Santiago de Chile

Day 1

Although we were both very tired we decided we'd like to see the England v Portugal game so headed off to find a bar with a big screen TV. Well easier said than done. First we were stopped by some friendly students asking for money to fund their University courses. Then we found the bar we'd been heading for only to find that it was closed. As the game had already kicked off we dived in the first place we could find, which happened to be a very strange locals bar. The TV had no sound and really bad reception - but as it turned out the highlight of the game was the beer we were drinking (Escudo). Towards the end of the penalties some bloke was nearly wearing his dinner as he was cheering for Portugal because he knew we were English. Any way after a power nap we headed out to a nice restaurant and our first glass (first of many) of Chilean Red. We then headed back to the bar that had been closed, Bar Berri, which turned out to be one of our favourites. It was like stepping back in time with wooden floors and old photographs - there was even a really old cash register which they still used.

Day 2

We took the chance to look around the city. It was quite busy and there were one or two street markets to look around. We then decided to climb Cerro Santa Lucia which is a big hill. As you climb up you walk through parks and gardens with some fountains. The view from the top was great and it was nice to see the city framed by the snow covered mountains.

We headed down the hill and walked to Barrio Bellavista on the other side of the river. This was a pretty cool place with lots of restaurants and bars. We stopped for a drink in a nice courtyard where there was lots of bars, restaurants and shops. We then found a restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet - "Como Agua Para Chocolate" the food was gorgeous and both our meals appeared like works of art.

(See how pleased Jen was with her meal!)

(Note Jen's expert photography as she gets both meal and Phil perfectly in shot!)

That night one of the local football teams Colo Colo had won the league so everyone was going nuts in the streets.

Day 3

Next day we headed up Cerro San Cristobal, the biggest hill with panaramic views of the city.

The first part of the ride is on a really old funnicular railway. There is also a huge statue of the Virgin Mary.

From this point you can travel on by cable car - there are two stations. The cable car seemed a bit unsafe expecially as the doors didn't close properly in our car. The cable descends into the Parque Forestal and there are two cable car stations. On the way back up we got off at one of the stations and had a look around a bit of the park. We then got back on the cable car and finally went down the funnicular to where we had started.

That night we headed over to a different area of the city Providencia - Jen got to try her first Empanada (meat pastie) on the way. We found a bar called the Phone Box Pub which was recommended, but it turned out to be very quiet so we headed back to Bar Berri.

Day 4

Both a little hung over we had made a booking for the Concha y Toro Vineyards. Unfortunately we had to get ourselves there - we'd got up late and although the Lonely Planet gave some directions there was no indication of how long it would take. We set out and had to catch two metros out of the city centre then a local bus. The local bus was shocking as it was stopping and starting every two minutes and kept speeding up and slowing down - not good for hungover passengers. We thought we were going to have to get off the bus early, but sat it out as we had no idea where we were. As it turns out the bus dropped us off at the gates of the vineyard about 5 minutes before the tour was about to start.

The vineyards were in a really picturesque setting and we learned that the house and grounds were built by Don Melchor Concha y Toro in 1875 .

We were shown around the vineyards and then got to try our first wine. The guide was good and showed us all the tasting steps - the first wine we tried was a Casillero del Diablo. i'm sure she made up some of the flavours and smells she said we should be able to pick up.

We were then shown down to where some of the wine barrels were kept before being shown down to the wine cellar - El Casillero del Diablo (The Devils Cellar). The cellar got it's name because in the olden days the vineyard workers kept stealing the owner Don Melchors best wines, so he built a secret elevator and entrance down from his house into the darkest part of the cellar. He started a rumour that the cellar was haunted and would come down to the cellar unseen by the workers where he would start shouting and screaming from the darkest shadows. The workers were terrified and from that day on the workers would not go into that part of the cellar so his wines were safe.

When we came out of the cellar we tried our second wine an expensive Don Melchor - this was one of the nicest wines I've tasted but had quite a steep price tag as I would have liked to buy a bottle. You could see the wine was a completely different colour from the younger first wine we had tried and there was also some sediment in the glass. The tour was concluded in the gift shop and wine bar. We were given our glasses to keep and headed home.

Next day we decided to leave Santiago and head for the coast and Vina del Mar.