Part 1: Vina del Mar

20241210-14

The Experience

The Photos

The photos below are what we saw.

The seats for business/sleeper class were huge with plenty of room to stand up which is a big plus when your back and legs get tight from sitting a long time.  The bags contain blankets, pillows and sleeping pads along with a "night kit" of eye shades, ear plugs, etc.

The flight was full and I was trying to get my head around being in my seat for the next 11 hours.  A daunting thought, but the flat sleeping area augmented with an Ambien and some wine worked out OK.

Our flight landed at dawn but so did a bunch of other flights.  The line at immigration was 90 minutes and, of course, unavoidable.

Kathleen found us a hotel right on the water and the photo above is the view from our balcony.

Further to the north is the area called Concon which is the true high-rent district.  The coastal fog comes in every night but usually burns off by noon.

 The hotel had a pool right next to the ocean and another pool inside.  At high tide, the surf crashes on the rock wall throwing huge sheets of spume into the air.

A view to the west from the terrace bar.  Looks great, but the water is frigid due to the Humboldt current coming up the coast from Antarctica.

  We walked toward the central part of town looking for an ATM to get some local currency.  The view above is the seashore along the Malecon with the Sheraton, our hotel, in the top center.

An interesting structure built on a rocky outcropping next to the Malecon. This is called Castillo Wulff.

Nearing the center of town we came upon a Ferris wheel under construction.  It was completed later in the day.  Workers are visible at the apex of the structure.

We ate at the restaurant Portofino that night, the food was quite tasty.  I had the cordero (lamb).

We were treated to a reasonable sunset while at the restaurant.  There were quite a few ships anchored in the harbor.

A braced the camera on the balcony for a night shot of Vina del Mar from the Sheraton.

The following morning, we decided to explore the Valparaiso area to the west of Vina del Mar.  The shot above is looking west from the terrace at the hotel prior to our departure to Valparaiso.

UNESCO declared Valparaiso a World Heritage Site, mostly due to the painted buildings.  The city is tight and built into the hilly coastal area.  The main streets are concrete, but the side streets are cobblestone.  The building in the center of the photo above was noteworthy for several reasons.  The paint scheme was interesting as was the signage ("The right to live in peace") but the mass of above-ground wiring was impressive.

A side street that leads to the entrance of one of the many funiculars in the city.  The hills are steep and walking up and down stairs all day, particularly when carrying groceries, is a drag for the locals.  A set of privately owned, pay funiculars were the result.  The city has about 8 funiculars in total.

The cost was a whopping 100 Chilean Pesos, the equivalent of $0.10 dollars.

From the top of the first station, we had a nice view of the upper reaches of Valparaiso.  Note the dirt road at the top center of the photo above.  This was steep, but was the only way to get to the homes at the top of the hill.  Indeed, a bit later we watched a passenger car descend the dirt grade.

This hotel is at the top of a funicular.  The steps at the right led to the upper part of the hill and a very nice bar with a roof top terrace.

We had tapas at the bar.  The carmenere (red) was particularly good.  The beer was, well, beer.

A view of part of the harbor area from the bar's terrace.

We walked down the hill and explored the neighborhoods along the way.  This passageway between the buildings was quite steep.  Note the wiring nightmare above.

Another organized passageway from the street to the hilltop above.  There were apartment entrances all along this steep set of stairs.

A nice wall mural.

The plaza across the street had a nice tree and concrete seating.

Some concrete work in progress.  Due to the steep hills, most work is done manually.  Workers carry sacks of concrete to the top of the stairs.  Another team carries the bags down the steps to the mixing station, also manual.  The manually mixed concrete is then poured into a section of gutter that transports it down the hill to the actual slab being poured.

I would hate to have to debug this wiring.  Some cable is telephone, others are power and there is a fatal penalty for mistaking one for the other.

Every proper town square has a monument to a local luminary.  We caught a cab at the square and headed back to Vina del Mar.

The prior day I asked ChatGPT for the name of the best restaurant in Vina del Mar.  Chat said "Donde Willy".  Sadly, the link to their web site did not resolve, so I assumed that the information was in error and perhaps the restaurant had closed.  Not so, we discovered from the concierge at the hotel, so we asked him to get us a seating and headed out.  There is an interesting story behind this top in the photo above.  The waiter must have identified me as a willing participant and challenged me to open the bottle of sparkling wine with "a sword" (a large kitchen knife).  Three hard strokes from bottom to top of bottle separated the neck of the bottle from the base.  It made a mess on the floor, but the staff cleaned it up.  The wine was excellent and local Chilean of course.



We opted for a wine pairing/tasting menu and King Crab was the first course.




Salmon civeche with locally-caught salmon.  Truly outstanding.



Plenty of "dead soldiers" on the table - this dinner was a pairing, we had PLENTY of wine and left the restaurant quite tipsy.  We had pisco (a local liquor), sparkling wine opened with a "sword", 3 whites and 3 reds.

Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2024, all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use without attribution.