Wednesday 25th January 2017 - first day in Santiago
After a leisurely breakfast discovering the routines of how the buffet system worked in Hostal Providencia, Sara came to pick us up late morning (Eddy needing to work normal hours despite their late night collecting us from the airport).
Setting off from the centrally located hostel, the street café culture is very evident in this cosmopolitan city. The weather of course is perfect for eating/drinking outside: minimal rain and just about comfortable in the shade.
A short walk got us to the nearest Underground Station where we descended to a nice clean platform, away from the seriously hot streets.
While waiting, I noted with interest that the trains have rubber tyred wheels - I think they might be like the Parisian Underground (Metro) system but it was a very long time ago (pre-children) that we visited Paris.
An equally clean train arrived and off we sped, Sara showing us where we were going, though I didn't really take it in.
I don't think that we had one of the hostel's excellent free street maps of Santiago at that stage. Nearly A2 in size, it's very detailed and includes: Valparaiso streets, free walking tour details and a map of the Metro amongst many other useful things
Clemente was very good and patient, despite it all being a bit boring for a ten year old.
I can't remember where we got out but it was somewhere near the renowned fish market, Mercado Central, based in a wonderful old building with lovely wrought iron decor ....
which was full of strange (to our eyes) and often monstrous, piscean wonders. But the reason for going there was for the other aspect of this market place, the cafés. They ranged from quite posh (hence expensive) to very informal (reasonably cheap). This is the posh end where costumed attendants try to drag you to a table unless you protest very forcefully.
We ate in the informal end and it was very nice, especially the reineta (Chile's 2nd most popular fish apparently), a white fish not unlike plaice, from which the spine and all bones can be easily separated leaving a large fillet which is beautiful when simply grilled.
Moving on into the Parque Forestal, a linear park which follows the Mapocho River through Santiago, we ambled gently through the pleasant shade where many Santiagans were enjoying the afternoon, and unusually large bees were enjoying the honeysuckle.
Strange trees climbed to enormous heights .....
Some people were playing instruments or (behind us) singing
while others were just chilling out amidst the unusual sculptures ....
All very pleasant. After a while, we found a café which specialised in ice creams, very popular in these temperatures .....
And they had coffee; especially welcome for those of us who have a need for a certain minimum caffeine intake. So we had coffees and ice creams while waiting for Eddy to finish at work and join us, before walking back to the hostel.
Near the hostel we encountered the leaving party for an American (sorry, can't remember his name) who had been working at the hostel for some time and made many friends there. He's in the background with the mostly white cap, facing the camera.
A good excuse for another drink, more alcoholic this time. The Heineken bottles were especially impressive, bigger than a wine bottle, they dwarf the 1/2 litre (~ pint) glasses.
After a leisurely breakfast discovering the routines of how the buffet system worked in Hostal Providencia, Sara came to pick us up late morning (Eddy needing to work normal hours despite their late night collecting us from the airport).
Setting off from the centrally located hostel, the street café culture is very evident in this cosmopolitan city. The weather of course is perfect for eating/drinking outside: minimal rain and just about comfortable in the shade.
A short walk got us to the nearest Underground Station where we descended to a nice clean platform, away from the seriously hot streets.
While waiting, I noted with interest that the trains have rubber tyred wheels - I think they might be like the Parisian Underground (Metro) system but it was a very long time ago (pre-children) that we visited Paris.
An equally clean train arrived and off we sped, Sara showing us where we were going, though I didn't really take it in.
I don't think that we had one of the hostel's excellent free street maps of Santiago at that stage. Nearly A2 in size, it's very detailed and includes: Valparaiso streets, free walking tour details and a map of the Metro amongst many other useful things
Clemente was very good and patient, despite it all being a bit boring for a ten year old.
I can't remember where we got out but it was somewhere near the renowned fish market, Mercado Central, based in a wonderful old building with lovely wrought iron decor ....
which was full of strange (to our eyes) and often monstrous, piscean wonders. But the reason for going there was for the other aspect of this market place, the cafés. They ranged from quite posh (hence expensive) to very informal (reasonably cheap). This is the posh end where costumed attendants try to drag you to a table unless you protest very forcefully.
We ate in the informal end and it was very nice, especially the reineta (Chile's 2nd most popular fish apparently), a white fish not unlike plaice, from which the spine and all bones can be easily separated leaving a large fillet which is beautiful when simply grilled.
Moving on into the Parque Forestal, a linear park which follows the Mapocho River through Santiago, we ambled gently through the pleasant shade where many Santiagans were enjoying the afternoon, and unusually large bees were enjoying the honeysuckle.
Strange trees climbed to enormous heights .....
Some people were playing instruments or (behind us) singing
while others were just chilling out amidst the unusual sculptures ....
All very pleasant. After a while, we found a café which specialised in ice creams, very popular in these temperatures .....
And they had coffee; especially welcome for those of us who have a need for a certain minimum caffeine intake. So we had coffees and ice creams while waiting for Eddy to finish at work and join us, before walking back to the hostel.
Near the hostel we encountered the leaving party for an American (sorry, can't remember his name) who had been working at the hostel for some time and made many friends there. He's in the background with the mostly white cap, facing the camera.
A good excuse for another drink, more alcoholic this time. The Heineken bottles were especially impressive, bigger than a wine bottle, they dwarf the 1/2 litre (~ pint) glasses.
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