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We travelled to Valparaiso on a Wednesday night, it took about 6 hours from Talca and it was nice to finally see the lights of the city. The city looks spectacular at night as it is surrounded by large hills with sprawling housing, the lights can be seen from every corner of the city.
By day Valparaiso is a shabby but colourful port with many funicular railways allowing you up to see the grand views without having to walk. The naval museum was very good with lots of exhibits from Chiles maritime past. The nightlife starts very late (as with most of Chile). We had a lovely Mexican meal in the centre of town and headed for an Avenue which is supposed to be the hub of Valparaisos nightlife. The bars were good but only started opening at 12am, so it was pretty quiet. We enjoyed a few beers and then returned to the hotel.
The next day we travelled to Vina Del Mar which is a few miles up the coast from Valparaiso. Vina is a very upmarket beach resort with tree lined avenues, expensive restaurants and long sandy beaches. The Marbella of Chile! We spent a day strolling around the lovely streets and the beaches of Vina and went for a fantastic seafood meal in the evening. Not sure what happened next as I drank far too many Margaritas in a Mexican bar.
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The next day we got up late and took the bus to Isla Negra, a lovely coastal town about 20 miles south of Vina. We wanted to visit the house of Pablo Neruda which has been opened as a museum to the Chilean poet. The house is quite amazing full of nautical antiques and other artifacts which Neruda collected throughout his life, luckily the tour was in English. Apart from the house itself ,the views from each room were breathtaking. There is a rocky beach in Isla Negra with crashing waves coming straight in off the Pacific and Nerudas house overlooks this impressive bit of coastline.
Back in Vina we had a cheap Italian meal but only one beer as the Margaritas were still doing their work. We travelled back to Talca via Santiago on the Sunday and it was great to see the surrounding countryside in the daylight as the deep valleys are covered with palm trees and looked lovely in the sun. If the bus had been going a bit slower it would have been even more enjoyable. And talking of traffic we overtook a lorry on the motorway, the driver of the lorry was clearly busy watching a portable tv which he had placed on the dashboard ...cool ...or not.
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