Since time immemorial Valparaiso has inspired writers, poets, musicians and artists alike. If the city is still a little rough around the edges, this only adds to its bohemian ambience; the architecture, style, street art, nightlife, and live music scenes of Valparaiso are some of the best in the world. Add colourful clifftop homes to the mix and you'll soon see why Valparaíso is many people's favourite Chilean city.
The city was founded in 1536 by Spanish conquistador Juan de Saavedra, who named the city after his birthplace. Many of the colonial buildings he implemented are still standing today, despite the rain, wind, fire and several earthquakes (one of which almost levelled the city in 1906). The city and region are also extremely well known for their love of good food and wine. The vineyards of the nearby Casablanca Valley - first planted in the early 1980s - have earned worldwide recognition in a relatively short space of time. However, Chile’s viticulture history does date back much farther than that. De Saavedra brought grape vines on his voyage to South America in order to make his own wine and this led to a new grape brandy being created, Pisco. Today give any Chilean a Pisco and wherever they are in the world, they will be home.
March 18th. The "changeover" tour was a 4 plus hour tour to 2 vineyards ; Casas del Bosque and Vina Mar. We had done the same tour from the Explorer in 2015, when I had a much more enjoyable experience
The coach guide, Christian, was good but the guide at the 1st vineyard, Casa del Bosque was a disgrace; spoke far too quickly and every 10th word was "Guys"! . The child from the Expedition team was Mila, who was incapable, or unwilling to sort out the problem - she disappeared with Christian to the cafe while we were being shown the vineyard tour.
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Vina Mar
The guide at the 2nd stop was fine but his sparkling wines were rubbish - the tasting consisted of 3 bottles of mass produced sparkling wines, rather than method champagnose wines. After some searching questions from me about the quality of the wines we were being offered, he decided to open a decent bottle of champagne. And the difference from the original rubbish was marked.
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Christian told us lots about Chile on the drive back to the ship.
Explorer from Punta Arenas to Papeete