Day 11: Santiago, a Beautiful City
So far we had spent two nights in Santiago, and even a meal or two, but had really not spent any time in the city. That would change for these last two days, before this vacation comes to its depressing end. From the little I had seen of Santiago by night, it seemed stunning. After spend a day there, I am in many ways blown away by the city as a whole.
Our day started after parking in one of Santiago's numerous truly high quality underground garages, by walking through Parque Forrestal, which goes from Santiago's little museum square down to Plaza Baquedano hugging the river. The green was great as it provided a good amount of shade on a hot day. Each block was also some monument and sculpture, a commonality shared throughout Santiago.
From there we went to Mercado Central for a quick seafood lunch. This was actually the one slight disappointment in the city. Unlike the central market in Panama City that we loved, including for its delightful fresh seafood, the one in Santiago seemed a bit too touristy. The place we ended up picking was omnipresent within the market, getting a soup of 'mariscos' (mussels, shrimp, squid), and a ceviche done Peruvian style. Neither was great, not awful, and it was a quick in and out job giving us a good amount of time to traipse through other parts of the center of the city.
We walked south from the Mercado Central to the Barrio Civic, where many of the city's government and public structures lie. All this area is pristine, with wide open streets, good security presence limiting hawkers and other fares, and just perfect white, ornate buildings showing a hidden might of Chile. We walked first to the large Plaza Constitucion, with ornate buildings on each side, and the Palacio de La Monedo, in white, on the south face, guarded by security, On all sides of teh plaza, which itself is green with large trees and ferns (Santiago is a very green city) are statues of various Chilean leaders. On the other side of the Palacio de La Moneda, is another open plaza, with another statue, but what makes this area really cool is what is underneath.
Chile's president in the Mid-2000s made improving Santiago's cultural centers a key priority, so they created one, a beautiful stone and concrete 3-level open area with museum-quality exhibitions, shops selling fairly high-quality cultural fare, multiple cafes, and just a good vibe. Two blocks East of this was the financial area, with their own version of wall street, and a few other inner roads connecting the main internal thoroughfare (Avenida Alemada) with the plaza, that are pedestrian only. This inner part of the city was unlike anything I've seen in Central and Southern America, and can compare easily with many European cities.
What may need to improve to match the major European cities, however, are the museums. We are going to a few more tomorrow, and to be fair they aren't played up as huge tourist attractions, but they were a bit fallow so far. The one's we mainly checked out today were housed in teh same building on the West end of Parque Forrestal, housing both the Art museums showcasing contemporary and fine arts. Neither were large collections - which is nice given a huge collection with lesser quality would have been grating. The contemporary art museum was forgettable. The fine arts one had some interesting elements. First was a series of Roman sculptures done by Chilean artists at the turn of the 20th Century, as replications of the actual ones. Teh second was a whole collection of interesting photography or textile based artwork. It was a nice break from the sun, and what Santiago lacks in museums it has in spades in other areas.
Nothing may have been a better sell for Santiago than how fun it is to just drive around. The city has tons of major roadways, both multi-lane throughfares and highways, crisscrossing the heart of the city. Most parts of the city are extremely drivable with limited traffic. All of this is extremely good for the views. Santiago is a mixture of posh residential areas with modern looking apartment buildings and palm trees in the medians, with European buildings and urban maw. All of which has sightlines of hills and mountains, layer after layer, in all directions.
After retiring back to the hotel to freshen up, we all headed out for our last full family dinner of the trip (my sister and her boyfriend leave back tomorrow morning), where we had to call an audible after no one realized our reservation at 040 Restaurant was at 8PM and not 9PM. We settled on Barrica 94, a somewhat trendy restobar at the southern edge of Barrio Bellavista.
Santiago has many little 'barrios' or villages throughout the city that have their own life, and Bellavista is one of the more popular restaurant and bar sections, definitely the liveliest at night. Barrica 94 is situated within Patio Bellavista, a nice little block with many restaurants on its border, all with second-floor terraces that empty out over and above the Patio. Barrica was a really nice spot, with all the normal Chilean fare. We got a couple plates of well cooked empanadas, somehow a dish that had eluded us, and them mains of Merluza with grapefruit sauce, braised lamb and a Chilean lamb stew - all Chilean staples. The food was as good as the view, a really nice last group meal.
Being already in the popular night area, I stayed in Bellavista to end my night. There were a few options on my list of places to go to, but most seemed way too crowded to bother (it was a Friday night). The place I ended up was not on my list, nor even in Google. It was a really nice spot that was half full so I'm guessing it was new. It was a beer heaven, however, with about 50 different local Chilean options, of which I tried 4, mostly all stouts. Chile's beer culture is really strong. Despite being more known as a wine country, the beer side of the house has made great strides in recent years from what I gathered. They have variety of options and styles, and all the beers I've tasted were all good.
The night ended around 2:00 with an uber back to the hotel. Bellavista was still swimming with people milling about, each bar full of music and joy. Santiago itself was a bounty of joy the whole day, a really nice city, clean, modern and bright. Add in a food and alcohol culture to match most cities, and you get something quite special. We'll do more tourism work tomorrow, and hit a few more restaurants, and if it keeps up, Santiago may fly up my list of favorite cities.
