11/29: Valparaiso, Chile: A City of Hills, Ascensores, Piano Steps & Dynamic Street Art

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After taking a bus to Valparaíso, a 90-minute trip NW from the capital of Santiago, we dumped our bags in our charming hotel to explore one of the first Chilean cities founded by the Spanish in 1541. It was hard to want to stay indoors when we had already noticed the city, whose name translates to Paradise Valley, was an explosion of color splattered across every building.

The city, the capital's thriving port for centuries, was spread along some spectacularly steep hills, with stairways and streets that wound past aging buildings, many of which were built by the British in the 19th century. We were taking a walking tour later but decided to get a head start and discover what we could by ourselves.

We'd included Valparaíso, or ‘Valpo’ as the locals call it, on our Chile itinerary because the center's status as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was also home to over 40 historic hills or cerros that offered spectacular views of the city and bay below. Our hotel was located at the top of the hilltop neighborhood of Cerro Concepcion so we had nowhere to go but down!

It was immediately evident that the city was a quirky collection of dilapidated buildings and cobble stoned alleyways full of graffiti and color as far as the eye could see!

I just loved seeing the riot of color in the murals, bright walls, unexpected stencils, cheery window shutters, and fun mosaics that caught our eye at every turn. The vibrancy of the street art through every lane, staircase, street and alleyway was amazing.

Never had we seen such a large scale of mural art anywhere. Unlike most cities, which mainly have graffiti, this part of Valparaiso had the most amazing wall art.

You didn't think I was kidding when part of the post's title says 'stairs,' did you? Luckily we had just come down all the huge number of steps but of course, it meant later we'd be going up, one breathless step at a time!

Once finally down and in the heart of the city was Reloj Turri, Valparaíso's equivalent of London's Big Ben. The area was also the financial heart of the city and was where there were so many British influences dating from England being the largest trading partner with Chile hundreds of years ago and also buying up large parts of the city.

We could so easily have walked a few blocks to see some of the colonial buildings but that would have been too easy so we huffed and puffed our way up to the gorgeous paseo or promenade called Paseo Yugoslavo.

We were treated to marvelous views of the city and harbor from the paseo.

By the promenade was the Museo de Bellas Artes or Fine Arts Museum that was housed in the intriguing Palacio Baburizza. The building, erected in 1916, was declared a national monument in 1979, became the city's property in 1991 and underwent a full restoration in 2012.

To conquer the hilltops, ascenores or funiculars were introduced at the beginning of the last century. We had read that no visit to the city would be complete without a ride on one so took the steep Ascensor El Peral. It was constructed in 1902 and is considered a national monument. The 52 meter trip which cost all of .18 took us down to the Palacio de Justicia. It was so much fun, we were already looking forward to riding one of the other funiculars in the city!

The Palace of Justice:

The lovely pale blue of the Naval Headquarters in Plaza Sotomayor, Valpo's most impressive square, drew my eye. The name of the square immediately drew my attention and made me think of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. However, I learned that this Plaza was named after Rafael Sotomayor, a former Chilean politician.

The plaza, which overlooked the port, was dominated by the Monument to the Heroes of Iquique, who died in a key naval battle in the 19th century's War of the Pacific. We met Romina, our 'free walking tour' guide in the plaza dedicated to the country's naval heroes at 3.

She mentioned that there had been so many fires in the city, its first residents (known as porteños because they live near the port), called the city Fireland because it had suffered so many fires. The port was the most important one in Latin America after James Marshall discovered gold in California and all ships had to pass through Valpo en route before the Panama Canal was built. The cargo ships and containers we saw were carrying superlative Chilean wines, fruits and vegetables that we all enjoy here in North America.

I was surprised to learn that Valpo had the first bank and stock exchange in Latin America, Chile's first public library, and the oldest Spanish language newspaper in continuous publication in the world, El Mercurio de Valparaíso. The German Bauhaus-style building at the port was the Arts Council.

The ugly, big black building was the shipping company. Beside that was the Fire Company. The continent's first volunteer fire department, the American Fire Co., was established in 1851 by an American who donated a fire pump and understood the fire company would be named after his home country.

At Plaza Sotomayor, Romina had us all board one of the old style trolley buses that worked on steam to reach our next destination. It was far more fun than the new trolleys from Germany!

The trolley dropped us off in Plaza Anibal Pinto which was built on land reclaimed from the sea. Romina described it as one of the meeting points between the flat part of the city and its many hills.

From there, it was back up another funicular, Ascensor Reina Victoria! Also dating from 1902, it is often regarded as Valparaíso's most beautiful. We learned from Romina that the mostly vertical 40 meter ride was one of just five funiculars left in the city because it is so difficult to repair the ancient mechanisms.

