On day two in Santiago I decided to see some of the areas which I passed by on my tour the day before. My first destination was the San Franciscan church. It is the oldest building in Santiago and also has a museum.
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| The church in 1872 |
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| 1865 photo of the church convent yard. |
The church was founded in the late 1500s not long after Santiago was founded. It has changed and been rebuilt many times, but It has always been in the same place. The tower which is still standing was added to the church in 1857. It still is functioning as a church, but beside it, in the convent yard, is a museum of colonial religious art. There are lots of huge painting of the life of St Francis, ornate statues, and various religious objects. Lots of several century old wooden alters and silver candle holders and incense burners.
I then continued on to Cerro Santa Lucia which is a hill in central Santiago covered with amazing fountains, old stone stairs and paths, and lots of amazing gardens. This was probably the most amazing place I saw in Santiago. It is an amazing ornate park in the middle of the city.
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| A woman making her way up the hill in the early 1900s. |
This was the hill the Pedro de Valdivia climbed when he founded the city of Santiago in 1541. After that the hill became a grave yard. Eventually a small fort was built on the side of the hill. For a long time it was just a arid pile rocks. In the 1870s the bodies were removed from the graves (but there are legends that some still remain and the hill is haunted) and prison labor was used to create terraces, paths, and gardens.
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| The hill as just a pile of rocks and a fort. |
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| The hill in 1874. The city and the trees have grown a lot since then. |
The stairs take you up to a number of view points and terraced plazas with amazing views of the city. |
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| Sometimes in Valdivia I forget I'm so close to the Andes. I guess it can be easy to forget about these mountains when they are usually hiding behind smog. From Chile W12 Santiago2 |
I was also able to find one of the popular Chilean street drinks on the hill. It is one of the national drinks and is great for a hot day. It is mote con huesillo. It is a preserved peach in a sweet nectar with wheat grains. It looks scary, but is very good. I've seen a lot of signs around Chile of places saying they have the best mote con huesillo, but I think they are all exactly the same.
Near the base of the hill and to the north is a very nice neighborhood with a cool antiques fair. I was also able to find a place with falafel near by. Saddly it wasn't as good as the falafel I'm used to. |
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| Out in the Plaza de Armas I watched a mime who was pretty good. And you can laugh at a mime no matter what language you speak. From Chile W12 Santiago2 |
It totally remember looking at that white-and-yellow ornate park place on google maps with you. They had a 360 photo of it, right? It's neat to see that you've finally been there!
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