So far we had spent two nights in Santiago, and even a meal or two, but had really not spent any time in the city. That would change for these last two days, before this vacation comes to its depressing end. From the little I had seen of Santiago by night, it seemed stunning. After spend a day there, I am in many ways blown away by the city as a whole.
Our day started after parking in one of Santiago's numerous truly high quality underground garages, by walking through Parque Forrestal, which goes from Santiago's little museum square down to Plaza Baquedano hugging the river. The green was great as it provided a good amount of shade on a hot day. Each block was also some monument and sculpture, a commonality shared throughout Santiago.
From there we went to Mercado Central for a quick seafood lunch. This was actually the one slight disappointment in the city. Unlike the central market in Panama City that we loved, including for its delightful fresh seafood, the one in Santiago seemed a bit too touristy. The place we ended up picking was omnipresent within the market, getting a soup of 'mariscos' (mussels, shrimp, squid), and a ceviche done Peruvian style. Neither was great, not awful, and it was a quick in and out job giving us a good amount of time to traipse through other parts of the center of the city.
We walked south from the Mercado Central to the Barrio Civic, where many of the city's government and public structures lie. All this area is pristine, with wide open streets, good security presence limiting hawkers and other fares, and just perfect white, ornate buildings showing a hidden might of Chile. We walked first to the large Plaza Constitucion, with ornate buildings on each side, and the Palacio de La Monedo, in white, on the south face, guarded by security, On all sides of teh plaza, which itself is green with large trees and ferns (Santiago is a very green city) are statues of various Chilean leaders. On the other side of the Palacio de La Moneda, is another open plaza, with another statue, but what makes this area really cool is what is underneath.
Chile's president in the Mid-2000s made improving Santiago's cultural centers a key priority, so they created one, a beautiful stone and concrete 3-level open area with museum-quality exhibitions, shops selling fairly high-quality cultural fare, multiple cafes, and just a good vibe. Two blocks East of this was the financial area, with their own version of wall street, and a few other inner roads connecting the main internal thoroughfare (Avenida Alemada) with the plaza, that are pedestrian only. This inner part of the city was unlike anything I've seen in Central and Southern America, and can compare easily with many European cities.
What may need to improve to match the major European cities, however, are the museums. We are going to a few more tomorrow, and to be fair they aren't played up as huge tourist attractions, but they were a bit fallow so far. The one's we mainly checked out today were housed in teh same building on the West end of Parque Forrestal, housing both the Art museums showcasing contemporary and fine arts. Neither were large collections - which is nice given a huge collection with lesser quality would have been grating. The contemporary art museum was forgettable. The fine arts one had some interesting elements. First was a series of Roman sculptures done by Chilean artists at the turn of the 20th Century, as replications of the actual ones. Teh second was a whole collection of interesting photography or textile based artwork. It was a nice break from the sun, and what Santiago lacks in museums it has in spades in other areas.
Nothing may have been a better sell for Santiago than how fun it is to just drive around. The city has tons of major roadways, both multi-lane throughfares and highways, crisscrossing the heart of the city. Most parts of the city are extremely drivable with limited traffic. All of this is extremely good for the views. Santiago is a mixture of posh residential areas with modern looking apartment buildings and palm trees in the medians, with European buildings and urban maw. All of which has sightlines of hills and mountains, layer after layer, in all directions.
After retiring back to the hotel to freshen up, we all headed out for our last full family dinner of the trip (my sister and her boyfriend leave back tomorrow morning), where we had to call an audible after no one realized our reservation at 040 Restaurant was at 8PM and not 9PM. We settled on Barrica 94, a somewhat trendy restobar at the southern edge of Barrio Bellavista.
Santiago has many little 'barrios' or villages throughout the city that have their own life, and Bellavista is one of the more popular restaurant and bar sections, definitely the liveliest at night. Barrica 94 is situated within Patio Bellavista, a nice little block with many restaurants on its border, all with second-floor terraces that empty out over and above the Patio. Barrica was a really nice spot, with all the normal Chilean fare. We got a couple plates of well cooked empanadas, somehow a dish that had eluded us, and them mains of Merluza with grapefruit sauce, braised lamb and a Chilean lamb stew - all Chilean staples. The food was as good as the view, a really nice last group meal.
Being already in the popular night area, I stayed in Bellavista to end my night. There were a few options on my list of places to go to, but most seemed way too crowded to bother (it was a Friday night). The place I ended up was not on my list, nor even in Google. It was a really nice spot that was half full so I'm guessing it was new. It was a beer heaven, however, with about 50 different local Chilean options, of which I tried 4, mostly all stouts. Chile's beer culture is really strong. Despite being more known as a wine country, the beer side of the house has made great strides in recent years from what I gathered. They have variety of options and styles, and all the beers I've tasted were all good.
The night ended around 2:00 with an uber back to the hotel. Bellavista was still swimming with people milling about, each bar full of music and joy. Santiago itself was a bounty of joy the whole day, a really nice city, clean, modern and bright. Add in a food and alcohol culture to match most cities, and you get something quite special. We'll do more tourism work tomorrow, and hit a few more restaurants, and if it keeps up, Santiago may fly up my list of favorite cities.
