Sightseeing Overview Santiago is not famed for its architectural heritage, unlike other Latin American cities such as Mexico City or Buenos Aires. Those visiting Chile for leisure are unlikely to make it a highlight of their trip and most take only a fleeting glimpse before heading off in search of natural wonders. Nevertheless, Santiago has much to offer travelers eager for cultural diversion and serene oases can be found in even the most fume-choked streets of the downtown area. Affluent Chileans, and indeed many ex-pats, are eager to portray the center of town as a lawless ghetto and
warn against spending time there. Despite a rise in non-violent petty crime, however, the horror stories are largely exaggerated. Visitors prepared to venture beyond their hotel lobby will find a city of lively markets, atmospheric old quarters and shady parks with thriving artistic, social and cultural scenes. The city’s museums, albeit small, boast impressive collections, while quality cuisine is accessible to those on even the tightest of budgets.
Santiago is easy to master, as many of the city’s main attractions are located in the small downtown area sandwiched between the Rio Mapocho (Mapocho River), Avenida Bernado O’Higgins (Alameda) and Cerro Santa Lucia. Bellavista, just north of the river, is a popular area for its handicraft shops, cultural attractions and nightlife options, situated below Cerro San Cristobal, which looms over the city.
Tourist Information Servicio Nacional de Turismo – SERNATUR (National Tourism Board) Avenida Providencia 1550 Tel: (2) 731 8336 or 731 8419 or 600 SERNATUR (600 737 62887), toll free in Chile only. Fax: (2) 236 1417. E-mail: info@sernatur.cl Website: www.sernatur.cl Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1830, Sat 0900-1400.
SERNATUR has another office in the arrivals hall of the airport’s international terminal, as well as a kiosk on Paseo Ahumada.
Oficina de Turismo Municipalidad de Santiago (Santiago Tourist Office) Casa Colorada, Merced 860 Tel: (2) 632 7783/5. E-mail: cerrosantalucia@munistgo.cl Website: www.ciudad.cl Opening hours: Mon-Thurs 1000-1800, Fri 1000-1700.
There is another city tourist office on the Terraza Neptuno on Cerro Santa Lucia.
Passes There are no tourist passes currently available in Santiago.
Key Attractions:
Plaza de Armas (Arms Square) Since colonial times, Santiago’s focus has been its main square, the Plaza de Armas. Surrounded by the grandest of the city’s surviving Spanish public buildings, including the Metropolitan Cathedral and the ornate Correos Central (central post office), it acts as a haven from Santiago’s often oppressive traffic. Local artists display their latest canvasses in the square, which on weekday evenings is the scene of a thriving Santiago institution, when locals set up trestle tables and pit their wits against each other in fiercely contested chess matches. Another well-attended attraction is the weekly outdoor concert performed by the Santiago police band on Sunday mornings.
Museo Histórico Nacional The colonial Palacio de la Real Audiencia houses the Museo Histórico Nacional (National History Museum), which displays many fine exhibits on Chile’s native peoples, the colonial period, independence and the modern era, ending abruptly with the military coup in 1973.
Palacio de la Moneda (Moneda Palace) The bombing of Moneda Palace by air force jets during General Augusto Pinochet’s coup against Salvador Allende’s Socialist government in 1973 is one of the 20th century’s most enduring images. It was in this colonial building that Allende finally took his own life, with a gun given to him, according to local legend, by Fidel Castro. Built in 1805, during the last days of Spanish rule, it serves as the official seat of Chilean government. The palace is not open to the public but visitors can stroll along the courtyard that runs through the middle of the building. Bullet holes from Allende’s last stand are still visible in the ornate façade.
Avenida Bernardo O’Higgins (Alameda), Calle Morande and Calle Teatinos
Casa Colorada (Colored House) This 18th-century colonial mansion just off the Plaza de Armas is an attraction in itself, with its elegant façade and rose-colored walls. However, it also houses the Museo de Santiago (Santiago Museum), which gives comprehensive coverage of the city’s history from pre-Colombian times to the founding of Chile as an independent republic.
Museo Casa La Chascona (La Chascona House Museum) Nobel-Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda’s Santiago pied à terre is situated in the lively Bellavista neighborhood. A series of small buildings, rather than a single house, La Chascona has been meticulously restored since it was vandalised by supporters of General Pinochet and now houses a collection of Neruda’s possessions. Visitors are taken on a guided tour (Spanish or English) through the house, where the history behind the furniture and possessions is explained.
Fernando Márquez de la Plata 0192 Tel: (2) 777 8741. Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1300 and 1500-1800. Admission charge.
Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino (Chilean Museum of Pre-Colombian Art) The Museum of Pre-Colombian Art houses a collection to rival any in the world. Located in a handsome colonial building, the Palacio de la Real Aduana (Royal Customs House), it treats visitors to an endearing display of artifacts from Latin America’s pre-Hispanic civilizations. The collection includes artifacts intricately crafted in ceramics, metals, textiles and wood. Tastefully presented and meticulously cared for, the items on show give a unique insight into the lost cultures of the Mayans, Aztecs, Incas and many other groups which once dominated this vast continent.
Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) This fine arts museum, housed in a turn-of-the-century copy of Paris’ Petit Palais, evokes the city’s aspirations to lift itself out of the cultural wilderness. It occupies an entire block in the Parque Forestal area, the city’s most ‘European’ neighborhood, which is rapidly becoming Santiago’s main red-light district. Nevertheless, the country’s best collection of painting and sculpture is on display is this elegant museum which regularly hosts exhibitions by contemporary artists from Chile and abroad.
