beer which celebrates the German brewer we mentioned above. Here's the tasting option from the Kunstmann selection (not a giant person serving pints to other giants):

They're all good, a particular favourite of Anna's is the honey brew:

a classic advert for kunstmann miel - yum!

tasty!

it's beer... ice-cream

This is as good an opportunity as any to discuss Chilean beer more generally, so we'll include a few pics that were taken elsewhere. There's plenty to choose from, and it's defo one of the things we've been most impressed with, and will miss when we're back in the UK. Then again, we miss European beers here, so it's swings and roundabouts. 

At the lower end of the mass-market, you have Cristal, a huge brand which sponsors all of the major domestic football teams in Chile (and even, as we described in a previous post, a music festival at which they didn't even sell any beer). It's blond lager, good enough, and drunk by the jugload in Santiago.

Cristal at the football stadium

Valparaiso

Anna's mum with a nice big glass of Cristal in Valparaiso

Anna clutching a Cristal, grinning

The other ubiquitous Chilean beer brand is Escudo, very similar to several familiar Spanish beers like Estrella or Cruzcampo. Again, look around Bellavista in Santiago any night of the week and you'll see people drinking this by the jug load.

Struan in the Irish bar in Bellavista - yes that is a pint glass...

Another Chilean beer that we've drunk plenty of since we've been here is Kross Golden Ale, a couple of the bars we like serve this, including the awesome The Clinic (the bar related to the satirical magazine we mentioned in a previous post). It has a bit more to it in terms of flavour than the standard beers. 

Back down south... the tasty Black Neck Swan, a dark beer that we've only seen in Valdivia. We'd love to have that again...

Looking further south, the Chilean beer that in our opinion maybe just pips them all, or perhaps draws with Kunstmann, is Cerveza Austral! Like Kunstmann, Austral has a range of beers which are basically all good, with a deep flavour very similar to some good German/ Austrian or Belgian beers. In Struan's opinion you can't go wrong with an Austral Calafate. The secret of course is that it's brewed all the way down on the Magellan Strait in Punta Arenas, using the purest water in the world. Even the Coca-Cola in Patagonia tastes better - all the ingredients are the same, except the water... 

So if anyone wants to take our recommendations for Chilean beers then you've got the names. One related bit of trivia is that "pub" is one of the many English words that have crept into Chilean Spanish. Pronounced "Pav", it seems to refer to any kind of drinking hole so, although Chilean pubs don't look much like British ones, they have the concept right.

Yum, beer!

After that diversion, back to Valdivia - here's the beginnings of a sunset over the river: 

Now a couple of other places we visited while we were in Valdivia, a good way to demonstrate the contrast between its traditional Northern European heritage, and the modern university town that it is now. First an awesome Austrian-style coffee house, and its neighbouring chocolate shop. Complete with sachertorte!

sachertorte chilean style

Now something totally different - a cafe/ bar in an old house, where we ate massive sandwiches.

shabby chic

Anna considering her options

Anna still.... considering her options...

she got this monster!

woah

Struan's meaty cheesy delight

From our pictures, and memories, it seems that there were no dogs in Valdivia, or at least none that we managed to catch on camera. So here's the duck that lived at our hostel, and Struan lounging around watching it.

Chao!

quack