Wednesday, after
dropping off some laundry, we decided to head over to Barrio Italia to check it
out. It is another neighbourhood that is
supposed to be a good one to stay in, with lots of bars & restaurants,
etc. Now, it was morning when we got over
there, but it was pretty quiet. There
did seem to be to be a lot of restaurants and bars along a couple of the main
streets, but it was limited to a fairly small area. We did find a nice little spot for lunch (a
nice beef sandwich, with a seared tuna salad, yumm) after a bit of
wandering. Then we headed out to Avenida
Alameda Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins, the main thoroughfare across this part
of the city. O’Higgins was the other
main figure in the liberation of Chile, along with General José de San Martín. We had seen a
number of interesting buildings along this street when we were heading out on the
bus for our wine tour and we wanted to check some of them out. Then we headed
back to pick up our laundry, right on time which, of course, meant we were too early.
Later we grabbed dinner, a nice veggie pizza
with added pepperoni, at a place right at the corner on our street, called Tres
Valles.
Thursday,
we had a tour booked to visit the Pacific coast, to Valparaiso, and Viña del
Mar. Only problem was, the tour we
booked was not the tour that we got. It
was supposed to be a small group tour and it ended up being a big bus tour,
which we hate. They picked us up in a
small van, but then loaded us onto a big bus halfway out of the city. And the itinerary was very different from
what was listed. We were not amused, to
say the least, but we made the best of it.
We first went to Valpo, as it is called, and entered from the top of the
hills and got off and did a walking tour down to the center of the city. Valpo is a busy port city but it is also a
very artsy town, so art is everywhere.
We were there in the morning, so it was pretty quiet, since the artistic
types don’t normally get up before noon. And it was a very cloudy, hazy day, so not the best for photos. We did get to take the little funicular for the last bit of the descent. (We do like our funiculars!)
Then we
headed down the road a bit to Viña del Mar, sort of a typical beachfront
wealthy playground city, a stark contrast to the gritty port, but artistic, vibe
of Valpo. We had a very good fish lunch
at Chinqui, a Peruvian place just off Reñaca Beach and then just wandered along
the beach a bit. Didn’t really get to
see much of the town. Then back
on the bus and back to Santiago to begin the arduous process of dropping everyone
off at their lodgings– one of the joys of big bus tours. For dinner at a place at the end of our little
street, we finally tried chorrillana, which is sort of the national dish in Chile
– French fries piled with cheese and braised, shredded beef, often with a fried
egg on top (we skipped the egg). OK, but
doesn’t hold a candle to good poutine.
It is filling, though.
Friday
morning, we headed back over to Bellavista for some souvenir shopping, then
came back across the river for lunch at a place called Républica Independiente del Pisco or CHiPE Libre, after
the imaginary country comprising all of the parts of Chile and Peru where Pisco
is produced. The place had always been
packed when we went by, but we had though it was more of a bar. We got there just as they were opening and by
the time we left it was jam packed. We
had been craving a salad and had an excellent one along with some wonderful
hummus. And the rest of the menu looked
really good, too. We of course started
with Pisco sours and finally got a bottle of Chilean Pino Noir (from the Casablanca
Valley).
Then home to rest up before a belated Birthday Dinner for
Carol (we hadn’t wanted to book anything for after our tour on Thursday). We went to a place called Peumayen Ancestral
Food, a trendy place that does variations on traditional indigenous dishes, in
a variety of tasting menus. We opted for
the 6 course wine pairing menu and it was very good overall. Some items were a bit weird, but they were
all in very small portions, with 3 different items per course. The 6 wines, from Clos des Fous, were all very
good, in particular an excellent 2015 Malbec.
Unfortunately, Carol was not feeling very well, so did not get to fully enjoy
her Birthday Dinner.
Saturday, back to Panama for a quick, 2 night stop on our
way home.
2025-02-15