The Hills of Valparaiso

Saturday March 22 started with a bit of sun, but the fog rolled in and it was cloudy most of the day. It was about 20C, which made for good walking weather.  After a quick shop to buy some food for dinner, we headed out to two of the hills we had visited briefly in our Free Tour.  Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepcion are full of tiny stores, restaurants and small hotels.

We walked down the stairs from our neighbourhood to the port.  The funicular that normally runs down our hill is out of service.  We have noticed a number of signs in nearby stores to "save the ascensor" and ensure that it gets back in business.

The stairs to the port

We passed by the back of the statue in Plaza Sottomayor, honouring those fallen in the 1879 war against Bolivia and Peru.

Back of Monument

We also passed the imposing Justice building, an example of brutal architecture.  The statue of "injustice", which I posted a photo of the other day is in front of this building.

Imposing Justice building

We then took the El Peral ascensor, which is just to the left of the justice building.  It was only 100 pesos (20 cents CAN) and takes less than a minute to get to the top of a very steep hill.

View going up in the small cab of the ascensor

At the top, we had a wonderful view of the port.  Both Alano and I are enjoying the wonderful views of the Pacific, with fog and without.

A foggy day in Valpo- view of the Port

We then started our wanderings of the streets of the two hill neighbourhoods, getting only slightly lost.  The street art in this part of town is very colourful and intricate.  We also passed Antoncich House, dating to the mid 19th century, which had a fire in 1985.  After being derelict for several years it was restored by a Californian who first came to Chile in the 1960s as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Antoncich House

As we were walking, we peered down a flight of stairs and saw a small cafe with some interesting art.

Cafe down a small flight of stairs

 The next photos show the details and intricacy of the street art.

Most of the best art is signed as you can see in the following panoramic piece.

Every picture tells a story

We both posed for pictures in a Valparaiso frame.  There was a message at the bottom of the frame to send photos to a website, where a woman is collecting the pics.

Alano in Valpo

Me too!

We then passed a cafe serving Marley Coffee (Stir it up), which we found out is from L.A. [hmm.... maybe RoFO would like some...]

Stir it up!

We passed this interesting piece of art in front of the Queen Victoria funicular.  It is entitled "Fonopticos" and was installed in 2014 as part of an art in the city project.  The artist is Cecilia Nercasseau Gibson.

                                                                              A big shout out from me!

We stopped at Cafe del Jardin, recommended by a woman in a small store.  We sat in the back patio and had a late-afternoon sandwich and coffee.  A group of students studying Spanish were at the next table.  Lots of fun to hear what they have been up to.

                                                                                         Cafe del Jardin

We the walked back to the B&B passing through El Plan (the flat part of the city) and then walking up the long flight of stairs to our 'hood.  We passed a piece of street art with two symbols of Valpo- a trolley and a clock that sits downtown.

Our last photo of the day is one of our neighbourhood grocery store, where we buy our vegetables.

                                                  Almacen Naval

We had a late dinner of beef tenderloin and salad.