Today we headed out of Santiago. We drove north west out of town and headed for the seaport town of Valparaiso.
It was a nice drive across Chile through the winery region. It's quite amazing how narrow this country is, only 100km in parts. We pretty much got a cross section through the country from the Andes to the Pacific.
We arrived at the seaside and got our first glimpse of the town. It's the old gateway to Santiago- the main seaport.
Before checking out Valparaiso we visited the resort town of Vina del Mar. This is apparently where Santiagons go for their summer holidays. There's some nice buildings and a nice beach culture, pity the beach was closed as it's too dangerous. We ate lunch down by the sea in the sun and had some ice cream, was nice but still kinda wasn't amazing. Was really like many other places in the world.
That all changed however when we entered Valaparaiso - the city was still a functioning port town, with railroads, large boats, trolley buses on the streets, and loads of funiculars on the hillside taking people up from the commercial centre to their homes in the hills.
Was a really interesting place, something different. Old world yet still functioning. We drove up through the hills and visited another house of Pablo Nerudas; La Sebastiana. The house is quite quirky and odd, with lots of funky furnishings, not to mention an amazing view.
The hillside was quite spectacular, a wash of colorful buildings perched in the hills looking out over the bay to the ocean.
We then ventured to the area that has a UNESCO heritage order on it. Here the streets are lined with character and colour. Each building is different. The stone streets are narrow and steep but as you walk down and turn the corners; vistas to the harbor open up in front of you. Spectacular!
Was such a cool place; wandering up and down the hillside, exploring the streets and then traveling down in one of the few funiculars still in everyday operation, was really exciting.
We finally made it down to the main plaza near the port. We both really liked Valaparaiso, it told a story of it's history on all the streets. Was fascinating.
We got back in the bus and headed back to Santiago, however this was a different route. This time we went out via the tunnel through the mountain. The city had built the tunnel to solve the traffic problems created by the trucks moving shipping containers from the port through the main streets. The tunnel was quite a phenomenal piece of engineering.
We slept on the bus back - such an exhausting day. By the time we got back it was really late. The late sunsets are messing with our body clocks.
All in all - it was an interesting day.
- Blog from iMat
Sad to hear Santiago not meeting expectation but that sometimes can happen. Places get too hyped up and you expect more than they can deliver. Also keep in mind you have been on a fairly amazing trip and seen some cool stuff - hard to keep bettering expectation. Sure it will pick up. Valparaiso sounds good. Love Dad
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