High Praise for Valparaiso

Valparaíso is a major city & seaport in Chile, about 70 miles northwest of the country's capital, Santiago.

Valparaíso played a very important role in the second half of the 19th century, when the city served as a major stopover for ships traveling between the Atlantic & Pacific oceans by crossing the Straits of Magellan. Always a magnet for European immigrants, Valparaíso mushroomed during its golden age, but took a huge blow when the Panama Canal opened in 1914.  Ship traffic massively declined and many wealthy families left the city.

Over the past 15 years, the city has staged an impressive comeback with many artists and entrepreneurs who have set up shop in the city's hillside historic districts. 

Valparaiso has a flat centre where most shops are based alongside the port but the city is most famous for its labyrinth of cobbled alleys and colorful buildings which are set 3-4 blocks back from the centre on 45 individual, really steep hills.

The hills are accessed only by walking up a series of steps, near vertical hills or by just 8 ancient funiculars (a cross between a train and a cable car, now 150 years old and as rickety as you can possibly imagine!

Another major unique fact is the huge Graffiti and street art culture in the city. On the hills, not a single building has escaped the reaches of the thousands of wannabe graffiti artists and is a draw to many international names in the street art community. Whatever your thoughts on the art form, the mix of legal murals and illegal pieces really do brighten up the place and the locals love it.

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We got up around 11am, settled in to the room, laughed at the smallest bath we'd ever seen and headed out for some lunch.

Tripadvisor.com is part of our daily life whilst travelling as it gives real, honest reviews from other travellers on hotels, restaurants and even excursions. So far it's been invaluable and this day was no different as we headed to La Coco, a small cafe just 2 minute's walk from our guest house.

We sat out in their small courtyard and ate tasty toasted sandwiches.

We then walked through the cobbled streets of the hill to find the local laundrette. It was a stunning walk and really gave us a taste of where all the locals live in Valparaiso.

After dropping off our laundry we rushed down the hill, through the maze of colourful alleyways and made it just in time for the daily walking tour of Valparaiso.

At 11am and 3pm every day, a few local guides meet in the central square dressed in "Where's Wally" stripy t shirts and offer a 3 hour, free tour of the city. It's called "Tours for Tips" so you can guess how they make their money and we thought it was a brilliant way of seeing the city and learning about the local culture and history.

Here's a few highlights and pictures from the tour:

One of 16 Fire Stations in Valpo and the first fire station in South America! They're amazingly all run by volunteers, who offer one or two days per month to be on call. The only person who gets paid is the driver!

Lauren not looking keen on walking up 164 steps, one of the smaller staircases in the city. On the right is one of the 8 working funiculars used by the locals to access the shops at the bottom of the hill. It costs 10p to ride.

The hideous monstrosity of 'new in old' building. The large corporate who were working in the ancient bank building asked the government if they could modernise it in the early 2000s. They were refused permission (understandably) so they threatened to take their business and jobs to a different city and effectively blackmailed the government into allowing them to build a brand new glass building INSIDE the old facade of the original building. In 2003 the historic quarter of Valparaíso was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a new national law named the city 'Chile's Cultural Capital' which prevented anything like this happening again by effectively making every building grade 1 listed!

View inside the tiny 6 person funicular

View out of the funicular down the steep hill

The steep hills really create a sense of community. All the locals live on the hills and, as it's such a mission to get into the flat area (town) and back again, locals will chat with neighbours every day and do shops for each other. I was slightly jealous of their friendly community and berated myself for not making more effort to get to know my own neighbours at home.

The reason Valparaiso needs so many fire stations is because the network of thousands of alleyways are not easily accessible. Also, their electric cables are dangerous at best. This is a typical sight on EVERY street: Overhead cables tied in knots. They often cause house fires.

One of the largest murals in Valparaiso painted by internationally acclaimed street artist "INTI".

A view of the hills from a hill 

After the tour we treated ourselves to a Pisco Sour, Chile's national drink and sat on a lovely roof terrace enjoying the view.

I fancied a beer afterwards and asked the waiter for a recommendation. He brought me this and I wondered if I'd offended him in some way......

On our way back to the guest house our dog theme continued with sights of loads of dogs, including this sad looking fella who wasn't sad at all, just hot!

Back To trip advisor for a dinner recommendation and another stunner!

Fish, seafood, potato and sausage stew, a local traditional dish served with a delicious red wine (for a change)!

We treated ourselves to an early night due to lack of sleep the night before and the prospect of an exciting day starting the next morning!