Visit to La Sebastiana, Pablo Neruda’s second home - Valparaiso

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THE HOUSE LA SEBASTIANA

The house is located on Florida Hill. The architect who built it was called Sebastian Collado, a Spanish man. He had built it for his family but died before finishing the work and the house was abandoned for 10 years. At the time, Neruda was looking for a place to buy in Valparaiso so he bought it together with his two friends Marie Martner and her husband Francisco Velasco, who were also responsible for designing parts of the house. The house was inaugurated in 1961 and it was called La Sebastiana in honour to its first owner Sebastian. Like his other house in Santiago which was also damaged, this house was looted after the military coup in 1973 but thanks to Telefonica de Espana, it was restored and opened to the public on 1 of January of 1992 as a museum. There is a famous poem ‘La Sebastiana’ written for the inauguration of this house and it is included in his book Full Empowerment.

LAST FULL DAY IN VALPARAISO, OPINIONS ON NERUDA’S HOUSE

I climbed up through the hills to find the house this morning. I arrived sweaty and out of breath after climbing through almost slums and disrepared houses which the 300,000 immigrants live in. The house was very busy with tourists. I guess that's because there aren’t too many tourist attractions to see here so they all crowd into the one. Valparaiso is mainly frequented for its arts, there are art museums on every corner and all the up and coming artists move her, it’s a bit like Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire but with a poorer population. If you like vegetarian food, studying oriental healing practices such as Reiki, soundtherapy, yoga and chakra balancing, love cartoonists and art museums and love to climb hill after hill of winding staircases to see more and more graffiti then this place is for you. Whilst I somewhat fit that description I've been counting down the hours before I could get back to Santiago. I’ve never once felt comfortable here but I set out to see certain places here and here I am doing exactly that. I'm determined to follow my plans come what may.

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