If you find yourself in Chile don’t miss the opportunity to go on a Valparaiso Chile graffiti walking tour. The town is full of beautiful street art and graffiti and you will be rewarded with amazing views of the town as you walk up and down the many hills and old stairways of the town.
Disclosure: I was not paid to write this post but I did travel to Chile on behalf of the Chilean Travel Board.
When my husband and I go on vacation we usually opt for the true vacation experience – we’re lazy. That is what vacation means to me. I mean, we, of course, go out and explore but we take our time. We sleep in, we take naps, we take long lunches and hit up a few sites just to say we saw them. That’s why when I traveled to Chile I wasn’t sure what I would be getting myself into. Would we have time to rest? Would we have leisurely lunches and nights full of wine? Would the exploration make me too tired and I would then turn into a grump? Well, it was a mix of all of the above.
I knew we were going on a walking tour through Valparaiso (shout out to the awesome folks at Extremo Norte for their awesome tour!) and at first, I was a little worried. This town is like the Chilean version of San Fransisco and the all the hills totally had me freaking. I’m not good with hills or stairs. Mostly because I’m lazy. Er, ok I’m not totally lazy I’m just not as fit as a fiddle. And for some reason walking down stairs freaks me out because I’m paranoid of tripping and rolling down the hill like Humpty Dumpy. BUT the good news is that I survived and I LOVED the walking tour. Truly, the best way to see this town is by foot. We explored alleyways, silent streets, hidden staircases and even hung out with a few street cats and dogs. Which you know I LOVE!
Valparaiso is well known for its graffiti and street art. All their art brings a giant boost of color and character to the city. With every turn of a corner and walk down the stairs, I was treated with a photo worthy painting.
I had to take a picture of the above because my husband quotes the line “print is dead” from Ghostbusters so I had to let him know he was wrong.
I love this shot above because you get the perfect mix of Valparaiso – graffiti and street dogs. There are a TON of dogs and cats that roam the streets in Valparaiso but they were all super friendly. People really like their street animals and leave out food and water for them. This is the type of community that I need to live in!
While graffiti is a really common part of street art there are delicate little painting that pepper the town. Small tiles and stairways have been painstakingly painted by local and visiting artists.
Seriously, all those stairs have been painted by hand. Talk about talent!
I couldn’t resist taking a picture of a rogue Kermit. Plus, there are days where I feel the exact same way!
The details in the graffiti had me snapping pictures non-stop! Plus, anytime I saw a graffiti cat I had to take a picture.
So much color and character in this town!
This picture reminded me of Lionel Ritchie, haha.
After our walk through the city, we met up at Chilean Cusine where we all got together to cook some classic Chilean food. We started with avocados stuffed with creamy chicken and hearts of palm, castrada (which I shared with you a few weeks ago!), empanadas filled with onions, ground beef, raisins and olive and for dessert, we had slices of custard apple. This class was so fun! Not only we were all starving after our walk but it’s always fun to cool classic food while visiting another country. Totally recommended!
And, because I could not not share this photograph I present a dog a riding a horse. As we were driving into Valparaiso I looked out the van window and saw this glorious site. You go pup!
Sabrina
Friday 14th of April 2017
really interesting, thank you, Valparaiso has a lot more hills than I imagined!