La capital de Chile

So what so you do in the capital of Chile? We decided to first get a lookout over the city and later explore some of the stops included in the free walking tours around the city (financed by tips). I looked for sightseeing stops that could be viewed from outside since we quickly realized Monday was a siesta or something kind of a day. So many places were closed.

Bellavista neighbourhood, passed it on the way

The lookout would be Cerro San Cristobal with a giant Christian statue on top, that of Virgin Mary.

Walking all the way to the top would be around 7 k to follow the road. We tried to locate different trails in the woods instead but maps wasn't updated here. It seemed like such a detour to walk around the whole hill. We tried different trails until deciding to stick to one that seemed okay. Not so okay with the sandals that I wore... don't ask me why, lost my mind for a while. I recommend wearing sneakers, note to self until next time :p

Unfortunately we don't think that is clouds, it's probably smog from what I recall from Spanish lessons..

Still beautiful

We always had a nice view while walking up the hill but it got steeper and steeper. And soon we had company of three people going downhill. Apparently we were on a mountain bike trail, not designed to walk. I wouldn't say it was designed to bike either though, what a death trail (!) Can't believe they dared do it.

We reached the top sooner than calculated, shorter trail but steeper. The view was worth the climb and we wanted a work out. You really get a good view over the city and one realized this is a very big city, approx 7 million inhabitants.

Since we've been on a downhill road we now followed the paved road to get down. Very easy compared to the other one :p and warm but they had drinking water during the whole way. Might explain why we didn't see people climbing or biking bringing water. It was very hot in the blazing sun, shadow temperature not equally hot. They also had a swimming pool in the area for those who felt like it.

After this we went around different sightseeing objects that I marked on the map. During the whole day we probably walked over 20k. We ended up in plaza the armas in the big crowds and shopping malls but our backs and feet were too sore to do any advanced shopping.

Municipal de Santiago

Chess players. Kids play for free against them :-)

Plaza de armas

Post office

Former national congress building

For the evening we had booked a table at a very nearby restaurant that had excellent rating at TripAdvisor. We weren't disappointed either. And the piscos! This was the real deal. We were both very satisfied with the drinks and the food. First gourmet experience in this journey :-)