Valparaíso, Chile’s main port city, rises from the water into steep hills laced with staircases and winding streets. Generations of poets, mariners, and adventurers have passed through. While the city has some of Chile’s best dining, the streets retain a Bohemian vibe. In the course of a weekend, visitors can stay at a high-ceilinged bed-and-breakfast, ride 19th- century funiculars up and down coastal bluffs, travel back in time at Pablo Neruda’s home, and relax over local microbrews. Just watch out for drunken sailors—Valparaíso’s port still welcomes vessels daily. —Steven Bodzin This appeared in the November/December 2011 issue. Photo by Roberto Ruiz.

Visitors are reaping the benefits of an ambitious program to preserve this port city’s heritage. Last fall, the 23-room Palacio Astoreca Hotel, and its destination restaurant, Alegre, opened in a Victorian mansion. The Palacio Baburizza, built in 1916, reopened last year as a fine arts museum, and Chilean architect Emilio Marin has transformed a former prison into a cultural center that now welcomes 170,000 visitors per year. Photo courtesy of Palacio Astoreca Hotel. This appeared in the June/July 2013 issue.

by Steven Bodzin Valparaiso has the world’s biggest concentration of hillside railways, known locally as ascensores, or elevators. Victorian developers built 30 of them to shuttle residents and their goods up and down the city’s steep coastal bluffs and ravines. Today, the few that remain in operation are a highlight of any trip. The Ascensor Concepción has a glassed-in machine room where visitors can see cast original iron wheels from 1883 hauling the cars by winding inch-thick steel cable. Board off Almirante Prat, opposite Gómez Carreño. Runs 9 a.m.-7 p.m. daily; occasionally closed for maintenance. 300 pesos per person, about 65 cents. http://ascensoresvalpo.cl/ Photo by PJFurlong06 via Creative Commons.    

In the US it's sometimes called graffiti, but in Valparaiso it's always called street art. You really don't need any sort of guidance to view and enjoy the handiwork of locals in this unique city. Just start walking, look for a flat surface, and you'll probably see fantastic splashes of color depicting some whimsical scene. Or in my case, you'll happen upon a monkey wearing headphones, which is equally awesome.

We can all remember how much fun it was to ride escalators as a kid. We'd try to go up the 'down' one and down the 'up' one, until our parents told us to stop (and then we'd do it all over again when they weren't looking, but I digress.) In the coastal city of Valparaiso, it is a grown up kids' delight, as it is chuck full of very appropriately named FUNiculars. Funiculars, or ascensores as they are referred to by locals, are like mini ski lifts that provide a vital public transport link between the central city and the neighborhoods in the surrounding hills. These contraptions, while incredibly cool, are also incredibly old, with most of them coming into existence at the latter end of the 1800's. That being said, I never hesitated to hop on one and let it take me to yet another historical stop, such as La Sebastiana, the former home of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. As I rode this funicular up to La Sebastiana, I thought of Neruda's comment about his former home: [a place] 'which seems to float in the air, but that was well established in the earth.' I thought that idea captured perfectly the fun I was having on this particular ascensore on my way to Pablo's house.

Walking through the crumbling streets of Valparaiso is like walking through an ever-changing museum of street art, with impressive mosaics, murals and politically charged graffiti. Artists and university students breath fresh air into the old port city, which in its heyday was known as the Jewell of the Pacific, before the opening of the Panama Canal reduced its importance on shipping and trade routes. Its easy to spend hours wandering through the narrow and colorful streets, alleys and stairways to admire the art and and different perspectives of the cityscape- a series of rickety funiculars carry passengers up the steep hills that dot the city. After exploring there is no better place for a refreshment than Bar Restaurant Cinzano, where you can step back into time to enjoy a cold beer and fresh seafood, in a classic Valparaiso ambiance that probably hasn't changed much in the last 100 years.

The streets of Valparaiso absolutely burst with color. This hilly Chilean harbor city along the Pacific coast sizzles with brilliant street art. Ride a hundred year old funicular up to the top of the hill and wander around. We took the Ascensor Cerro Concepcion (built in 1883), one of 14 that are still in operation today. The funicular's base is near the city's clock tower, a few blocks from the train station depot in the harbor. For less than $1 US, you can spare yourself a tough walk by trundling up the hill in a creaky wooden car, powered by sturdy metal cogs that have withstood the test of time. The building walls that line the city’s streets, garage doors, steps….just about any surface are fair game for clever murals. Turn a corner and encounter a giant face of a woman with indigo lips. Or, climb a set of stairs painted like the piano keys in the Tom Hanks movie “Big”. The mural in this picture was on a random house, punctuated by little window vents. I edited the parked cars and dangling electric wires out of my photo, so this pic leaves the rest of the mural to your imagination. (Hint: there are 5 birds, a patchwork chicken plus two more real windows). Valparaiso is about a 90 minute drive from Santiago’s airport.

