We started with a drink in the "300 bar", the top floor Torre Costanera, the tallest building in Latin America, 300 meters tall.
Torre Costanera, Santiago, Chile. Views of Santiago and the Andes behind. Click on any photo to see a larger image.
The next day, we went to the presidential palace, "La Moneda" to see the changing of the guard.
We took a long guided historical guided tour of Santiago, with Chile's history told by a very left-wing guide. A complex history!
On the weekend, we took an UBER to the harbor city of Valparaiso and had an interesting guided walk in the steep hills above it, served by funiculars.
Santiago is a big city of 6 million people. We stayed near the main square in the historical center, with a cathedral (on the left of photo) and restaurants. It has an European feel to it. It is surrounded by many pedestrian shopping streets, and cris-crossed by "passages" though most buildings, full of more shops, full of people. An interesting mix old old and new. Our apartment had a view of "Bellas Artes", the art museum.
A bus trip high into the Andes. It is late summer and yet some of last winter's snow is still on the mountains. We had lunch at 3,000 meters altitude in a ski resort.
Three blocks from our apartment, the Mercado Central. Fish shops all around, nice restaurants in the center. Opened in 1869, the structure came from Glasgow, Scotland. We went a couple of times. Lorraine loved her seafood dishes.
Then we took a tour to the Concha y Toro winery south of Santiago. Tastings!
Our next trip out Santiago was by helicopter to the Montes winery, a long way south.
It took about an hour each way to get to Montes winery.
A charming pilot, a Venezuelan, who moved his family to Chile. We had lunch with him and the Montes Winery restaurant in the middle of the vineyards.
The Montes winery makes a lot of red wines, but also a delicious white Albarino, a mainly Spanish grape. Delicious.
Here the grapes on the rooftop of the Montes winery, are then dropped down into the tanks for fermentation. It is a family business.
In the "bodega", they play loud mediaeval monk's chants to make the wine mature better. Click on any photo to see a larger image.
Another wine tasting, of course. Life is hard.
And to top off our visit, we went to the splendid Santiago Municipal Theatre for a wonderful concert. Haydn and Rossini. Bye, bye, Chile!
