This morning we got up earlier and headed downtown to the business part of town 'el' golf. The tour brochures at the hotel promised marvels of modern architecture and cosmopolitan life to be found here. What we saw was like home or the US. Average modern curtain wall glass buildings with streets lined with Starbucks, American fast food joints and western hotels. It saddened me to think this was the way the city was pushing forward, becoming more like a western city. It lacked character and energy. There didnt seem to be anything Unique sbout the city.
We walked back to the river and strolled through the park along the river. For the first time on our trip, Sim and I were bored, Santiago was not offering as much as we'd hoped.
As we walked through the park, we wandered through a public sculpture garden along the river foreshore. Was a nice place.
We then hopped on a train and headed back into the town centro, searching for some inspiration. We visited La Moneda, the presidential palace. The urban plaza was really nice, surrounded by civic buildings with a grassed square. We strolled some more, and discovered a series of ornate old buildings called Intendencia Metropolitana. The buildings here formed a series of laneways and public forecourts. Was a nice place. This then led us to the main mall, which again, was a nice tree lined street. It was lunchtime so the streets were filled with people. One noticeable thing here is the amount of shoe shiners, crazy! They are everywhere.
We found ourselves back at the Plaza de Armas, and wandered through past the fountains and the old men playing chess. The plaza had more of a vitality to it today.
We then wandered up Merced street again to Forestal Parque. Again, it's a lovely park, a true urban oasis, full of shade and privacy from the city.
We had a really nice cup of coffee and then some really nice ice cream at a small place called Rosias. This was a lovely area, right near Lastarria street. So far this was my favourite place in Santiago. Had a lovely character.
We wandered our way back through the neighborhood to Presidencia ave, where we then walked home.
We had a rest back at the hotel, before heading back out. We decided to cool off and go for a swim. There was a swimming pool at the park at the top of San Cristobal mountain. We took a ride up the mountain on the Funicular, which wasn't very fun. Ha! We got to the top, about 800m or so above the town. There are some nice views over Santiago and the Andes here. We were looking at maps to find directions to the pool, however we found the cable cars closed and it was a 3km walk to the pools. Disappointing.
We climbed the stairs to see the statue of the Virgin Mary at the top of the mountain.
Was a nice vantage point, however considering this place is considered a highlight of Santiago tourism, we were again left underwhelmed.
We made our way back down on the funicular train, and wandered the street of Pio Nono. It was 6:30 in the evening and happy hour was in full swing. The bars, which are very understated places with simply a bar, tables and chairs, were packed with people drinking.
We stopped for some drinks and an early dinner, well early for here. The sun sets so late.
Dinner was disappointing - Sim ordered mussels and they were not fresh. Could barely eat them.
Suddenly, everything about Santiago had turned bad, even the food.
We wandered back through the park, which we liked, to our hotel. We were saddened to think that we were bored of this place.
We then booked a bus trip for the next day, we needed to get out of town so we are heading for the coast tomorrow.
We really thought we would enjoy Santiago, we had heard so many good things. Unfortunately it lacks something. It seems that apart from the parks and the nightlife, there ain't much to do for tourists. In saying that it is a really nice place, very livable place, quite relaxed.
- Blog from iMat
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