Highs and lows in colours
Breakfast was ready at 9. Enough time afront for some mails and messages.
Got the impression, that the whole buffet was set up only for me. Nice. Cute. Touching! But what a waste! The breakfast room was in the basement. Great design! A lot of authentic architectural features from the colonial time combined with modern styles. Outside, the backyard was just stunning!
After breakfast, it was time for my first stray through town. I went through a steep gorge (is that the right word?): a lot of stairs down to the bottom and the other side up, again. Houses build against the hills, some greens, some rocks. When I came up at the other side, a speaker warned me that I had to leave the area as soon as possible: it wasn’t save. On my way I had met an elderly woman and a man, both signed me to watch my bag. Noted! Maybe, the warning would have make sense at the beginning of the route? Had seen some lovely murals on my way, some rather special flowers (to me) and nothing threatening at all. Had taken a lot of pictures, but that didn’t seem to bather nobody, not even the people I met. Lucky start of the day!
Anyway, I was where I wanted to be: at the Cultural park, next to the cementary (for orientation, not the place of my dreams). Beside the greens and the view over the city, the terrain served two buildings: an former black powder depot (closed off for visitors) and a former prison, now home for several art schools, including ballet, music, drawing… On the first floor is a memorial for the inslaved prisoners.
Behind the building – surprise, surprise! – a permaculture garden, greenhouse and educational path. Fruits, crops, bees, flowers, a greenhouse. At the middle of the long side a kitchen “Cooking is resilience”. Spent quite some time in the garden.
My next wish was to find a funicular. Valparaiso is rich of these: all the steep mountains almost asking for this kind of transportation. Most of them are more then 100 years ald. Adding some special charme to the colourful city. Colourful: houses are painted and you find (approximatly) a 1000 mural throughout the city. Also advertisment is still done the classical way: drawn at the facade.
Up on the hills… the city is calm, friendly, pleasant. I went through some streets, visited a church and took some staires down to the boulevard. Down in the mainstreets it’s noisy, dusty, crowded, rushed, gray… take your prefered pick. For me, even the colonial buildings and some little parks can not make up for it. Thus, I tried to find the next funicular as quick as possible. My lunch I had at some asian place. And off, I went. Up and down the hills. Impressed by colour, murals, little features, views. After 7 hours of straying through the city, I felt like it was time to go back to the terrace of the hotel, have some reflection and silence. This evening, the adviced restaurant was open. Most people were sitting inside, but outside on the terrace the view was much nicer. Thus, I took my scarf and handled the wind. I asked the waiter for a typical chilenean dish. Good food! Good drinks.
