Valparaiso, or Valpo for short, is the country's leading port and is located a mere 120 km NW of Santiago. The hills, covered with brightly colored houses, funiculars (ascending railways), and innumerable stairways, make it one of the most picturesque cities in Chile.
It has a large open-air
market Sunday afternoons on Avenida Argentina, the divided main road
into town from Santiago. The bustling port grew
to maturity during the 1840's as demand for Chilean wheat and other products
soared during the California Gold Rush. However, Valpo´s bustling
port business declined notably with the opening of the Panama Canal which
drastically reduced shipping traffic around Cape Horn. Valparaíso's
congested downtown and port areas still recall its 19th-century heyday,
with numerous architectural landmarks, but the city's real character
resides in its hillside neighborhoods, reached by ascensores (funiculars)
that climb the steep slopes. Nobel Prize winning poet Pablo Neruda maintained
a house on the Pacific coast nearby called Isla Negra. It is the most
popular nearby excursion from Valparaiso and currently houses a museum
dedicated to the poet´s maritime memorabilia. Although misleading,
Isla Negra is not an island.  |
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Valparaiso and Viña del Mar | |||
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This tour of the main coastal cities of Chile's Region V visits the port of Valparaíso. Visitors are provided an opportunity to admire the unusual geography of the city from the spectacular location of Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda's house, which is situated on one of the city's many hillsides. Called La Sebastiana in honor of its builder, Sebastian Collado and described by the poet himself as a place 'to live and write in peace', Neruda shared the house with his great friends, Francisco Velasco and Maria Martner. You can see Martner's mural made of colored stones, based on an old map of Antarctica and Patagonia, as you go up the stairs to the main part of the building, now a cultural center. A guided tour gives a greater insight into Neruda's life and passions. A short walk, passing through the Open Air Museum with its colorful murals, takes us to the famous Café Turri, with its spectacular views over the port. After lunch, the destination is Viña del Mar, a favorite coastal haunt of the rich and famous, where there is time to relax on the beach or go shopping before returning to Santiago. |
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