Posted August 27, 20177 yr valparaiso, chile long hikes around the fantastically atmospheric, utterly unique, earthquake prone, backpacker beloved, historic, charming, funicularized, graffiti plastered & epically, epically hilly valparaiso, chile -- enjoy! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valpara%C3%ADso la sebastiana, pablo neruda’s casa museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Neruda neruda’s views valpo by city bus palacio barburizza bristol house the piano steps jinkees! bar cinzano restaurant https://www.barcinzano.cl plaza anibal pinto
August 27, 20177 yr plaza sotomayor monumento a los heroes de iquique comandancia armada de chile bar la playa si, si -- always the stairs you must -- !!!!! continua, continua -- you can do it -- lol ! old school valpo hoops hall fortin prat holds 3k spectators mercado cardonal the main building was rebuilt after an earthquake in 1912 you might notice by the design the building was pre-fabricated in germany plaza echaurren time to take a ride -- here on the ascensor artilleria funicular there are 26 funiculars in valparaiso, but only 8 or so are currently in use a few more are in the middle of being rebuilt paseo 21 de mayo hillside boardwalk there are several scenic boardwalks around valpo rebuilding a funicular -- great to see this! adios valparaiso mi amor *** i hope you enjoyed a long look around the historic portside city of valparaiso, chile ***
August 28, 20177 yr It's kinda got that rugged Lisboa look. I dig it. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
August 28, 20177 yr Well, this sure is a lot different from the other Valparaiso in Indiana! Thanks for sharing! Chile seems like such an interesting place. “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”
August 28, 20177 yr Well, this sure is a lot different from the other Valparaiso in Indiana! Chile also has a Los Angeles. It looks like the reason why this city is so well-preserved is because its fortunes declined when the Panama Canal opened. The city we are seeing appears to be very large but is actually not really that populous -- only about 250,000.
August 30, 20177 yr yes, per wiki its 155 sq.mi. today and the population was 284,630 in 2012 (metro 930,220), 6th largest in chile. valparaiso thrived as a major port city in the 1800's. it had latin america's first stock exchange and first fire department. it still has the oldest spanish language newspaper in the world, el mercurio. it seriously declined after the panama canal opened and was abandoned by the rich. however it's long stagnation has paid off leaving a unique look and heritage. it was declared a world heritage site in 2003 and in the last 20yrs it fortunes are returning via tourism and via its local major colleges and universities. a transit quirk is that the valpo trollybus system they use only began in 1952, which is curious because that was around the era when america got rid of them over here. whats cool is that many of the original trolleybuses are still in use. they also have a nice new lightrail line as well as mini busses, regular city busses and very comfortable inter-city busses. its really a breathtaking place, in more ways than one given all the hills and steps (!). i highly recommend visiting if you can. if you don't want to constantly deal with the hills of the old city you can stay in vina del mar, the touristic beach hotel town next door, which is flat. however, if you want to really explore and can handle the epic hilliness by all means stay in town. valpo aint all old though, there is plenty of new construction as well as rehabbed new, modern interiors behind old fronts -- the renovation efforts are very impressive. our hotel and something like this pic are examples: http://www.casagalos.cl/index.php?lang=en so thats all for colorful valparaiso -- but more chile to come.
August 30, 20177 yr South America seems to have a lot of these cities and small towns built on hilly terrain. There are quite a number of Red Bull-type mountain biking videos where they plunge down these sorts of city staircases. Cincinnati does of course have a few flashes of this sort of terrain...here is one example, although things were once much denser: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1178663,-84.5090517,3a,75y,291.04h,94.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxly3DfFvWH8SolxTDPT2rg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 And another: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1168313,-84.5150526,3a,75y,77.04h,106.46t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJAmevT8ej8sDq4mOIjTjMQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 And another: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1063405,-84.4980164,3a,75y,257.03h,98.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sM_YQn6WlIQFMrug6p5136w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 Although it's interesting to see that for how dense the old hilly areas of Cincinnati are relative to most American cities, they don't compare with how packed-in things were in South America. A "street" narrower than 20 feet is very rare in the United States, even in cities with relatively narrow streets.
August 30, 20177 yr Wow that's a great set of photos. What a unique city. What brought you to Valparaiso?
August 30, 20177 yr A transit quirk is that the valpo trollybus system they use only began in 1952, which is curious because that was around the era when america got rid of them over here. whats cool is that many of the original trolleybuses are still in use. they also have a nice new lightrail line as well as mini busses, regular city busses and very comfortable inter-city busses. It's really a breathtaking place, in more ways than one given all the hills and steps (!). i highly recommend visiting if you can. if you don't want to constantly deal with the hills of the old city you can stay in vina del mar, the touristic beach hotel town next door, which is flat. however, if you want to really explore and can handle the epic hilliness by all means stay in town. In relation to Cincinnati, at least, your comments about Valparaiso's trolleybuses were spot on. In the 1950's to early '60's, Cincy disposed of a number of buses virtually identical to these in the photos. There was once a large "car barn" in Evanston at the intersection of Hewitt & Woodburn where the buses were serviced and stored. As far as the breathtaking beauty of this city, what can I say that hasn't been expressed umpteen times before? No matter how many cities in the world may resemble it, either wholly or in part, Valparaiso occupies a realm all its own. Your photos are evidence enough that this magical place really does exist.
August 31, 20177 yr Wow that's a great set of photos. What a unique city. What brought you to Valparaiso? three weeks of vacation in chile in july, so more to come. we really loved it and even though its winter down there now it never really got cold. i think maybe a bit lucky, but we had fantastic and clear weather the whole time. so i would say its good to visit chile any time of year.
August 31, 20177 yr South America seems to have a lot of these cities and small towns built on hilly terrain. There are quite a number of Red Bull-type mountain biking videos where they plunge down these sorts of city staircases. Cincinnati does of course have a few flashes of this sort of terrain...here is one example, although things were once much denser: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1178663,-84.5090517,3a,75y,291.04h,94.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxly3DfFvWH8SolxTDPT2rg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 I'm almost positive that turn is in the big Airborne rollerblade race.
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