From the open air Museum of Memories (Museo Del Recuerdo) our next stop on our short excursion while in Punta Arenas was to the city’s public cemetery. This was the second cemetery with above ground tombs that we’d visited on our South American cruise aboard Star Princess and while La Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires had more historical interest for us initially this Chilean cemetery was far more attractive-looking and arguably had a higher proportion of important figures buried within it, not least of whom being that of Sara Braun who donated the land for it.
As with other places that we visited in South America on this cruise there were a number of dogs, whether stray or simply part of the scenery. They seemed well looked after and content.
As a group we stayed with our guide and I made sure to not wander off too far when snatching photographs of the attractive cemetery. While the grounds weren’t huge there were quite a lot of tour groups shuffling around and looking at the Chilean national monument and it would have been quite easy for me to lose track of which particular gathering of coat-wearing Americans and Australians (for the most part) I was with.
Both La Recoleta and Punta Arenas Cemetery feature in a list of most beautiful cemeteries in the world compiled by CNN Travel.
