Chile travel blog by Mark Berman -
May 2008
April 2009
April 2014
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I had passed through Santiago a few times before but didn't visit the city properly until 2014. I spent 3 days walking many kilometers exploring
and I must say that I absolutely love this city! I stayed very close to the Plaza de Armas, this really is the heart of the city, not the plaza but the
blocks all around filled with 100's of shops, places to eat and street activity ranging from music groups to clowns and comical impersonators. History and
historic architecture as well as old churches, statues and monuments are scattered all around the city. Santiago is an easy place to navigate overland
around the streets but also has a fantastic modern and clean underground train system. There are some lovely parks and green spaces to be enjoyed, you are
never too far away from one. Bellavista Neighborhood
Santiago has many very distinctive neighborhoods, 2 of them I spent a lot of time in, one was Barrio Bellavista. I had planned
to visit this neighborhood but actually stumbled upon it anyway while just walking around, it's about 20mins walk from the center. Bellavista is a Bohemian
neighborhood full of vibrant streets, cafes, restaurants, bars and block after block of fine street art and murals. Murals are a huge part of Chilean culture,
every city I have been to is full of it! I enjoyed over 2 and a half hours of street art photography right there. Bellavista is very close to the university
so has many young people around, it's a very cool place to hang out.
Brazil Neighborhood
For the next day I planned to visit the Brazil Neighborhood (Barrio Brazil). I had
researched this place before I arrived in town and knew it was the crem de la crem location to see street art. It is also the most overlooked neighborhood in
Santiago by travelers, probably because it is more rundown and a lot less safe. And yes it is, it is not Bellavista! Barrio Brazil for me was just amazing,
5 solid hours photographing block after block, street after street, wall after wall after wall of mostly fantastic murals and street art. The kind of thing
that makes you fall in love with street corners!
Other Points of Interest
On my 3rd day in Santiago I wandered around trying to see anything I hadn't seen before as well as book a
bus for the next day across the border to Mendoza. I did that in the morning by getting the train to the university station to buy the ticket. During the
day I saw the old Congress Palace, the theatre, various plazas and churches and briefly visited another neighborhood called Barrio Lastarria, the neighborhood
of cinemas, theaters, museums and fine restaurants. Santa Lucia Hill is another great place to visit, a park on a hill with stone staircases climbing up to
the lookout point at the top. In the evening on my last night in town 2 local friends who I met the year before in Uruguay drove me to see a few sights. They
took me to Bicentennial Park as the sun was going down, a new and very large park that receives around 300,000 visitors per year. I really look forward to
visiting Santiago again in the future! From Santiago I travelled by bus
over the mountains to
Mendoza in Argentina.
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San Francisco church (1618) in Santiago, the oldest building in the capital city.
Statue of the cathedral and a mirrored building in central Santiago.
Cathedral built 1753-1799, opened in 1775 in Santiago.
Great military monument featuring many figures in Santiago.