Walking through the crumbling streets of Valparaiso is like walking through an ever-changing museum of street art, with impressive mosaics, murals and politically charged graffiti. Artists and university students breath fresh air into the old port city, which in its heyday was known as the Jewell of the Pacific, before the opening of the Panama Canal reduced its importance on shipping and trade routes. Its easy to spend hours wandering through the narrow and colorful streets, alleys and stairways to admire the art and and different perspectives of the cityscape- a series of rickety funiculars carry passengers up the steep hills that dot the city. After exploring there is no better place for a refreshment than Bar Restaurant Cinzano, where you can step back into time to enjoy a cold beer and fresh seafood, in a classic Valparaiso ambiance that probably hasn't changed much in the last 100 years.

Walking through the crumbling streets of Valparaiso is like walking through an ever-changing museum of street art, with impressive mosaics, murals and politically charged graffiti. Artists and university students breath fresh air into the old port city, which in its heyday was known as the Jewell of the Pacific, before the opening of the Panama Canal reduced its importance on shipping and trade routes. Its easy to spend hours wandering through the narrow and colorful streets, alleys and stairways to admire the art and and different perspectives of the cityscape- a series of rickety funiculars carry passengers up the steep hills that dot the city. After exploring there is no better place for a refreshment than Bar Restaurant Cinzano, where you can step back into time to enjoy a cold beer and fresh seafood, in a classic Valparaiso ambiance that probably hasn't changed much in the last 100 years.

Walking through the crumbling streets of Valparaiso is like walking through an ever-changing museum of street art, with impressive mosaics, murals and politically charged graffiti. Artists and university students breath fresh air into the old port city, which in its heyday was known as the Jewell of the Pacific, before the opening of the Panama Canal reduced its importance on shipping and trade routes. Its easy to spend hours wandering through the narrow and colorful streets, alleys and stairways to admire the art and and different perspectives of the cityscape- a series of rickety funiculars carry passengers up the steep hills that dot the city. After exploring there is no better place for a refreshment than Bar Restaurant Cinzano, where you can step back into time to enjoy a cold beer and fresh seafood, in a classic Valparaiso ambiance that probably hasn't changed much in the last 100 years.

Walking through the crumbling streets of Valparaiso is like walking through an ever-changing museum of street art, with impressive mosaics, murals and politically charged graffiti. Artists and university students breath fresh air into the old port city, which in its heyday was known as the Jewell of the Pacific, before the opening of the Panama Canal reduced its importance on shipping and trade routes. Its easy to spend hours wandering through the narrow and colorful streets, alleys and stairways to admire the art and and different perspectives of the cityscape- a series of rickety funiculars carry passengers up the steep hills that dot the city. After exploring there is no better place for a refreshment than Bar Restaurant Cinzano, where you can step back into time to enjoy a cold beer and fresh seafood, in a classic Valparaiso ambiance that probably hasn't changed much in the last 100 years.

Color rules! Valparaiso curves around a sweeping bay anchored with cargo ships, cruise liners and small craft for work and pleasure. A half dozen major streets run parallel to the coastline and ripple out from the bay toward the steep hills that ring the city. When you reach the hills the streets and alleys rapidly change to all directions, climbing, zigzaging and disappearing higher and higher.

Valparaiso is the land of funiculars, and I spent an entire day just riding them up and down the vertical heights of the city. While incredibly old (most were constructed in the 1800's), and not in the best working condition (rickety sounds and odd swaying motions abound), there is something romantic and enticing about throwing caution to the wind and boarding them anyway. It was like taking Rube Goldberg machines from place to place.

Walking around Valparaiso is an artistic experience; it's like the streets are your museum. Vibrant colors paint the town in every nook and cranny. Each corner has something new to tell you. "Valpo" is truly an artist lover's dream and shouldn't be missed on your next trip to Chile.

If you're planning a trip to Chile, make time in your schedule for a jaunt to Valparaiso. This charming little seaport town houses some of the most interesting and beautiful street art. With a coffee and warm pastry in hand, we headed out to the Santiago bus depot, early in the morning, for a full day of exploration. The empanadas and pisco sours served in an old sailor bar were the perfect fuel before our leisurely stroll. We meandered through the winding streets and cobblestone paths that climbed and descended this hillside community. Around every corner were beautifully painted murals to photograph to your heart's content. And there's always a funicular in close proximity when you're ready to descend back into the hustle and bustle of the main square.

Juxtaposed to the depressed port below, the hills of Valparaiso support vibrant architecture and a thriving arts community. Be sure to take one of the many funiculars, ascensores, to the neighborhoods on top of the hills that have been in service since 1883.