Day 12 - Santiago City Tour - Monday, 3/6/23

Waking up to all of the city sounds, we met our tour guide for the morning, Chris, in our hotel lobby.

Our morning agenda was to take a tour of Santiago. Chris loaded us in his vehicle for a tour that would include both walking and riding with Chris as our driver. We were glad to have a driver as traffic was aggressive. Quickly we found many similarities between Downtown Santiago to New York City, including the traffic. Chris was as skilled in his knowledge of the history of Santiago as he was in navigating the bustling city streets.

We started with a quick drive Downtown, walked among the historic buildings, and caught a changing of the Plaza de La Constitucion guards. Chris was very well versed in Chile politics and we got a civics lesson on the push and pulls of powers from the 70s to today. We also found out why the city was covered in graffiti. The City was taken over by huge protests in 2019 with few buildings spared from graffiti. The protests came to an end with COVID-19. When later elections brought changes, unrest calmed post-COVID. There are many current political challenges and Chile has the worst relationships with its neighboring countries. Most everything Chris talked about sounded familiar to what we experience in our own country.

Driving from ‘Sanhatten’ to the wealthy outskirts, was like going from NYC to California. We noticed KFC and McDonald’s as prominent chains in Santiago. Historic churches and museums were the dominant structures covering the metro area. We enjoyed being immersed in the city with the great narration from a professional and enthusiastic tour guide.

Chris dropped us off back at the Bohemian District at lunchtime. We would see him again the next day for our scheduled wine tour.

This go-around, finding a place to eat was much easier as we got a good look at the restaurant choices the night before. Wanting to sit outside we chose a little wine bar with patio seating recommended by our concierge. The luncheon special included an appetizer of oysters, salad, the main dish of risotto, and dessert. It also came with a glass of wine and a cup of coffee. A wonderful lunch with all four of us choosing the special.

Back at the hotel, we took in the rooftop pool and relaxed with books, computers, and some grandchildren FaceTiming for Tom and Kristi. It was nice to relax in a new city and back on the grid. Although the city seemed to be buzzing around us at record speed, we were slowly taking it all in. Santiago was our ‘cooldown’ from a high-paced week of hiking in the elements.

Later we had dinner after taking in the many street art vendors. Kristi and I bought some fun jewelry (including matching bracelets) and Tom, a cool painting. Dinner was equally as wonderful as our lunch. We did find that meals were served later than we were accustomed. 7:00 pm dinner time was almost our bedtime. But we adapted and we enjoyed.

Knowing it was our last night in Santiago, we strolled back to our hotel, enjoying the warmth and vibrance of the city but ready to head home.

Santiago City Tour