Valparaiso - French village, Spanish ciudad, Amalfi coast
March 16, 2012
Mar. 13. Valparaiso has many identities, but it's essence is constant hills and stairs. Amalfi coast anyone? It's quirky - roads follow the terrain and intersect at various angles. The houses and shops are often painted with unusual pastels and very beautiful, artsy graffiti is everywhere. It's a photographer's paradise!
Pablo Neruda built a house here to inspire his writing. He loved Valparaiso and now I entiendo porque. Today, we discovered how to get down to the lower part of Valparaiso by bus even though we intended to use a collectivo (sort of a shared taxi). But the people we were waiting with told us to hop on board and hop we did -- saving maybe 30¢ in the switch.
We then found out how to get to the oldest working funicular ( called ascendors) at La Concepcion which was built in 1883. Man, talk about old and steep!!! We shopped, found a great restaurant with comeda de dia and pizza. Great. Discovered that it's owned by a Brit (more about him later). He has a 100 year old Coca cola frig cosa that he bought at a great price and it works flawlessly. And,an old jukebox from Grand Rapids, MI! And, it too works great. Lot of American oldies. Crazy. But, he told us much of the new stuff you buy there lasts only a few months!! Explains why the La Concepcion funicular is still working like a champ.
Visited many artesania shops in a quiet' beautiful part of town, had Onces while listening to a car alarm which sounded just like a police siren, and returned to a nice shop to buy 2 reasonably priced oil paintings. After Onces and the paintings, we headed back to the top of the funicular, wending our way through unknown streets, alleys and stairs. Along the side of some new construction Barbara yelled "shit, I think a bird pooped on my head".
Upon closer examination, 1. Wasn't bird poop but chocolate milk and 2. Wasn't dumped by an aviary creature but a human one. Some construction hombre had tossed the remains of his hot chocolate out a window! 3. Wasn't just on her head but on her shirt and backpack and leg. Yuk! But, we cleaned her up as best we could and like a good trooper', she carried on and we sort of laughed it off once we discovered what the substance actually was.
Pablo Neruda built a house here to inspire his writing. He loved Valparaiso and now I entiendo porque. Today, we discovered how to get down to the lower part of Valparaiso by bus even though we intended to use a collectivo (sort of a shared taxi). But the people we were waiting with told us to hop on board and hop we did -- saving maybe 30¢ in the switch.
We then found out how to get to the oldest working funicular ( called ascendors) at La Concepcion which was built in 1883. Man, talk about old and steep!!! We shopped, found a great restaurant with comeda de dia and pizza. Great. Discovered that it's owned by a Brit (more about him later). He has a 100 year old Coca cola frig cosa that he bought at a great price and it works flawlessly. And,an old jukebox from Grand Rapids, MI! And, it too works great. Lot of American oldies. Crazy. But, he told us much of the new stuff you buy there lasts only a few months!! Explains why the La Concepcion funicular is still working like a champ.
Visited many artesania shops in a quiet' beautiful part of town, had Onces while listening to a car alarm which sounded just like a police siren, and returned to a nice shop to buy 2 reasonably priced oil paintings. After Onces and the paintings, we headed back to the top of the funicular, wending our way through unknown streets, alleys and stairs. Along the side of some new construction Barbara yelled "shit, I think a bird pooped on my head".
Upon closer examination, 1. Wasn't bird poop but chocolate milk and 2. Wasn't dumped by an aviary creature but a human one. Some construction hombre had tossed the remains of his hot chocolate out a window! 3. Wasn't just on her head but on her shirt and backpack and leg. Yuk! But, we cleaned her up as best we could and like a good trooper', she carried on and we sort of laughed it off once we discovered what the substance actually was.
Parked outside a fancy restaurant, which we returned to for dinner later.