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Valparaiso,Chile Vina del Mar, Chile |
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Today we rode to the coast to visit the port city of Valparaiso. We stopped in the Casa Blanca Valley on the way and visited the Veramonte Vinyards where we learned a bit of history of the wine industry in Chile and sampled their wines before continuing on to Valparaiso.
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The coastal mountains slope down to the shores in Valparaiso making this a very hill city. Most of the residents live on these hills affording most of the population views of the Pacific Ocean. Jorge joked that the people in Valparaiso have the most beautiful legs in the world from walking up and down the hills from home to market, to school, to school or to play. Whereever they go there is a hill to climb.
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Jorge drove us around town and stopped at an outdoor market on a bluff overlooking the port. My souviner quest is limited to flag pins and the occasional refrigerator magnet. I found my Chilean flag pin here. It is a charming spot both to haggle with the vendors and to enjoy a snack while taking in the view of the City and Sea below. |
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Even though this market was not at the top of the current limit of the current city, we chose to ride to the shore via a funicular built in the 1870s. It is still in use. From inside the car you can actually see through the wooden floorboards to the tracks below.
The alternative to the funicular is the staircase to the left of the funicular. You can see how climbing this multiple times everyday would indeed develop fine leg muscles. Coming from an environment as flat as Houston, we declined using the stairs.
| Continuing our journey around the shore we found this castle, the current home of the Wolfe family built on a jetty that extends out into the Pacific. It was a most pleasant surprise. The castle is actually much bigger than it appears in this photo. |  |
We drove along the coast to Vina del Mar where we had lunch at a seaside restaurant. We all sampled the fruit of the prickly pear cactus. Those cactus are plenty enough in the Houston area but I had never seen or tasted its fruit. It is sweet but loaded with seeds like a pomegranite.
Easter Island belongs to Chile. There is a replica of an Easter Island in Santiago.
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This Moai Statue, however, is the real thing. It stands in front of the Fonck Museum in Vina del Mar and is the only statue that has been removed from the island. This one does not sport the "hat" present on most of the Moai statues but I was impressed that I could not only see it up close and personal but actually touch it.
It was a most pleasant day. When we returned to Santiago Linda and I asked to be dropped at the Pre-Columbian Museum where we roamed the exhibits until closing.
We decided to complete our day with a visit to Santa Lucia. We only climbed up tot he first terrace before heading back to the hotel. It had been a full and satisfying day
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