Walking the hills of Valparaíso
Much of Valparaíso’s charm revolves around its brightly colored houses stacked somewhat haphazardly on its many hills, hence the parallels people draw between Valpo and San Francisco. Unfortunately the two cities also share a climate: the dreaded “marine layer,” also known as fog. Grey clouds tone down even the loudest home paint jobs, and cold weather makes aimless wandering much less appealing.
I was prepared to make the best of bad weather, but Laura and I got lucky with strong sunshine for both days of our weekend in Valparaíso. And with a blue sky as its backdrop, the city tempted us to spend much of our time just walking around the cerros Alegre, Concepción, Bellavista and Artilleria.
Join us on a virtual tour – good weather guaranteed, and you won’t end up with the sore muscles we had after two days of climbing the never-ending stairs!
These funiculars date to the late 1800s and are part of what makes the city a UNESCO World Heritage Site
View from the top of the ascensor
Paseo Atkinson - wouldn't like to have tourists walking by all day, but the view might just make up for it!
Magnets made from images of Valparaíso graffiti
We had to climb those steps to our hostel...more than made up for all the eating we did!
Another funicular up to the top of Cerro Artillería
La Sebastiana, one of poet Pablo Neruda's eclectically decorated houses
No post about wandering Valpo would be complete without a picture of a cat - they're everywhere!
The artwork on these steps was breath-taking
More in this series:
Graffiti in Valparaíso
Colorful eats in a colorful city
Review: Casa Valparaíso Hostel
7 reasons to take a boat tour in Valparaíso
Thanks to Laura for the pictures!
Those magnets are so cool! And I love the stair artwork – so pretty
I wasn’t really sure whether the magnets belonged in this post or the Valparaíso graffiti post, honestly, but I knew I wanted to share them because I think they’re pretty cool.
You and your friend look so beautiful! LOVE that last shot!!!
Aww, thank you! Those stairs were incredible, even after all the other amazing graffiti we’d seen.
Great photos! I loved Valparaiso when I was there last year. The art and colors are amazing, and I agree that it is a lot like San Francisco!
I feel like I have too much hometown love for SF to let myself find the similarities – for me there’s no city like The City!
Love Valpo! You are lucky to live so close
Every time I go I swear I’m going to go more often – maybe after such a great time on this trip I will finally keep that promise.
I LOVE that staircase!! This sounding more and more like an epic girls’ trip…
We were amazed, it really was so detailed. And yes, definitely an epic girls’ weekend!
Lovely views from above, oh, and I really enjoyed the pic with the kitty. Ohhhhh
He (she?) was a cute kitty
Great photos. Can’t wait till we get down to Chile
Thanks! And I have a feeling it may take you guys a while to get all this way, but if I’m here when you finally make it, I’ll happily show you around.
You’re on. Are you free February 12, 2014?
I’ll pencil you guys in
Wow! Love Le Sabastiana. Thanks for sharing!
er, la!
It’s really crazily decorated inside and well worth the visit, but the wait was ridiculously long that day, so we just enjoyed the outside view.