Valparaiso and the Big 30
Day 6
Our introduction to Valparaiso was not as smooth as we'd been hoping for. We arrived in the rain and headed to look for the best hotel in the Footprints guide. It turned out that the hotel had been incorrectly marked on the map - I had left Jen standing in the rain with all the bags while I raced up and down the street looking for it. I found a payphone but the guide book was getting soaked so we decided to look for a taxi - lots of the taxis passing by seemed only to go to specific locations marked on their roof. We finally found a taxi that recognised the hotel name and agreed to take us.
When we arrived at the hotel on the other side of the city - it turned out that it was fully booked - typical. The receptionist recommended another hotel close by - I went off to check it out while Jen watched the bags in reception. I was back and forward down the street she had given me before I finally spotted the place down a side street - it was all locked up with no sign of life. Just as Jen was about to send out a search party I re-appeared - this time the receptionist gave us another recommendation and called ahead to reserve a room which I thought was good of her.
The hotel, Hotel Brighton was a good choice - it was right up on the cliffs and you could get to it from town by steep stairs, an old lift system or taxi. We arrived by taxi and decided we would stay for a couple of nights - Our room was right at the top of the hotel and had spectacular views out to sea .
Just when I thought our bad luck was coming to an end, we had to go down to the restaurant down some stairs at the side of the hotel to check in properly. Well when I got to the bottom of the stairs I slipped on the wet floor and fell like a sack of spuds - my knee was killing but I figured nothing was broken.
After some lunch we took (limped down) the staircase down the cliffs for a better look around town. Later we found an Irish bar and had a few beers before finding a little Italian restaurant - everywhere was quiet like Vina del Mar was and we were the only customers. We finished the night in a bar called Cinzano. This bar was top entertainment as there was a performance by a bunch of old crooners - although I didn't recognise any of the songs, I definately think they were being sung in the club style.
Day 7
My Birthday - 30 years young. I managed to resist the present opening until after breakfast (paying special attention to the slippery floor on the way). Well I was amazed by all the cards and presents I'd got so thanks to all of you reading this who sent stuff out through Jen, or who texted and E-mailed.
I got some great presents including a Sony Playstation Portable with games (which will let me watch films and games while I'm travelling), an England Shirt, t-shirts and socks.
We decided to do a walking tour which took us all over the city. The city streets are like a rabbit warren and are all connected by stairways and these really old lifts that look like they should have been decomissioned years ago.
It was really nice exploring - we stopped at a coffee shop and at one point realised we were right next to our hotel.
That night we went for a nice meal - another Italian, with some good wine before hitting the town for a few beers.
Day 8
We had to check out of our hotel as it was fully booked for the weekend, however there were now rooms available in our original first choice Hotel Alcala.
Well it was laundry day and we walked through town (further than we thought!) to the bus station to confirm our tickets back to Santiago.
That night we found a fantastic restaurant up on the cliffs - El Gato Tuerto (the one eyed cat) - the food was gorgeous and we both had Thai Chicken Soup and Lamb Rogan Josh. Even better the wine was buy one bottle get the second free so as a treat we got a bottle of Concha y Toro Trio. We had a great view looking right over the city and out to sea.
Day 9
We caught the coach back to Santiago. We had down graded from hotel to hostal but the hostal wasn't bad - it was just around the corner from where we'd stayed in a really nice old area of the city.
We arrived just in time for the World Cup final and everyone was in the TV room so there was a bit of atmosphere.
We headed over to Bellavista but I made the wrong choice for dinner as both the food and wine weren't very nice. Any way we decided to have a few drinks at one of the cheaper bars with tables on the street. There were all sorts of street performers to keep us entertained including a young lad who was a one man band and an older bloke who had a cat puppet and kept meowing at passers by (Jen's particular favourite).
On the way back to the hostal we called in to another bar - two really drunk locals decided to join us but they turned out to be OK and were just being friendly.
Day 10
Hangovers all around again. We had a late start but lots to do as we needed to sort some accomodation for Easter Island the next day. After firing off some mails we did head out to look around a craft market and exhibition. The exhibition was in the central library which was a massive old building. We also grabbed a coffee and pizza before heading back to the hotel for our early morning flight out to Easter Island next day. We checked our mails on the way back and luckily one of the hotels we liked the sound of had responded and they had rooms available.
