Viña del Mar

A few days before I left Chile to go back to Europe, Claudio and I found the time for one last little trip. It's always nice to go to the beaches in the Valparaíso region, even in the colder months, so we decided to go to Viña del Mar, which is the biggest beach city in central Chile.

We wanted to visit some castles and palaces, especially Palacio Vergara, a palace in Quinta Vergara park that neither of us had visited before. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the entrance to the park, we were told that the entire park had been closed for some anime event, and we weren't allowed to enter even just for a couple of minutes to see the palace, despite the fact that the event wasn't even taking place in that part of the park. In my opinion, it's completely stupid to close the biggest park in one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country on a Saturday because of some niche event, but that is the way things are in Chile sometimes...

In the end, we were only able to see a few glimpses of the top of the palace from outside the park, which was really disappointing, because I don't know when I'll get the chance to go back. However, I know I'll be back at some point in the future, whenever that may be, so it will just have to wait until then.

It wasn't the best start to our trip, but we decided to make the most of the rest of the day, starting by going to see a genuine moai! This is one of only a handful of moai that can be found outside of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and it may return there in the future, so it was quite special to see it. Although I would love to actually go to the island someday, flight tickets there are very expensive, so I was happy to experience a bit of the Rapa Nui culture in continental Chile.

It was also nice to see this very French-looking palace next to the moai.

Next we went up into the hills of the city to visit Castillo Brunet and Cerro Castillo presidential palace. I had visited both of these places during my Year Abroad, but Claudio hadn't seen them up close before, and he was very impressed by them.

Up on the hill, we also had amazing views over the ocean and of this white building that always makes me think of Barcelona.

Of course, no trip to the beach would be complete without a walk along the sand and a paddle in the icy sea! We had a lovely walk along the city's two main beaches, Playa Acapulco and Playa El Sol, and watched the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean - this is definitely something I'm going to miss about Chile!

Afterwards, we drove over to Reñaca and Concón to enjoy some more nighttime beach views.

Finally, we went back to Viña itself to see Palacio Rioja. This was a palace neither of us had seen before, and we were both super impressed with it - it's so grand and beautiful!

By this point in the day, it was too late to go inside, but hopefully we'll have the chance to do so in the future! We both definitely want to come back.

To conclude, this day in Viña and the surrounding area was a nice way to finish off my South American travels. I still have some more to write about my last weeks in Santiago, so that will be coming next!

A Day at the Beach

One of the best parts of my time in Chile was our trip to three different places on the Chilean coast: Viña del Mar, Reñaca and Concón.

As it was summer when I was there, going to the beach felt kind of obligatory! But although the weather was boiling hot in Santiago, it suddenly became cold and grey as we started to approach Viña. But it was still a nice place to visit! I'd been there once before to do a walking tour during my Year Abroad. However, this time, I discovered parts of the city that were new to me.

The first place we visited was Vergara Pier, in between Playa Acapulco and Playa El Sol. The pier is famous for its large crane, which was built in Leeds!

Then we saw the Casino, which was closed because of the protests.

We went to have lunch in the mall, where the entire population of the city seemed to be! Afterwards, we got back in the car to go to Reñaca, a small town north of Viña. This place is famous for its beach, which is popular for swimming and surfing. It almost looks like it could be in the Caribbean, and even the weather was warmer and sunnier there! We swam in the sea, and although the water was cold, it was a lot of fun. I'd love to go back there and maybe try out a bit of surfing.

Our next stop was Concón, a really interesting city to visit if you like nature. Firstly, we went to Roca Oceánica, a national park which consists of unusual rock formations overlooking the sea.

Then we climbed up the sand dunes! They're really impressive to see, and they look more like a part of North Africa or the Middle East than a part of South America! From the top, you have great views over the city. I'm surprised that they're not better known.

Afterwards, we started to go back in the direction of Santiago and stopped off at Viña again. We walked along Playa del Deporte, a beach that has lots of facilities for playing sports and working out. I'd never seen a beach like that before, and I think it's a really good idea.

By the time we got back into the centre of the city, it was dark already. But that was great for taking photos! At night, Viña looked really glamorous and could almost have been Monte Carlo or Los Angeles. Not that I've been to Los Angeles, but you get the idea!

We saw this cool restaurant, which looks like a ship!

Then we had a look at Castillo Wulff, which was probably my favourite thing in the whole city. When I went to Viña in 2018, I saw it from a distance but didn't have time to look at it closer up, as I didn't want to miss the start of my tour. It's a shame it wasn't included as part of the tour, as it's a real highlight. It's a castle built in a Germanic style, which reminded me of the castle on the water from The Little Mermaid! I really love seeing castles and palaces, and this one definitely ranks among my favourites.

So that concludes my posts about my two weeks in South America. Of course I wish I could have stayed out there, but I'm relieved that I was able to explore freely there and return home without problems before the travel restrictions and flight cancellations really kicked off. 

Since I've been back in the UK, I've had a couple of interesting days out that I'll blog about soon. But soon even visiting other cities for the day might be off limits, so I'm grateful that I've had the chance to travel so much over the last few weeks. Everything's so uncertain at the moment because of the coronavirus, but hopefully the situation won't last too long. All we can do is follow the official advice and be patient...