They used to be so popular in the 'old days' when there were no buses or cars. The Queen Victoria one was the second oldest in the city. All were run by a private company and are protected by UNESCO.

While on the funicular, we had a magnificent view of Pantheon Hill which had several cemeteries, including the Dissidents' Cemetery. Longtime readers of the blog know we have spent many an hour in particularly famous cemeteries around the world but we had no time to stop at these ones.

Romina stressed that locals and tourists alike take advantage of the funiculars' scenic shortcuts. This one was very steep and the ride up would have been tricky for folks with a fear of heights or edges.

Another view of the harbor from the cable car which was only big enough for ten people:

I loved the Maurice Sendak-style murals at the top as it brought back such happy memories of reading to our four children way back in the Dark Ages!

Once atop Concepcion Hill where we had first started our discovery of the city from our hotel, we came out onto a small plaza where several in the group, myself included, swooshed down a metal slide like the children we were once where!

Still more eye-popping murals fascinated us.

We didn't know when we passed by this French-named restaurant that we'd be starting our 2018 four plus month adventure in Paris in August. Way more on that trip if I ever finish this blog from last year's trip!

Romina mentioned that St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral was the first Protestant church in Latin America and it was founded in 1852 by two Brits who wanted to settle here but on the condition it didn't look like a church! There was no cross on the outside and had no main front door as most (all?) churches have. It was closed then and also later when we returned in the hope of going inside.

Romina stated that the main reason to live 'in the hills' was the thriving arts community. The celebrated and Pulitzer-award winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda influenced people to express themselves through art in the darkest days of the country's dictatorship that lasted from 1973 until 1990. It was not allowed to paint murals but done anyway.

The hill's second Protestant church, a German Lutheran one this time, had a cross that looked like the helm of a ship.

When Catholic churchgoers saw the two Protestant churches on Cerro Concepcion, they determined they 'had to build' a huge Catholic church on the opposite hill saying 'they were in power'!

When Romina instructed us to walk down the narrow steps, we couldn't understand why so many in the group, already at the bottom, were looking up at those still descending the steps.

Aha - these were the famous 'piano steps' I had read so much about but hadn't noticed when walking down! These steps were painted by a musician who wanted to have a really cool album cover, so he decided to create some art of his own. Every once in a while, the steps needed a fresh coat of paint, so when the artist was painting them a few years ago, the police caught him with a paintbrush in hand and had him arrested. Though it was almost impossible to believe, street art in Valparaiso is illegal and if someone is caught painting a non-commissioned piece without permission, the person can face a fine or even jail time!

Yet another sign of Britain's past influence in the city:

The murals, visible on buildings from the Atkinson Paseo, represented women from northern Bolivia and Chile, according to Romina.

I felt like I had been transported back decades to the British seaside town of Brighton as we strolled along the promenade and past the elegant homes.

The nearby Galvez Alley contained many abandoned and dilapidated buildings that Romina explained had been too difficult to rebuild after a fire had caused heavy damage as heavy machinery wasn't able to get up the steep alley.

Romina took us up Pasaje Bavestrello, a narrow enclosed stairway built in 1927. Halfway up was a shop selling famous a Chilean snack called alfajores, similar to the Canadian Joe Louis chocolate confection. We all shared a couple of them which was a welcome treat, especially after walking the city and up and down countless stairs for several hours.

Since the walking tour was almost over, Steven and I decided to leave the tour at the Museum of Fine Arts which we had seen, but not entered, earlier before the tour. We were curious to see what we had read was an "excellent collection of Chilean painting" after being closed for several years and was now partially reopened.

I had read that the fanciful decorative exterior was reminiscent of the style of Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi, whose work we'll see lots of when visiting Spain this fall. It's interesting how these two trips, a year and thousands of miles apart, are linked together.

What a lovely reading nook this would have been in times gone by.

What a special view of the city through the museum's stained-glass windows.

The Spanish language plaque said this exquisite room, with Rococo elements and a scene with Marie Antoinette, was fashioned after Louis XVI.

I paid particular attention to this painting as it was of the Atkinson Promenade we'd just been on.

A view of Valpo's harbor in 1882:

Although the contemporary Chilean artist called this 'Machu Picchu,' I couldn't understand the connection with the famous Peruvian site we'd traveled to earlier on the trip.

The painting of 'The Amazon Landscape' brought back great memories of our time there. I liked how the museum's paintings and the impressive mansion took us on a historical journey through Chile's past.

Steven and I don't usually treat ourselves to many special meals on our trips but there were so many wonderful restaurant choices near our hotel. We both enjoyed every morsel of this feast.