Quaint houses on hills
Trip Start
Dec 30, 2007
1
21
50
Trip End
Jun 22, 2008
Valparaiso,
Chile
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Sensibly, I had muted expectations for Valparaiso. The book (Lonely Planet) raves about the place but says, somewhat contemptuously, that some people just don't get the city. I reckoned that I had a pretty high risk profile. Valparaiso is on the tourist trail because there are cute little winding streets and brightly painted currogated iron houses. It is UNESCO listed, but UNESCO is not entirely reliable and seems willing to list all kinds of things.
So why did I go? well, I have been wrong before, and sometimes this kind of thing can be surprisingly pleasant. It is just a day trip from Santiago, although we spent a night.
And it's true. The historic portion of town is cute, and there are lots of restaurants that are probably nice
Naval HQ
. But if you have lived in Wellington, I think you are allowed not get too excited by narrow winding streets. Which leaves corrugated iron houses (surprisingy attractive), often decorated with peculiar murals that made no sense to me but which often featured semi-human creatures. Also quotes such as this one (not verbatim) 'beneath these streets are flowers that have not yet bloomed.' One street has official looking plaques in the walls from the World Tango meeting in 2007 with poetry (quite dull I thought, but perhaps that is because I speak the language so badly). You get the impression that Valparaiso is trying very hard to be cultural.Still, it is quite an interesting place.
A fire had burnt part of the historic section seven days before we arrived, but it had left the external parts of the buildings unscathed, and it would be easy to walk by them without noticing. There was only a faint smell of ash and ruin detectable.
Like all Chilean cities it is bloated with monuments, mostly martial, but with an emphasis on the maritime (it is a naval base). The famous houses and trolley-cars are cute. But unless you are an absolute nut for this kind of thing it is a visit that could easily be left off any tight schedule.
