Chile - Impressions of Santiago

Santiago, the capital of Chile is located at the foothills of a large mountain range. It is a very modern city and there is a lot of construction going on. Especially the new areas in the business district could be anywhere in Dallas or Boston, modern glass and steel towers hosting lots of office space. Nevertheless there are very many old parts of the city, personally I liked Bellavista the best, not much traffic, cozy atmosphere and lots of street cafes, bars and restaurants. A perfect area to enjoy the great weather. It was kind of funny to walk around in shorts, T-shirt and flip flops, enjoying the sun and warm temperatures, but then having Christmas decoration and lights everywhere.

I have to admit I did not do many "touristy" things and spend very little time exploring the city. After San Pedro de Atacama I was just too tired, physically, but also mentally. I took the time to relax, see a dentist to check up on the tooth that bothered me so tremendously in the dessert, catch up on my blog and just "chill" a little.


One of the many modern office high rises in Santiago.


The B&B I was staying at, the perfect place in a quite side street (next to the French embassy), just a few minutes walk from Bellavista.

After a couple of days I moved to a different hostel, the "Happy House Hostel" in a different part of town. The Barrio Brazil must have been a very wealthy neighbourhood in the past, now it seems to be getting slowly better after many years of neglect. I especially liked this little area with many old houses and a really good restaurant.

The "Happy House Hostel", one of the best hostels I have ever stayed at. A little more expensive, but it was worth it. An old refurbished mansion, high ceilings, hard wood floors, painted in many funky colors, cool interior design and an awesome roof deck. Almost a "home away from home".

Finally I started exploring a little. Nothing special abut this photo, I was just trying to capture the atmosphere for you.

More impressions ....

Of course I fulfilled my tourist duty in the end. I spent one day walking around the city, using the great subway system to explore as much as possible in one day .... I was exhausted by the end of the day :-)

The Presidential Palace .... when Pinochet took over many years ago it was set on fire and under mysterious circumstances Allende died. Interesting, just two days after I left Pinochet died and there were big demonstrations and protests right here. Glad I missed that.

Santiago offers an intriguing combination of old and new ....

.... especially here. The old church on the main square, right next to it an ultra modern glass high rise and kind of in between this huge Christmas tree.

Next to Bellavista is a mountain with a cable car going all the way to the top. from up there you have spectacular views of the city. Well, I went up there with thousands of Chileans since it was one of the most important religious holidays. Going up was no problem, but coming done there were lines hundreds and hundreds of meters long ..... finally I decided to walk, got lost and was completely exhausted when I finally returned to the base station.



The view from the mountain, unfortunately it was a little cloudy.