The Costanera is the seafront promenade running along Avenida Costanera del Estrecho on the eastern edge of the city. It is not pretty in any conventional sense — concrete, wind-bent flagpoles, a few faded murals — but the view across the Strait of Magellan is the whole reason to come to Punta Arenas. Cargo ships, fishing boats, Antarctic research vessels and the occasional cruise liner pass at all hours.
On a clear day you can see across to Tierra del Fuego, the long flat island that Magellan named after the campfires of the Selk'nam he glimpsed from his ship. Walk a kilometre south and you reach the wreck of the Lord Lonsdale; walk north along the harbour and you pass the fish market and the ferries to Porvenir.