Santiago

On the last day of the tour, the guide asked us which town disappointed us, most people replied Santiago,  Chile's capital city, which we agreed with for several reasons.
We started with the usual tour of the town visiting the town square and a local church. both were very utilitarian and we were surprised to see  open confession booths along one of the walls. Not much privacy at all. The guide told us that many people called in either on their way to work or after!
Our next trip was going up in a cable car to see the Virgin Mary at Cerro San Christobal Hill with an interesting view over the city. A quite impressive sculpture but a lot of hanging around.

During our free time in the city, we decided to visit the art gallery. This proved to be a good choice as the artwork proved interesting with a wide range of work on show and we spent a pleasant couple of hours there.

The rest of the town proved to be a little unsettling in some areas. There were several homeless who just seemed to sleep all day. We tended to eat in the hotel, which although of a good standard, the area outside at night wasn't as impressive and talking to people who ventured out later at night the whole atmosphere became quite intimidating in the area.

On the following day we took a coach trip to a winery and then on to the seaside town of Valparaiso  where we saw the famous Reloj de Flores in Vina Del Mar; a flower clock which was designed for the 1962 FIFA World Cup when Chile was the host country. 

​After a nice group lunch together, we moved on to walk around a small part of the town that had been taken over by street artists, as part of an initiative to attract people to the area. This proved to be an interesting walk appreciating the talent and imagination on show.

,An interesting day but I think a few others, like us would have preferred a little more leisure time as the trip so far had been so hectic.