Into the Chilean fjords and over the Andes

The scenery is now very much like Norway. The hills and mountains have distinct peaks, with the lower ones shrouded in trees and shrubs and the higher, sometimes massive, ones having snowy peaks.

The morning was enlivened by a lecture from Silversea’s senior sommelier, who discussed the history of wine, supplied a taste wheel (like a colour wheel for flavour) and gave his large audience some interesting statistics. In Ancient Rome, people drank litres (4?) of wine every day. On average, a Silversea guest drinks a bottle of wine a day. Presumably separate from the beers and spirits also consumed. He made no mention of the crazy modern concept of ‘units’. 14 a day or otherwise. The group tasted three wines but TSH and Diva drank very little.

The afternoon excursion went across the bottom end of the Andes into Patagonia, which seems to be a geographical region split between Chile and Argentina and whose small number of inhabitants seem to wish to belong to neither. The scenery was spectacular – jagged mountains, some with glaciers or huge patches of snow and almost sheer rock faces. The road was a bit white-knuckle for Diva in places but both survived the experience.

A late return to Silver Spirit meant that dinner was pizzas and salads in the suite accompanied by the pink welcome champagne which was so far untouched.