Valparaiso; a grand old dame wearing dirty underwear!

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Traveller’s reviews of Valparaiso are polarised; some people rave about this city and others don’t quite “get it”, using words like ‘underwhelmed’ or “over-hyped”. Our views lie somewhere in the middle, although we are not ashamed to say that we tend to fall into the latter group, despite understanding this city´s charm and appeal for many. The view from our hotel window is stunning, indeed we would say that “’Valpo” as it is generally called, is vibrant and vivacious with wonderful vistas. It is also, however, grim and grimy with awful graffiti. It is this dichotomy, in fact, this faded chic and shabbiness, that has in the past attracted artists and poets, but like its faded grandeur, these talented bohemians seem to be long gone. Valpo is all a bit ‘passé’!



“The opening of the Panama Canal and the reduction in ship traffic dealt a staggering blow to Valparaiso” Wikipedia



Valpo was once one of the great Pacific sea ports and its former glory can be seen in the fine colonial architecture around the port and commercial district. Sadly, these buildings are soiled by excessive graffiti; a grand old lady, once so elegant, now wearing dirty underwear. The upper stories look magnificent, and the lower walls peeking out beneath the grand facades are filthy, graffiti-ruined, littered beneath, with broken glass and rubbish. There is serious poverty in the city and drug and alcohol abuse and a significant number of people sleep rough beside the street dogs. The promenade is a most depressing place, and the cruise terminal is surrounded by derelict warehouses. It is a most surprising location for a cruise port.



Valpo is built on a series of hills and some of the old mansions are about to tumble down them! Others are charming, brightly painted and elegant which has earned the city the name “Port of Colour”. From a distance they look wonderful, but again, close up, many are neglected and covered with graffiti, often crude and sometimes offensive in nature, especially to couples with young children. Old steep funicular railways carry people up and down these hills in brightly-coloured wooden carriages; they are old, nineteenth century and they wobble on the rails and we love them. The stone stairways are a killer to climb, so we take the funicular trips up whenever we can, but we always walk down! The colourful “Victorian” villas and the little railways have given Valpo another name, “Little San Francisco”. There are some similarities, but not many. The ruinous graffiti all over many of these historic buildings obliterates the kind of charm that Frisco has in abundance. It is such a pity.



Many readers may wonder why we keep referring to “graffiti” when Valpo is famous for its “street art” and indeed people travel many miles to see and photograph this “street art”. Well, there is plenty of it, we have spent three days viewing it all, and let us just say, the pictures aren’t Banksys! There are one or two very good images, many more poor images and most of the daubs on walls are not art at all, just graffiti. There is an art studio near us where the main item on display is a headless dress shop mannequin painted in psychedelic colours. Viv did one just like this in 1965, like we said, a bit passé! Valpo is known for its Bohemian vibe, but it isn´t exactly Montmartre. The “artists” here sell rather dull, muddy, little oils which have little artistic merit and the container ships from China bring in a lot of “artisan” trinkets for tourists (there are two such ships in port at the moment). In short, Valpo is an OK place, pretty chilled and relaxed, which is exactly what we wanted for a week before some serious Patagonian sightseeing in the next few weeks, but it doesn´t quite “hit the mark”: it doesn´t quite match its aspirations, i.e. it is not quite Montmartre, nor Frisco, and the street art is mediocre. It almost tries too hard to be “trendy” and is in fact about fifty years out of date (which is not the same as being ´retro´ which would be OK). One slogan, painted on a wall at the top of rubbish-strewn steps says “We are not Hippies, we are Happys!” Oh, please! This is the twenty-first century! Spare us the 70s –speak!



Apparently, most Chilean tourists shun Valparaiso for its newer neighbour, Viña del Mar. Valpo lovers say that these tourists don´t “get it” otherwise they would not prefer an “ordinary and modern” seaside resort to an “unusual and historic” city like Valparaiso. Well, tomorrow we are going on the train to Viña del Mar, so we shall see what we think. Do Chilean tourists fail to “get it” or have they moved on from Valpo´s charms? We shall see!

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Photos

The cruise terminal!!!
We have never seen one like this before!

Chilled moggie in the grocers...
...on the cat food shelf!