Santiago de Chile

 

Just as in Buenos Aires, we used several walks from GPSmyCity to organize our tours of Santiago neighborhoods.  Uber is simple and cheap here, preferable to taxis.  Unlike Buenos Aires, it seemed that every restaurant, no matter how small or casual, accepted credit cards and allowed service to be included in the charge.

We started our visit to Santiago by climbing Santa Lucia Hill to Castillo Hidalgo (fort), then descending to the iconic Neptune Fountain.  The Santa Lucia Market across Avenida Liberador Bernardo O’Higgins is worth a visit.  Farther along Av O’Higgins we turn onto the pedestrian-only Ahumada shopping street.  Plaza de La Constitucion is surrounded by government buildings and contains statues of former presidents.  On the south side of the plaza is the La Moneda (Presidential) Palace, site of the “suicide” of President Salvador Allende during the 1973 military coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power (more on that later).  The Changing of the Guard (every other day at 10am) was impressive and entertaining.  When the band started playing Michael Jackson’s Thriller, then YMCA, it really broke up the solemnity of the event.  The National Congress moved from Constitution Square to the city of Valparaiso in 1990 as part of the changes brought by the new democratically elected government, intending to decentralize governmental institutions.  

Andes is the distance

Neptune Fountain

La Moneda Palace

Plaza de Armas is a beautiful public square with impressive buildings on all sides, and eateries around the periphery.  First established in 1541, we learned that the Spanish created these “Arms Square” in all their colonial cities as a place of refuge and protection if the city is attacked. On the west side is the impressive Catedral Metropolitana, built between 1748 and 1800.  There have been churches on this site since the mid-sixteenth century (all destroyed by fire or earthquake).    

Plaza de Armas

Metropolitan Cathedral

Cathedral Nave

Churches: in additional to the main cathedral, we visited several impressive churches.  San Francisco, the oldest church in Santiago.  Church of our Lady of Grace has a famous wooden statue of Jesus whose crown of thorns slipped down around his neck during the 1647 earthquake.  Santo Domingo church is beautiful in its simple and austere interior.  Basilica de la Merced possesses a relic reputed to be a sliver of Jesus’s cross, making the Basilica a major pilgrimage site.  

San Francisco

San Francisco

St Michael

Our Lady of Grace

Crown of Thorns

Santo Domingo Nave

Santo Domingo

Basilica Merced

Basilica Merced

Cross relic

The Mercado Central (Central Market) is an impressive structure built in England, transported and reassembled in Santiago in 1872.  It’s home to an eclectic collection of food stalls, artisan shops and eateries.  

Paris-Londres (London) is a small enclave of architectural gems adjoining San Francisco church.  These are among the oldest streets in Santiago, dating to the sixteenth century.  The mansions built along these streets were built in the early twentieth century and resemble the Latin quarter of Paris.  38 Londres was a torture center during the Pinochet regime, and is now a memorial to the victims.  

Paris Street

London Street

London Street

The Lastarria neighborhood is situated between Santa Lucia Hill and Parque Forestal.  It has quaint winding streets, and lots of bars and restaurants, especially along Merced Street.  We had a great dinner at Bar Liguria Lastarria, which has great atmosphere as well.   

We explored the Recoleta neighborhood centered on Avenida Recoleta.  The Church and Convent of the Franciscan Recoleta was worth visiting.  La Vega market near the church provided interesting insight into the local community, as it primarily focuses on meat, produce and household goods.  The Passeo Patronato is a famous shopping street, but we found it to be grungy and underwhelming.  Walking along Santa Filomina leads into Bellavista, which is a very cute neighborhood.  From Castillo Lehuede (Red House) and Plaza Camilo at the base of Cerro San Cristobal (hill), we walked along Pio Nono and Constitucion streets lined with restaurants and shops.  The Patio Bellavista is a huge complex of restaurants and shops.  

Franciscan Recoleta

Castillo Lehuede

Patio Bellavista

Guanaco (llama) crudo

We had a great dining experience at Peumayen in Bellavista.  They specialize in the cuisine of indigenous people from the various regions of Chile.  

It is a short Uber ride to the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (Museum of Memory and Human Rights).  This museum tells the story of the 1973 military coup that ended the Allende democratically-elected government and replaced it with a military junta led by Augusto Pinochet.  It also highlights the personal tragedies of thousands who disappeared.  It is an incredible museum, but is best experienced through the English-language tour.