The second half of our city tour had us travel to the neighboring town of Valparaiso to check out the historical city with tons of culture and buzzing port.
The main square is a huge open area, flanked with old & new buildings on all sides, an enormous sculpture in the middle, and trolley buses zipping through on cable lines.
One of the really fun unique things about the town were the funiculars or lifts that were short rides up the steep hills. They were a cheap & common local transportation and had been for many decades. We drove up to the top of one & got a sweeping view of the bustling port down below and the local market outside the ticket booth.
The city has a ton of art & so much personality flows from the paintings found on buildings & even the lift cars.
We took a short ride down to the bottom in the old wooden box on railroad tracks towards the port where thousands of freight containers were being unloaded and the local fishing boats were returning from their morning excursions.
We continued our tour walking around one of the neighborhoods up the hill, exploring winding roads, peeking out at the lovely vistas, and brilliantly colorful buildings.
I was impressed with how clean & well-kept most of the area was maintained, and there were dozens of hostels and lovely restaurants around.
Around every corner was another colorful building or exquisite mural on the wall. It was fairly quite and calm walking around these cafes & residential areas, much different than the chaos and traffic jams below us snaking through downtown.
We greatly enjoyed our tour- it was a neat town, although much more working & business than the laid-back holiday vibe of Vina del Mar.
The history of the town, the funky & unique streets, the colorful characters painted and roaming around all made Valparaiso a lovely town to tour.
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Headed to my first ever retreat- so stoked to be doing nothing other than yoga, photography, writing, dancing, and bonding with a fab group of women in New York.