Our introduction to Valparaiso was not as smooth as we'd been hoping for. We arrived in the rain and headed to look for the best hotel in the Footprints guide. It turned out that the hotel had been incorrectly marked on the map - I had left Jen standing in the rain with all the bags while I raced up and down the street looking for it. I found a payphone but the guide book was getting soaked so we decided to look for a taxi - lots of the taxis passing by seemed only to go to specific locations marked on their roof. We finally found a taxi that recognised the hotel name and agreed to take us.
When we arrived at the hotel on the other side of the city - it turned out that it was fully booked - typical. The receptionist recommended another hotel close by - I went off to check it out while Jen watched the bags in reception. I was back and forward down the street she had given me before I finally spotted the place down a side street - it was all locked up with no sign of life. Just as Jen was about to send out a search party I re-appeared - this time the receptionist gave us another recommendation and called ahead to reserve a room which I thought was good of her.
The hotel, Hotel Brighton was a good choice - it was right up on the cliffs and you could get to it from town by steep stairs, an old lift system or taxi. We arrived by taxi and decided we would stay for a couple of nights - Our room was right at the top of the hotel and had spectacular views out to sea .
Just when I thought our bad luck was coming to an end, we had to go down to the restaurant down some stairs at the side of the hotel to check in properly. Well when I got to the bottom of the stairs I slipped on the wet floor and fell like a sack of spuds - my knee was killing but I figured nothing was broken.
After some lunch we took (limped down) the staircase down the cliffs for a better look around town. Later we found an Irish bar and had a few beers before finding a little Italian restaurant - everywhere was quiet like Vina del Mar was and we were the only customers. We finished the night in a bar called Cinzano. This bar was top entertainment as there was a performance by a bunch of old crooners - although I didn't recognise any of the songs, I definately think they were being sung in the club style.
Day 7
My Birthday - 30 years young. I managed to resist the present opening until after breakfast (paying special attention to the slippery floor on the way). Well I was amazed by all the cards and presents I'd got so thanks to all of you reading this who sent stuff out through Jen, or who texted and E-mailed.
I got some great presents including a Sony Playstation Portable with games (which will let me watch films and games while I'm travelling), an England Shirt, t-shirts and socks.
We decided to do a walking tour which took us all over the city. The city streets are like a rabbit warren and are all connected by stairways and these really old lifts that look like they should have been decomissioned years ago.
It was really nice exploring - we stopped at a coffee shop and at one point realised we were right next to our hotel.
That night we went for a nice meal - another Italian, with some good wine before hitting the town for a few beers.
Day 8
We had to check out of our hotel as it was fully booked for the weekend, however there were now rooms available in our original first choice Hotel Alcala.
Well it was laundry day and we walked through town (further than we thought!) to the bus station to confirm our tickets back to Santiago.
That night we found a fantastic restaurant up on the cliffs - El Gato Tuerto (the one eyed cat) - the food was gorgeous and we both had Thai Chicken Soup and Lamb Rogan Josh. Even better the wine was buy one bottle get the second free so as a treat we got a bottle of Concha y Toro Trio. We had a great view looking right over the city and out to sea.
Day 9
We caught the coach back to Santiago. We had down graded from hotel to hostal but the hostal wasn't bad - it was just around the corner from where we'd stayed in a really nice old area of the city.
We arrived just in time for the World Cup final and everyone was in the TV room so there was a bit of atmosphere.
We headed over to Bellavista but I made the wrong choice for dinner as both the food and wine weren't very nice. Any way we decided to have a few drinks at one of the cheaper bars with tables on the street. There were all sorts of street performers to keep us entertained including a young lad who was a one man band and an older bloke who had a cat puppet and kept meowing at passers by (Jen's particular favourite).
On the way back to the hostal we called in to another bar - two really drunk locals decided to join us but they turned out to be OK and were just being friendly.
Day 10
Hangovers all around again. We had a late start but lots to do as we needed to sort some accomodation for Easter Island the next day. After firing off some mails we did head out to look around a craft market and exhibition. The exhibition was in the central library which was a massive old building. We also grabbed a coffee and pizza before heading back to the hotel for our early morning flight out to Easter Island next day. We checked our mails on the way back and luckily one of the hotels we liked the sound of had responded and they had rooms available.
posted by Phil at 5:39 AM
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