Famous for its historic quarter, the city has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site. And, surprisingly, the national congress of Chile is also located here and not in Santiago.
Following an often-heard recommendation, we decided not to stay at one of the many beach resorts in nearby tourist trap Viña del Mar.
Instead the small but cozy Luna Sonrisa Hostel was our home in Valparaíso for five days....
... which was great since it allowed us to easily explore the artistic / crazy neighborhood of Cerro Alegre.
Colorful houses and all sorts of artwork everywhere...
Several funiculars ("ascensors") make it a little easier to walk through the hilly neighborhoods with its steep inclines. Probably they were inspired by the Standseilbahn in Stuttgart or the Turmbergbahn in Karlsruhe. :-)
"La Sebastiana", one of the three houses of Pablo Neruda, Chilean politician and poet, winner of the 1971 Nobel Prize in literature.
Very cool architecture, unfortunately they didn't allow taking pictures inside...
... so I couldn't take this picture of his bedroom, for instance. :-)
The house had five levels with a pretty awesome view of Valparaíso and the ocean on every single one of them.
Unfortunately, Pablo Neruda passed away in 1973, so we couldn't meet him in person. Here's Sylvia (left) greeting a Neruda sculpture (right).
So we risked the short, speedy, and certainly life-threatening bus ride though the hills for some fun time at the beach...
... and for this one glorious moment:
our first Sushi after three and a half months!! We were in heaven! :)
So much from Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. Let us know if you're interested in seeing appox. 500 more pictures of the various buildings and artwork.
Coming up soon: our last stop in South America, Chile's capitol Santiago.
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