Home for me is a seaside town with a funicular, so the port city of Valparaiso, with its 15 ascensores, on the face of it had some similarities. After spending 2 days in "Valpo", I had to concede that the similarities were indeed purely superficial, with the lack of good fish and chips here a glaring difference. Valparaiso is spread over more than 40 hills, a Rome (or Sheffield) squared, and many of its residential areas are filled with the kind of colourful houses and street art that characterise the Bellavista neighbourhood of Santiago. Sadly, the smog that blights the capital is also a fixture here, and neither the dock area nor the busy streets running near it add to the city's appeal. With Chile's navy being based in Valparaiso, there are plenty of sailors floating
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