Valparaíso: Chilean City of Both Natural and Painted Views
Day 21, 2023 Grand South America and Antarctica
Friday, Oct. 27, 2023; San Antonio, Chile
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! We didn’t exactly get lemons today, but our tour guide gave us quite the surprise to make up for the fact that the scheduled winery was closed for a holiday.
Today’s port was San Antonio, about an hour or so from Santiago, the capital of Chile. Until about five years ago, cruise shops docked in Valparaíso, a city with much more to offer tourists than San Antonio – such as walking right off the ship into town. Labor disputes resulted in the move to San Antonio, an industrial port that requires a shuttle bus just to leave the port area.
In 2020, we took a winery tour that somehow got offtrack (we believe the driver was lost) and spent much of the time cruising backroads this way and that. This time, I opted for a tour focused on Valparaíso, which I thought would be a picturesque town to sketch. It turns out to be a big city, pretty old but scarred by earthquakes and even tsunamis.
Our surprise came with a deviation to Viña del Mar, the upscale cousin to Valparaíso with a long stretch of beach lined with apartments and condos. Our guide took us to his beachfront apartment, where he and his wife offered champagne and red and white Chilean wines, along with finger food.
Here we saw how a mining engineer from Germany, who fell in love with guiding tours and a Chilean wife, lives in Chile. If I lived here, I would be hard-pressed to leave the apartment and its view of the beach. But Michael had a final surprise: We gathered on the lawn for a delightful puppet show. He really did go the extra mile to make sure we had a fun day.
During the pandemic, I wrote about the mural project in my sister Eloise’s hometown of Fort Smith, Ark. It has nothing on Valparaíso, or even yesterday’s port of Coquimbo. Beautiful murals are everywhere, mixed in with graffiti. I have dozens of photos, but I’ll just mix a representative few in here along with the description of our day.
Valparaíso is about as hilly as it can get, and several times Michael mentioned the similarities to San Francisco. Both suffered devastating earthquakes in 1906. And Valparaíso’s port, in particular, suffered from the loss of business after the Panama Canal opened.
I just had time to sketch the outline of the Naval Headquarters at Plaza Sotomayor before we walked along the old financial district to an ascensores, or funicular. These dot the downtown area, carrying locals up the hills to their residences. Elsewhere, long flights of steps suffice.
Murals of all sizes cover every surface, from kiosk sides to retaining walls, from doors to inside walls.
I know that the Chilean flag is similar to that of my home state of Texas, but it still catches my eye every time I see it. Apparently, it is a common mistake to confuse the two. One legislator recently introduced a bill calling on Texans to stop using the wrong emoji.
This place looks great.
Wow! That was lemonade! Those murals are really something. Sounds like an interesting day for sure.
Wow! That’s a place I’d love to see!
Love your description of Valparaiso. What wonderful memories it brought back to us.! We stayed there for 3 days before boarding a HAL ship several years ago.
Thanks Jo, What an interesting place, and what a great tour. Noting that the P-to-P will come here, it would be hard not to tour Valpairaíso! Happy cruising, Ian
I stayed in Viña del Mar at the Sheraton in February 2019 pre cruise before boarding in Valparaiso. Great sea views! I loved it there and would like to go back some day. Viña del Mar sort of reminded me of Miami Beach for some reason. Thanks for the reminder of this area and the murals.
Hi Jo
Enjoyed reading your post on Valparaiso Chile.
What’s even better then, turning lemons into lemonade is your host. Michael’s idea to turn them into wine and snacks in his own home! How kind. That was real Sharing of the culture of Chile 🇨🇱
Your Florida friend, Jeanie
Sailing on the Prinsendam in 2017 we docked in Valparaiso but in 2019 we were sent to San Antonio with the explanation that the Chinese government had purchased the Valparaiso port facilities and no longer allowed cruise ships to dock. Interesting that now it’s “labor disputes”
The day we were there a Viking cruise ship and an expedition cruise ship were both docked in Valparaíso.
Jo,
I found your blog when I was reading a Cruise Critic post on the Westerdam cruise from Vancouver to Japan. We’re thinking of booking the reverse cruise in April 2026 when we’re on the Oosterdam next month from Ft. Lauderdale to SanAntonio (Santiago) Chile, And so I just subscribed to your blog.
Naturally I had to look up you blog aorund South America, And who do I find but the German Pirate himself, Michael Arnold! I’ve been WhatsApping with him for a few months about the post cruise tour I’ve planned for Valparraiso and Santiago. Now I’m really looking forward to his tour! Thanks so much for your photos and commentary. I will certainly be looking up more of your blogposts.