Just a minute drive from the capital of Santiago, this gritty but enchanting city was one of Chiles best kept secrets until recently. Valparaiso is packed top to bottom with its own unique but enchanting personality. Valparaiso is a merchant port, lined with crumbling mansions, backed by a maze of graffitied alleyways, and perfectly completed by a horizon of snowcapped mountains.
It lures you into relaxation and admiration, and the streets are perfectly designed for ambling. Street Art — I dare say it, but Valparaiso has some of the most impressive graffiti in the world. The graffiti is legal too, and in fact encouraged by the government who provides the locals with free paint and supplies to decorate the city as they desire. One rule exists: get permission from whoever owns the property first or it will get painted over.
The result being a unique, bohemian, artistic city like no other. In the supermarkets you can purchase 1. Be sure to indulge yourself with Chiles signature red wine, the Carmenere, and the locally produced Malbec. Roaming Hounds — unexplainably the stray street dogs will adorably wait at traffic lights with the pedestrians and not cross the road until the light turns to green. The locals are too dumbfounded by this, especially as dogs are colourblind. They are so adored in fact, that the majority of policemen and security guards in the city have adopted a canine friend each to be their full time sidekick in the k-9 police unit.
This curious drink comes in pitchers, each of which consists of 8 cups of white wine, 1 cup of pisco sour Chilean brandy , 5 scoops of pineapple sherbet and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Vibrant Nightlife — no bohemian city would be complete without an outgoing nightlife to accompany it. Watering holes of all descriptions come to life here; microbreweries, wine bars, dingy pubs, music venues, al fresco restaurants and nightclubs — it has it all.
All walks of nightlife here are waiting to be discovered in the labyrinth of the city, and up in the panoramic hills overlooking the city and its bay. Bear in mind, in a true South American style, you must have a seat in any bar or restaurant to be able to purchase a drink. These rickety wooden cable car-like lifts are part of a historic transport system used to create a shortcut up and down the steep seaside cerros hills.
