Category: Santiago & Valparaiso

We went for a day trip to Valparaiso by public transport (Turbus). The day started foggy at the bus station in Santiago, but by the time we made it to Valparaiso, it was sunny and we were ready for brunch at Plaza de la Victoria in front of nice fountain with La Sebastiana casa museo de Pablo Neruda in the Bellavista hills above. The day was essentially a long walk parallel to the coast from the bus station at Pedro Montt, across the street from Congreso Nacional to Cerro Artilleria and back, with many side “excursions” to Cerro Alegre, Concepcion and Bellavista. We enjoyed walking up- and down-the hills, twisted side streets, colorful houses, short rides on Ascensor Artilleria and panoramic views of the city and port. We liked the murals, colorful and often complex. The streets were full of people, mostly locals minding their daily business, some tourists too, of course.

Trip to Valparaiso…

The next day was all about Aldo’s Ph.D. thesis defense at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, lunch in Lastarria, a walk around La Alameda/Cerro Santa Lucia and an evening walk through the city center.

Santiago…

It is over 5 thousand miles from Chicago to Santiago de Chile (11.5 hours total flying time, over 15 hours with connection). It all went smooth, the storm over Houston did not slow us down, we left home in mid afternoon and at 10 am next morning (Chile time) we were walking out of the metro station in the city center (we took airport bus to the metro station and metro to downtown). Short walk and we were at our airbnb on Calle Londres. The building next door, at Calle Londres 38/40, is a former jail and torture facility, used during the Pinochet regime. Our host was waiting for us for an early check-in and we were on our way to Plaza de Armas. The streets were quite empty in the morning (Sunday). We then continued along La Alameda (Santiago’s main street) towards Centro Gabriela Mistral (distinguished, among other things, by its elevation finish in rusted perforated metal sheets), and then to Pablo Neruda house (La Chascona). Stopping for lunch at Azul Profundo (surtido de ceviches, very good). Walking through Nerudas’s residence was very relaxing (informative self-guided tour). Our attempts to go to the top of the San Cristobal Hill (right above La Chascona) failed: the line for the teleferico was way to long and we picked wrong trail (mountain bike trail with heavy traffic going down the hill). But we walked around the hill to have a nice view of the city at sunset. Bought empanadas for dinner and some food for breakfast. Stopped at Plaza de Armas for a moment on the way to our airbnb.