Argentina is absolutely enormous; with so many different climates, landscapes and awesome activities, we had a hard time finding time to explore other countries in South America. We decided to spend our second to last weekend in Chile!
Meadows’ colleagues told us we could not stay anywhere other than the W Santiago. They were right! Upon arriving, we were escorted to this insanely cool suite. (The photos don’t even do it justice!)
We had the most amazing ceviche and hit the sack. We scheduled a full day tour with a tour guide my brother recommended. Unfortunately, Ben’s guide, Leo, already had a tour booked; so, we got his understudy, Leo #2.
Knowing that we will likely be back to Santiago at some point, we chose to tour outside the city. Leo picked us up bright and early, and the three of us made our way to Valparaiso.
Valparaiso means “valley of paradise” and sits on Chile’s coastline. The city holds significance in its national history because of its port, which provided both commercial activity and military defense. It was only appropriate that we started our tour at the beautiful blue naval building, Armada de Chile.
In front of the building stands Arturo Prat, Chilean naval hero. This photo is taken looking from in front of Armada de Chile looking out toward the port. Similarly, Prat’s statue faces the water.
From here, Leo took us to a funicular. The experience was a bit too rickety and terrifying for my taste, but it prevented us from climbing countless stairs to the Concepcion neighborhood. The view of the port at the top made the fear worthwhile; it looked like a painting!
We continued to work our way up and around the streets of Concepcion, a Valparaiso neighborhood known for its bright colored houses, quaint cobblestone streets and artful graffiti. Meadows and I couldn’t get enough of it! The entire area felt a lot like San Francisco, with steep hills and such personality.
Meadows’ favorite stop was at a lookout with graffiti that reads, “we are not hippies, we are happies”. We obviously had to get a photo!
Fun fact about Valparaiso: it’s the home of the first volunteer fire department in South America. Immigrants started it, so each station bears the name of a different nation. Today, Chile has the only 100% volunteer fire department.
After learning so much about Valparaiso, we got back in the car and Leo took us to Viña del Mar, which means “vineyard on the sea”. The beautiful beaches here make it a popular resort town. It also displays one of the famous Easter Island statues. Meadows and I are dying to go to Easter Island, so this was a wonderful taste of our trip that will happen someday!
We now interrupt your regularly scheduled blog post with a travel warning: always ask your tour guide where lunch is and research it first. Let me say: I get it… tour guides get perks or free meals if they bring guests to certain places. This was certainly the case in Viña del Mar. This lunch was our most expensive meal of the weekend, and we hardly touched it; my fish was truly inedible. When I googled the restaurant after the fact, all of the TripAdvisor reviews read something like “Like everyone else, my guide brought me here and my meal was disgusting!” So, lesson learned!
Thankfully, the gorgeous Viña del Mar views (and the company) more than made up for a gross lunch. 🙂
From Viña del Mar, Leo drove us to the Casablanca wine region. Casablanca can be found in the valley between the Andes and the coastal mountains, which makes the climate quite cool. The mild temperatures make for fabulous Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.
Like in Mendoza, we toured and tasted our way through the Casas del Bosque vineyard. The Pinot Noir was our favorite, so we bought a bottle to take back to Buenos Aires with us!
Interesting fact about Chilean wine: the Carménère grape originated in Bordeaux, France, but was killed off entirely by disease in 1867. It was thought that the grape would never be seen again… a lost wine! Almost miraculously, the grape was rediscovered in Chile in 1994. A wine specialist realized that this grape, which had been grown and sold as Merlot for the last 150 years, was in fact Carménère! The Chilean winemakers modeled their vineyards after Bordeaux’s and began growing grapes from cuttings from French vineyards. As a result, they preserved the Carménère grapes. We got to try this rare wine during our tasting.
Our tour guide encouraged us to visit the top of the hill, where a restaurant overlooks the entire vineyard. WOW! The views were incredible.
We wrapped up our time with Leo as he drove us back to Santiago. We walked to a delicious dinner and had drinks on the rooftop of our hotel.
On Sunday morning, we took in the view of the Andes from our suite before strolling through the antique market nearby.
The highlight of the day was our flight back – not because we didn’t love Santiago, but because flying over the Andes Mountains was AMAZING! I’ll let you enjoy for yourself…
Once again, your descriptions are terrific—feel like I have been on your shoulder to all those glorious places!
Hugs to you both!
When anyone asks me what I have done this morning, I’ll tell them, “I flew over the Andes with Ann and Meadows! “What a treat !
And I am amazed again at the vineyard acreage. XXXXX G.G.
Leo kept you away from us this time, but we’ll find you next time you come to our neighborhood