The first stop was the Museo Nacional Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts), which is a nice building in a park about 15 min walk from the AirBNB. It is towards the main city center of Santiago, and an entry point into the dense section of tourism in that area. The one disappointment was that three of the exhibits were being renovated (a bit of a theme throughout our day - we are notably right after the main tourism season in Santiago). But beyond that was the lobby with Chilean sculptors in the late 1800s recreating Italian classics. The second floor had a series of exhibits showcasing Chilean modern art. The museum was free, and a quick pit stop right on the path of more of what Santiago has to offer.
Our next stop was Santa Lucia Hill, a park effectively on a hill with a castle-like building at the top. The main part of the building is for events, but there is a lot of surrounding gardens, patios and one castle steeple open, where at the top you get glorious views of Santiago, with mountains in the background in every direction. There was a slight haze at the top of the sky so the mountains were not as prominent, but lingering in the back and still quite imposing. The winding way down the Hill ends at Plaza Neptuno - a giant fountain structure, draped with a big Chilean flag. Santiago is an extremely green city,
From there we went on a walk through Lastarria - a posh neighborhood with well manicured streets, houses, and little lanes with shops and restaurants galore. Our lunch spot was there - Jose Ramon Sangucheria - one of many sanguche shops, but one of the more reputed brands. The Sanguche is a religion in Santiago, and while some places get notable for just pounding as much stuff on the sandwhich as possible, Jose Ramon seemed more restrained. I got a sandwhich of hamburger, bacon, caremlized onions, sweet peppers, pickles and a chilean cheese, and it was great. Despite having a lot of caramelized onion and the pickles, the bread stayed dry and it was a delight to eat - alogn with a pint of Bar SPoH. Santiago too seems to really cherish its craft beer culture.
From lunch we went to the beating heart of the city, the Plaza de Armas, its large open square with the Santiago Cathedral on one side, and old historical buildings on the other three, one of which has been turned into the National Hustory Museum of Chile. The square itself was full of life, and if there's any criticism, it is that there are too many trees so that you can't get really great pictures of the entire square. I small criticism, and a totally unfair one, I know.
The National History Museum showcases Chile's history from the Independence from Spain in the early 1800s, through to the military coup that put Chile under the rule of Augusto Pinochet. Now, that may seem weird for it to end with what is seen today as a black mark on the countries history - but it seems like Santiago has decided to make clear delineation's in its museums. This one will cover the country up to Pinochet, adn there's a separate museum, one that I didn't go to in 2018, which seems like it covers the rest.
The museum is a nice, quick journey through 180 years of history. The only negative is that the placards are only in Spanish, but I did my best to dust off my high school level Spanish to understand what I could. There was no such issue with langauge at the Museum of Pre-Colombian Art, but before we go to that, we took a pit stop at the Cathedral.
I'm sure we went to it in 2018, but I honestly was shocked by how beautiful it was. Great paintaings on teh ceiling, ornate in all the right ways. Not ostentatious like in Europe, but probably as clsoe to a European style cathedral that you'll get in South America. Even all the side altars were regal and orante with sculpture and carvings. A really nice experience, and despite it being right off the Plaza de Armas, a bit of a hidden gem.
Not as much hidden is the Museum of Pre-Colombian Art, a couple blocks away. I loved it in 2018, and loved it again today. This houses artifacts from the earliest inhabitants of Central and South America through to about the time the Spaniards came. A lot of the museum features artifacts from all areas of Central and South America that are very much not Chile - going through in great detail the earliest peoples, through to the Incas and Mayas and many other lesser known native groups. It's a fascinating museum especially since we don't really think of the "New World" having so much history in the way back BCs, but here we are with jugs and spears and plates from 6000 BC in some rooms.
They nicely keep all the Chile stuff for the basement, with a large ceiling and dark lighting creating this great visual setting as you walk around the various displays showcasing about 6000 years of Chilean history. Overall, the museum is a great showcase of art, artifacts and the staggering age of history on this side of the world.
Dinner was at Olam, a seafood forward restaurant of sharing plates opened up by a Chilean chef who used to work at El Bulli. It isn't a tasting menu spot, but given it was four of us, we split enough dishes for it to effectively be one. The place is pristine, as are the preparations. My favorite was a salmon belly tataki in a cold dashi and smoked, with the most beautiful smoke flavor you can imagine, or an abalone tataki served in a ponzu dashi with soba noodles and a 36-hour egg. Just immacualte dishes that work really well. The "Loco Dumplings" were probably our favorite though, rice and seafood dumplings with tamarind, huacatay and a smoked coconut milk broth. Perfect. Olam was a special spot, and a good place for our only non-tasting menu dinner.
I lied yesterday when I said that the one thing Santiago doesn't really have is a top cocktail spot. Today we ventured to Siete Negronis, which only a couiple years ago was ranked #66 on the Worlds Top 50 Bars list (yes, no idea why they call it a Top 50 and then rank 1-100...). It's mostly known for its, well, seven types of negroni, but also has a bunch of other creative cocktails. They are served in pretty small portions, though are also quite cheap. Overall, food in Santiago seems more expensive than you would expect, but drinks far cheaper. My favorite was the "Baconvardier" which has "fat-washed" liqour making a standard Boulvadier, with the added plus of a slice of cured bacon on top. Sure, it was a bit gimmicky, but it was also a bity crunchy and salty and tasty.
After drinks we went to two clubs in Bellavista, which was far more rowdy tonight than yesterday (no real surprise given today is Friday). The first was La Feria again, which was still quite good if a bit mainstream. The other was certainly not mainstream, in Espacio 93 - it was proeprly underground in the best way. It was also a weird "erotica" themed night, which was not what you would think but did involve a lot of people coming in chains and shit to the club. We were out of place in a way, but what you learn about places like this - no one is out of place. No one cares as long as you have a good time, which we all did to end a great first day in Santiago.
