After our Santiago Christmas we headed west to the coast for a relaxing couple of days before the big trip south. We spent a day in the harbour city of Valparaiso, famous for its art and favela like feel. The port played a very important role in Chile’s history, as it acted as the main trade harbour between Santiago and the rest of the world. It was voted culture capital of Chile in 2003 and has been give World Heritage Site status from Unesco for its street art, graffiti, intricate stairways and lifts and beautiful crumbling buildings at every corner. But despite the beauty the city has earned its favela status. It is very hilly and many of the streets are accessible only by the narrow stairways scattered around the city. We were warned not to go through these stairways at night and on the way home we had to take the not so scenic back route to avoid any problems. Apart from that the city is super colourful (as I think the photos show) and the beautiful weather was an even bigger plus!
