It’s a strange name, Ushuaia, which means deep bay.. It is located on the Tierra del Fuego archipelago and as the world’s southernmost city, it’s often referred to as “The End of the World.”
The city is over 135 years old and has a population of 82,615.
We arrived in port at noon after spending a spectacular morning cruising through the Beagle Channel.
The port had several smaller expedition ships that go to Antarctica, but we took a different course than other large cruise ships.
The city is surrounded by impressive mountains.
We walked a little way into town and saw the monumento antiguos pobladores.
I also found a bit of street art!
We booked a tour with Terramar Turismo. It included the End Of The World Train and Tierra del Fuego National Park. The ship offered this for $219 per person and our tour was $130 per person with 18 people max. We had 11. A very good size.
They were so cute how could you not book a tour!
Our tour guide Anita was excellent. She was very informative and easy to understand! Our bus took us to the train depot!
This train has an interesting history. It was originally 25 kilometers and began operating in the 1800s transporting prisoners and supplies. Ushuaia was a penal colony.
The Ushuaia prison operated as such until 1947. With the closure of the prison, the train stopped operating a few years later. In 1994 it reopened for tourists. Of course, the three locomotives are replicas of the original ones and are all steam locomotives.
On the route we saw beautiful mountains, what appeared to be wild horses and a waterfall.
The train departs from The End of the World station, a former prison embankment, and ends at the Tierra del Fuego National Park.
Our conductor spoke in Spanish and English.
We arrived at the National Park and spent a few hours taking short hikes and seeing beautiful lakes.
We took a short loop hike on a boardwalk
It started raining a little and the weather was growing colder. Along the way, we saw camp sites and geese.
Some of the area looked so much like the coast of Maine although the mountains here would tower over Cadillac Mountain.
I had asked Anita if she could stop so I could take a photo of the End of the World golf course. This is the last golf course at the bottom of the earth.
It was time to head back to the ship. It wasn’t a day of churches and pastries but it was very enjoyable. On our last leg back I saw a church in the distance!
Now we will have a couple of sea days cruising some beautiful channels!
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