After a 3 ½ hour flight down from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia we were given a very short tour of the town and allowed to walk around for an hour or so before we needed to board the ship. We had been to Ushuaia around 10 years ago on our first cruise around South America. It is considered to be the city at the bottom of the world since no other country other than Antarctica is that far south. It is a city of around 100,000 people settled down below the Andes Mountains and the ocean. The city has added much artwork and sculptures since we were last there. There is one street through town that has all the shops and restaurants. We found an old partially sunken ship along the edge of the harbor which was very photographic with the mountains in the background. Down along the port area they had an arts and crafts area with many interesting items on sale. There was not a lot to see or do here, but it was certainly worth spending an hour or so walking around. Most people that come there do tours out on the water or up in the mountains. Over 100 years ago it used to be a much more important port until all the ships started going through the Panama Canal. It primarily gets cruise ships in there now. While we were there, we saw a Celebrity, Norwegian and Viking ship in the harbor along with 4 or 5 smaller expeditionary ships, like National Geographic, Quark, and Ponant, on the pier.
From here we go to Antarctica!
From here we go to Antarctica!
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