Valparaiso is magical. There is a narrow strip of level land, 'El Plan', adjacent to the ocean. Seething with humanity it leaves you gasping for air. Tourists, touts, beggars, pick-pockets, thieves, buskers, cars, buses, trucks and motorcycles all jostle for space. Magnificent colonial buildings and grotesque modern sky-scrapers stand edge to edge, equally desecrated by graffiti and neglect.
Rising above El Plan are the 'cerros'. More than forty hills tumbling into one another creating a honeycomb labyrinth whose inhabitants cling precipitously to the steeply rising landscape. By day on the cerros, the city is quiet. Tourists wander the maze-like streets. A few shops and small restaurants take advantage of the spectacular views, but mostly the locals are down in El Plan. They work near the sea and return to the cerros at the end of the day.
Valparaiso is dotted with funicular railways, 'Ascensors', built before the advent of the motor car to carry the returning inhabitants up to their hill-side dwellings. Many are now in disrepair but enough are still functioning to make trips up and down to El Plan easier than climbing the hundreds of stairs or steeply rising alleys. Although the cerros interlock it is difficult to cross from one to another without descending to El Plan and climbing up again.
We are staying at Cerro Allegre. The windows of our room look out across the city toward the harbour. From here Valparaiso looks almost ordered. Our room is small and neat with beautiful views of the city. Cerro Allegre and it's neighbour, Cerro Conception, are slightly bohemian, dotted with craft shops, hole in the wall art galleries, cafes and intimate little restaurants. We wander the cerros by day and explore the restaurants by night.
The cerros are a jumble of colours. The houses are faced with brightly painted corrugated iron. The variety of colours and styles give the hills a character all of their own. On Cerro Conception we explore the 'Open Air Museum', a neighbourhood of streets centred around the Hostel Bellavista painted with dozens of brightly coloured murals. The museum has no entrance, no exit and no walls. It is a place to wander and discover the vibrant paintings of passionate street artists.
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For a review of the hotel we stayed in in Valparaiso - click here |
| Living on the Cerros |
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| Jostling for space in 'El Plan'. |
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| Colonial grandeur in 'El Plan' |
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| Taking a funicular |
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| Murals of Valparaiso |
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| Murals of Valparaiso |
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| Murals of Valparaiso |
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| Murals of Valparaiso |
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