Valparaiso is a labyrinth of streets and hills. Many say it resembles San Fransisco with the hills, but it's different. Many of the streets curve back and forth. The hills are not easy to navigate and it's difficult to represent all of the them on maps, so they are of little help. If you head up one hill, you cannot assume you can easily get to the hill next to it.
Fortunately we had a week to figure this all out. At first I was worried about spending that much time here, but I soon realized we were just looking in the wrong parts of town. Our house was situated at one end of Valparaiso and many of the hills worth exploring were on the other side.
By now we had figured out how to walk to the center of town instead of taking the bus. It wasn't pretty, with more dog poop mines and the occasional homeless person. From there, we had a choice of funiculars to take to the top of a hill. I had no idea what a funicular was until Valparaiso. It's a cable railway, an inclined plane, that has an ascending and descending car that counter balance each other. Apparently these are all over the states too, I just never had any experience with them. Some of these are over 100 years old, a great piece of history, but concerning when you ride in them. The price of ride varies, but is wasn't more than 60 cents, usually less. You could always walk the stairs if you wanted.
Steps up....funicular to the right
Going up
The most popular cerro or hill for tourists is Cerro Concepcion. Once we got up here it all made sense. The street art, the restaurants, local artists selling crafts and jewelry, quaint shops, the cobblestone streets and colorful rowhouses. What a difference! We spent the whole day just wandering the streets in this neighborhood.
View from one part of the top of Cerra Concepcion
Now that's a thin house
Creative sign at a cafe
The street art is Valpairaso's signature and it's everywhere. Walking through the streets of some neighborhoods is like walking through an art gallery. You go slowly and examine each one, pondering the creator's purpose. Some capture your interest more than other, and some you want to go and cover your children's eyes. Of course, the latter are the ones children notice first.
I liked this one with the little boy looking out the window
Where there's a wall, there is art
Clearly stairs painted too...at the top it says "We are not hippies, we are happies"
An artist in action
Some of the architecture in Valpraiso is unusual too. There is a great deal of German influence here. Many Germans came to Chile in the early 1900's.
Just one building with German features
A happy crowd
We loved this part of Valpairaso....so much that we decided to stay for two more days. We left the room in the house and got a small apartment in the Concepcion neighborhood.