Where the yellow sand slowly transforms into brown soil and fir trees compete cautiously with tall palm trees, there is a place that only a few foreign tourists have seen, with a few exceptions. Central Chile. Here, where German colonists once placed their wooden houses on the ground, I take a little look around.
The Balduzzi winery near Talca has cheap good wine. A favorite: 'Late harvest', a white dessert wine.
Central Chile is mainly known for its wine and hiking, and I will always prefer the former over the latter, but that is another topic.
Many people avoid Central Chile or skip it on their journey to the admittedly more attractive south.
It's a shame, really, because those who dare to stray from the tourist routes will see a landscape that reminds them a little of Tuscany, coupled with friendly, simple country people and liters of first-class wine.
Winery at Viña Balduzzi Admittedly, there is no tourist infrastructure here, and as kind as the people here are, even the cutest office clerk at the tourist office doesn't know everything, even if he claims to. So it happens that you run to different bus terminals four times only to realize a day later that you simply asked at the wrong counter. There is a saying that goes: 'Good wine is too old to tell bad stories.' For example, probably the most relaxed wine in Chile. On our inevitable private wine tour (since hardly any other tourist gets lost there) at the Montes winery in Santa Cruz. Because here the Cabernet slumbers coolly in oak barrels, accompanied by classical music by Johann Sebastian Bach. While we taste, or rather get almost drunk for free with 150 euros worth of wine, we sit in the tasting room, which, like everything else in the building, is built according to Feng Shui. Strictly according to the motto: As long as the wine tastes good, it can't be wrong! Here the music plays! The classical one. This is how the wine is supposed to mature better through vibrations in the wood... The Feng Shui tasting room! Everything harmonious and after ten glasses of wine, even without Feng...Thing.... ...But with a magnificent view If you have the time to be in Chile in the summer, I recommend not to miss the wine festival in Santa Cruz. I'm just saying meat skewers and wine in the park! The slightly different open air festival! With this official glass, it is allowed to drink alcohol in public, which is otherwise forbidden. Makes sense, doesn't it?Live music heats up the wine in the blood in the evening! Traditional drum show in the afternoon Between Talca and the provincial capital Temuco, a little south of Santa Cruz, lies Chillan. Apart from a slightly overrated waterfall, a tourist office overwhelmed by tourist questions, and really good lentil sausage stew... NOTHING!!!! Nevertheless, here are a few pictures Lentil stew with chorizo-like local sausage. Absolutely!! The Salto de Laja... Imagine that you drive to a waterfall at 6:30 in the morning, and it has 'almost' no water... But the coffee and breakfast in the restaurant opposite were definitely worth a visit. Plaza de armas in Talca... Yes, there are more beautiful ones.
Pedestrian passage, on Sundays in Talca. And here... Nothing happens!
