Forts, Mazes & Beer.

Niebla, Chile

From Chiloe, Mac & I had just over a week until our flight from Santiago to Auckland. To break up what would otherwise be a very long bus journey, we stopped in a city called Valdivia. Valdivia is surrounded by rivers with the ocean nearby. One popular destination near Valdivia is a small town called Niebla. It’s a fort known for its important role during the Spanish rule in the 1500’s. From Valdivia we took a local bus about 20 minutes until we arrived in Niebla. This sleepy town is right on the coast – and with nothing open when we arrived, the coast is exactly where we headed first!

Black sand, cliffs, and climbable rocks made this area a joy to explore. We sat in the shadows of one cliff and watched the waves (and a group of local dogs incessantly barking at and chasing (to no avail) a mocking seagull flying nearby).

From the beach, we headed to the fort for which Niebla is so famous. There was clearly a lot of government funding for this project as there were wheelchair accessible ramps throughout the entire area. We were self-guided throughout the fort and by walking the perimeter, it’s easy to see why it was such an important landmark.

There were ocean-views from almost every spot. We admired the beach below & the lighthouse above before heading back towards town.

One of the main reasons we came to Niebla was because of a weekend festival called Encuentro Costumbrista. This festival takes place in a market-type building with over 60 vendors. What the vendors were selling was simple: anything deep-fried or grilled. Never in my life have I seen so many empanadas!! There was only one place selling anything vegetarian, so I eagerly placed my order before settling down to a very heart-unhealthy lunch alongside Mac & his 12 mini-empanadas.

The region around Niebla and Valdivia is full of artisanal breweries. On our way back to the city, we knew we wanted to check one out. Before going to the brewery though, we stopped at a place called Corto Circuito. This place was recommended in our hostel’s guidebook as a fun place to go for an afternoon. Little did we know that it’s essentially a children’s adventure zone and we were the oldest customers by far. Corto Circuito has a climbing wall, a (mini) 4×4 racing track, mini-putt, inflatables, and a maze. Not wanting to make a total bust of the side-trip, we took our chances on the maze. The directions were simple: find the 4 different coloured stations before exiting. To make it more difficult, you could opt to find the stations in a certain order. The former was said to take about 20 minutes. The latter (which Mac and I chose to do) takes approximately 1 hour… Mac and I finished the maze in 12 minutes. Totally worth the $4 we paid!!

Luckily for us, there was a micro-brewery right next door! We basked in our maze-finishing glory by ordering a pitcher of Valtor’s finest lager.

Going to Niebla was a fun little day trip and I’d highly recommend anyone staying in Valdivia to make the easy trek out there. Aside from going to Niebla, we spent our days in Valdivia walking around the town and strolling along the river (we even seal-watched!!). The city of Valdivia includes an island just across the river – Isla Teja. This island houses a university as well as a very large botanical gardens in which we spent a few hours walking through.