Cathy and I are spending a few days in Chile to kick off our trip from Chile to Florida.
In Santiago we stay in the Casa Conde Boutique Hotel . The interesting story is that the hotel is a converted townhouse built in the late 1800’s as a part of a complex imitating a Parisian neighbourhood. Apparently the wives of wealthy European merchants did not want to relocate to Santiago unless they had this assurance of their life style. So this hotel is unique and we recommend it for the room, the friendly hoteliers and the substantial breakfasts.
Here are some pictures of our walk through our Santiago neighborhood and our climb to the castle on Santa Lucia Hill. Don’t be turned off by the grafitti, it is everywhere and is a local art form.
We like wine and now pisco, and so we spend a happy day touring, drinking and dining in the wineries of the Maipo Valley. We book this with Viator (visit 4 wineries near Santiago) and it is very well done.
Cathy and I take a private car from Santiago to our cruise embarkation port in San Antonio and settle into our cabin. Next day, our cruise stops in La Serena and we take a walk around its port Coquimbo. This place has a great fish market and good deals on Peruvian alpaca items. We are lucky as our ship chef serves us some fresh catch for dinner.
Stay tuned for our next blog as we visit Peru.
NOTE:
Cathy and I are cruising for 17 days on Holland America’s Oosterdam with a few days at the start in Santiago, Chile and a week at the end visiting friends in North Palm Beach and Jupiter in Florida.
A few years ago, we took a cruise that finished in Santiago and this trip continues our circuit of South America.