Corrugated City

Tuesday 6 November 2007

Downtown Valparaiso...again

Here are some photos i took the other day when we walked over to the bus station to meet a friend. The first five are all from the Plazuela Ecuador and around and then the next five are from along Avenida Pedro Montt (the street on which the nasty Congreso Nacional sits).

There are some gorgeous buildings between Plaza Victoria and Avenida Argentina. Most tourists will never see them, unfortunately, as the whole area just isn't particularly tourist friendly-no bathrooms, no decent cafes or restaurants and a slight edge to it. There are a couple of great markets there to get fresh fruit, veg and seafood and if you're looking for car parts then it's the place to go...but for a nice, relaxing, touristy stroll...maybe on Sundays...but not during the week.















Ornate exterior plaster-work isn't really very common in Valparaiso, nor in Chile in general (especially when compared to Argentina). This building is one of the prettiest i've seen here and the door is the best i've seen in Chile.




This theatre was one of something like 20-odd that Valparaiso had during its hey-day. Now (as far as i can ascertain), the only big one is the Teatro Municipal, pictured below.






2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That pink and white trim building appeared in another webpage which I came across by accident a couple of days ago. The photo on that webpage showed the ground floor area of the building occupied by a McDonalds with a series of golden arches logos placed along the central facscia. I'm confused! Maybe the photo was of a similar looking building...

The photos along Ecuador are really cool. I remember hanging out at some of the bars along there during my 94 trip. It was quite a happening little precinct of Valparaiso however, I've heard that it has gone down-hill (no pun intended)...

Matt said...

Plazuela Ecuador is bien flaite these days...it's not a particularly pleasant place for drinks...a definite "atmosphere", shall we say...