Parque Forestal Tel: (2) 633 0655 or 633 4972. Website: www.dibam.cl/bellas_artes Opening hours: Tues-Fri 1000-1800, Sat and Sun 1200-1630. Admission: Donations invited.
Iglesia de San Francisco (Church of St Francis) Hemmed in by busy roads, the Church of San Francisco, with the adjacent Franciscan Monastery, is a welcome island of serenity. The church was originally built in the late 16th century by Chile’s conquistador, Pedro de Valdivia, although regular earthquakes ensured little of the original structure remains. What can be seen, however, is still one of Santiago’s oldest buildings and the monastery houses the Museo Colonial San Francisco (Colonial Museum of St Francis), with an interesting collection of ecclesiastical art from the colonial era.
Santiago Parks Santiago’s most attractive features are its four huge parks that offer spectacular views of the Andes, as well as welcome respite from the city’s traffic. All of the following parks are free and are open from dawn to dusk. The landscaped hill, Cerro Santa Lucia, to the east of the downtown area, was where Araucanian Indians besieged Santiago’s original Spanish settlers for two years, before reinforcements arrived from Peru. Now under siege by urban sprawl, it is popular among courting couples by day and a notorious gay pick-up spot by night. From its summit there are uninterrupted views of the Andes, while the tree-lined avenues around its slopes are good for walking or jogging.
Parque Metropolitano de Santiago contains Cerro San Cristobal – a pine-forested spur of the Andes that juts into the city’s heart and Santiago’s largest open space. At its summit, a 36m- (120ft-) high white statue of the Virgin Mary dominates the horizon. This is where, in 1987, Pope John Paul II held mass to celebrate his only visit to Chile (much criticized because of the Pinochet regime’s human rights record). Its forested slopes are crisscrossed by hiking trails and facilities include a public barbecue area, two outdoor swimming pools and a modest zoo. The most convenient way to reach the summit is by the funicular railway that leaves from the terminal on Calle Pio Nono in the Bellavista area. There is also a cable car that connects Pedro de Valdivia Norte with the top. Roads lead up the hill from Pedro de Valdivia Norte, Pio Nono or La Pirámide.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Santiago’s beautiful people would come to Parque Quinta Normal for a promenade. However, the well heeled have left the area for good and a solidly working-class district now surrounds this leafy park. It nevertheless retains a peaceful Mediterranean feel and is a good place to take a stroll while waiting for a train at the nearby Estacion Central. The park also provides the setting for some rather neglected attractions, including four museums, all of which have seen better days. The best of the bunch is the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural (National Museum of Natural History), an impressive neo-classical building that houses a collection of fossils, flora and fauna, most of which were found within Chile’s borders.
Parque O’Higgins, also a one-time preserve of Santiago’s elite, nowadays attracts visitors from more modest echelons of society. Within its confines is a lake, swimming pool, amusement park and the Museo del Huaso. A huaso is a Chilean cowboy, rather like the Argentinian gaucho and this museum is dedicated to Chile’s rural communities.
Cerro Santa Lucia Calle Subercasseaux
Cerro San Cristobal Calle Pedro de Valdivia or Calle Pio Nono Funicular operates: Mon 1300-2000, Tues-Fri 1000-2000, Sat and Sun 1000-2030. Cable car operates: Mon 1430-1900, Tues-Fri 1030-2000, Sat and Sun 1030-2030.
Parque Quinta Normal Calle Matucana Museo
Nacional de Historia Natural Tel: (2) 681 4095 or 638 1411. Website: www.dibam.cl/museo_historianatural.htm Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1000-1730, Sun 1200-1800. Admission charge; free on Sun.
Parque O’Higgins Avenida Via Norte Sur
Museo del Huaso Tel: (2) 556 1927. Opening hours: Mon-Fri 1000-1700, Sat and Sun 1000-1400. Admission: Free.
Mercado Central (Central Market) A wrought-iron structure (shipped out piece by piece from England in the 19th century) is home to Santiago’s Central Market, on the south bank of the Rio Mapocho. Although this impressive building still has a fish market, it has become an unashamed tourist trap full of overpriced ‘rustic’ restaurants. It retains much of its atmosphere, however, and is a good spot to buy an empanada (pastry) or a cheap bottle of wine.
Calle Puente and Calle San Pablo, near Plaza de Armas Opening hours: Dawn to late afternoon.
Further Distractions:
Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende (Salvador Allende Museum of Solidarity) This museum has a new home in a beautiful building that has been designated a national monument. It houses works of art donated by artists from around the world in support of the Chilean people. The collection began in 1971 when a group of artists and thinkers decided to bring together contemporary works of art to show their sympathy with the social policies of the Salvador Allende government. During Pinochet’s military dictatorship, exiled artists continued the project and the collection now includes donations by artists from over 39 countries. Among the famous artists featured are Joan Miro, Roberto Matta, Antonio Saura and Yoko Ono.
Calle Herrera 360, on the corner with Calle Compañia Tel: (2) 681 7542. Website: www.mssa.cl Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1900. Admission: Free; donations invited.
Villa Grimaldi Peace Park Villa Grimaldi, the former headquarters of General Pinochet’s notorious secret police force, has reopened under a new guise as a memorial park to the victims of Chile’s military dictatorship. An estimated 5,000 political prisoners were detained and tortured here between the 1973 military coup and 1987 – and 142 of these ‘disappeared’. The park opened in March 1997, marking a crucial step in Chile’s reconciliation with its bloody past, and is the first government-sanctioned memorial to Pinochet’s victims.
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