After similar
breakfast to yesterday and sorting out some bits and pieces, walked down to the
bus station to see how long it would take, exactly 30 minutes; and all downhill
or on the flat. Most of the way through the non-tourist oriented commercial
centre of the city, much of which looks shabby and down at heel, the
streets lined with small independent shops selling everything from ladies
underwear to hydraulic equipment. Many people selling stuff from makeshift
pitches on the street. Better street cleaning and a few coats of paint would
improve its "look" but that's the gentrifier in me talking!
It took me a
while to find the metro station. Having spent lots of money
building the Valparaiso metro, based on an old pre-existing railway, I would
have thought it would have been worth investing in a few signs, particularly
from the bus station. Having said that, the modern Alstom train was quite busy
with standing room only. It only took a
few minutes, mostly running along the coast, to reach Vina del Mar. Initially I
was quite underwhelmed by the place. I found some pleasant gardens in a square
near the metro station, crossed a bridge over a dried-up river bed, now being
used as a car park, and walked along what I thought was the main street, Avenida
de la Libertad through a mixed residential and commercial area. It was
obviously far more affluent than downtown Valparaiso but nothing to get excited
about. Apart, that is, from the graduating class of the Barbie finishing school who
came sashaying along the pavement. About a dozen, immaculately turned out,
young women in late teens or early twenties, all with perfect figures, shoulder
length blonde wavy hair, perfectly tanned skin and mostly wearing black shorts
and loose white tops. Modelling school?
Eventually I found
the beach, my first close encounter with the Pacific for several years. A long beach of golden sand with plenty of
people sunbathing and a few paddling in the sea, which looked as benign as its
name suggests, but the lifeguards had posted red flags so no swimming. I had
heard that Vina del Mar was famous for its seafood restaurants but my hopes of
finding a cosy little seafront restaurant came face to face with the reality
that the road along the beach is lined with big blocks of apartments and a few
hotels. Poole and Sentosa both have better beach front cafes! I did find some Italian restaurants in a street
running parallel to the beach and had a panini in one of them. I seem to be
overdosing on bread here; I casually said "yes" to the offer of garlic bread, expecting
a few slices of toasted bread with some garlic butter, but when the plate
arrived it was filled with a dozen thick slices of baguette topped with melted
cheese. And the panini was another half baguette! No chance for desert!
Continued my walk along the beach until the sand turned to large granite rocks,
some with biblical graffiti. Eventually turned inland and found Avenida
Valparaiso which seems to be the main tourist-focused street with restaurants,
shops etc. Slowly warming to Vina del Mar, possibly because the sun has come
out and blue sky has replaced the grey cloud of this morning. It wouldn't come
close to top of my list of the world's beach resorts but not a bad place to
come if you live in Central Chile. Came back to Valparaiso on the metro, 2200
for the round trip ticket.
Later in the evening I took the ascensore Reina Victoria, constructed in
1902, up to Concepcion where I had a salmon ceviche and a beer on the terrace of
a pleasant restaurant overlooking the bay. Packed and ready for an early start
tomorrow morning.
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| Did she know she had a lift named after her? |
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| Last look at daylight view over Valparaiso |
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| Saw several cafes painted in these colours, Coca-Cola? |
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| Nighttime Valparaiso |
Are you drinking plenty of Chilean wine? I know that the quality of their export wines has improved enormously over the last 20 years, but what do you think of the wine that they keep for domestic consumption?
ReplyDeleteHow are you getting on with understanding the local menus?
Mostly drinking beer rather than wine. Most places sell wine by the bottle with limited options for by the glass and usually not shown on the menu or wine list.There seems to be plenty of good wine available at reasonable prices. Generally finding that at proper restaurants food is good and menu mostly understandable. Google translate is a wonderful invention. But at little local places food is mediocre. Pizza but not as we know it!
ReplyDelete