Free Tour Valparaiso - Lots of Colour!

Thursday March 20 started out quite cool and very foggy.  We wore our leather jackets for the first time since leaving Toronto.  The old nickname of Valpo, "Little San Francisco", was very apt for the weather today.  We started a long walk down the hill from our B&B.  Everywhere one walks, there are beautifully coloured houses and lots of street art.  We were heading to a downtown square to take the 3 1/2 hour Free Tour of Valparaiso, run by the same people that offer the Free Tour Santiago.

Great purple and a turret

                                                          

We passed by the naval museum, that we will probably visit another day.

Naval Museum

Sign for a wine store

We took some photos of the port (still foggy out).  Valparaiso used to be Chile's busiest port, but now is the country's second busiest.  Still a lot of containers and cruise ships.  Tourism has become big since the UNESCO designation in 2003.

Containers and cruise ship (we're still walking down the hill)

Looks like a scene from "The Wire"

Some great street art

A clear message

We made it down to the flat part of the city, known as El Plan.  There are a number of very old trolley-buses, dating back to around 1952!!!!  Alano really likes trolleys- so we took a few pics.

A symbol of Valpo

A trolley in action

Our favourite sign was the one pointing out the evacuation route in the event of a tsunami.  Valpo was devastated by the 1906 earthquake, and then took an economic hit with the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914.  However, the City got a second wind in the last few decades with the move of the legislature, increased exports of fruit, and the new cultural designations.

Our tour guide said "run for the hills" is the best advice and there are 40 hills

We passed a small outdoor fish market on our way--- these squid were giving us the evil eye.

Here's looking at you

In a small alley, we found some lovely art promoting a restaurant "La Rotonda".  We were also thrilled that the heavy fog lifted at about 12:45, just as we hit the flat part of the city.

We also passed a building with a wonderful old elevator.

As we still had an hour before our tour started, we stopped for a coffee at Cafe del Poeta, at the Plaza we were meeting the Free Tour.  The inside was old fashioned, with many books about Valpo and old pics as well as huge replicas of Pablo Neruda and Vincente Huidobro (another major Chilean poet (1893-1948)), having coffee.

Cafe del Poeta

Pablo Neruda

Our Free Tour guide was Pablo, an extrovert, who spoke Spanish and English very fast.  He was an excellent guide.  There were about 15 people in the group, including people from Germany, Australia, Brazil, US and Holland.  Pablo alternated between Spanish and English.  After giving us some background on the city, we headed to one of the famous funiculars- Reina Victoria, which opened in 1902.  We got into the small car (about 9 people at a time) and headed to the top.

Sign at top of funicular

This took us to the east end of Cerro Alegre.  There were many small shops and restaurants and wonderful street art.  Pablo told us that the government pays for paint for the street art and if a building is privately owned, all you need is the owner's OK.  Graffiti is illegal, however, and subject to a large fine.

Streets of Alpo

Fantasy mural

Our guide Pablo telling us a story

Wow!

Lots of sun now and colour (no need for my jacket)

Lutheran church in the distance

From our vantage point, we saw a beautiful Lutheran church painted green. 

Looking down the staircase

Looking up the same staircase 

Alano

Pablo took us a great story about the art below with the title "El Pollo Al Belador".  This is roughly translated as "chicken on the bedside table" and refers to lunchtime trysts between co-workers, who leave their chicken sandwiches on the beside table.

"Chicken on the beside table"

Outside an interesting craft store

We also passed a boulevard on the hill, with lovely gardens.  It was the "Atkinson" boulevard, named after an Englishman who wanted these house to have gardens (which most other residences do not have.)  There was a fabulous view from in front of these houses.

We had a lookout on the three ships that constitute the Chilean Navy,

The Chilean Navy in port

We also looked down at an intricate three piece mural done by a well known artist Inti Castro in 2010-11.

Amazing piece of street art by Inti Castro

Other part of this piece

We headed down to the flat part of town again and stopped for a photo of the El Mercurio building with the winged figure of Mercury on its top.  El Mercurio is a right-wing paper that received CIA funds in the early 1970s to undermine Allende's government.  It played a significant role in setting the stage for the coup and supported Pinochet during the dictatorship.

El Mercurio building

We then stopped at a very imposing justice building, constructed in the 1960s.  Our guide pointed out a few unusual features of the statue--1) the sword is pointed up and not down; 2) the scales of justice are broken and folded under her arm and 3) she is not blindfolded.  Some call it the statue of "Unjustice".  However, our guide said she may have been modelled after the Roman goddess who was not blindfolded as the Romans believed that judges should take into account wealth when imposing fines ( i.e. a larger fine for a wealthy person, who could afford it).

Statue of "Unjustice"?

We then took another funicular located around the corner from the Justice Building.  It was called  El Peral.  There are 12 public funiculars and one private funicular (belonging to a hospital) in Valparaiso.  A couple are out of service.  They cost about 30-60 cents (CAN) to ride.

El Peral funicular

Street art at the top

Looking up some very colourful stairs

Pablo pointed out this wonderful piece of street art with the iconic trolley and a stairway with the names of famous Chilean poets and artists who spent time in Valpo.  The cars hanging from the clothesline are supposed to carry the message that one should leave one's car behind when one explores that streets of Valpo.

Trolley and artists who have a link to Valpo

We then walked again to the flat part of town and checked out the Armada de Chile, the Chilean Navy headquarters built in 1910.  The building used to be a presidential residence before becoming navy headquarters.

Armada de Chile

We then crossed the street to look at the Monumento a los Heroes de Iquique, a tribute to Chile's naval martyrs who are buried in a crypt beneath it.  On the top was Arturo Prat who was killed in the 1879 battle between Chile and Bolivia and Peru, that resulted in Chile's victory and it's acquisition of lands that now constitute northern Chile.  There is still a big issue between Bolivia and Chile, as Bolivia has no access to the ocean.

Monument

The tour ended at 6:30 p.m.  We would both highly recommend it to anyone visiting Valpo.  We headed back to the apartment, climbing one very big hill.  We bought some veal for dinner at the local butcher.  Unfortunately, there aren't too many stores or restaurants near our B&B.  Pablo had also told us that most Chileans (at least in Valpo) eat their main meal at lunch time and that a number of restaurants close early.  We many rejig our eating schedule.

It was a great day and we really got a sense of the city.