Ruta de los Poetas
Dinner in the vineyard
Around Santa Cruz, Chile you’ll find many, many wineries. The best option would be to travel from one to the other with a tourist group or by public transport. If you’re driving on your own you’ll have to limit. That is why I didn’t make a tour with a wine tasting at the Montes winery but rather enjoyed their great restaurant directly in the vineyard.
“No problem, we’ve got an agreement with the local police.”
Visiting the Clos Apalta Winery near Santa Cruz, Chile was an adventure from the beginning on. My host at the hotel decided that my last name was much too complicated and registered me at the wineries I intended to visit simply as “Mr. Stefan“. Arriving at the Clos Apalta Winery I saw that the whole place was protected by high walls and fences and at the massive and closed gate a solid security officer was standing.
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Chilean history
The Museo Colchagua in Santa Cruz, Chile was one of the few museums I was able to visit during my tour from north to south. And it is a special one, not really going deep into topics but very wide. It starts with some archeological exhibits, shows the time of the Spanish invasion and the first settlers, gives inside into the developement of the republic and then switches over to winemaking (important in this area) and it exhibits also some railways.
Hotel Tierra y Vino
The hotel Tierra y Vino is a very good and small hotel at the heart of Santa Cruz, Chile. It has only few rooms that are placed around a small garden with a pool at the center. The host is very friendly and organizes local tours like visits of wineries for you. A place to relax not far away from the not very touristic city center within the vineyards.
Sea lions and shopping
San Antonio, Chile is a small town and harbour on the same latitude as Santiago de Chile. Tourists most often pass it because they are going from Santiago to Valparaíso and Viña del Mar and then continue to the south. It is not the nicest city around but it is maybe a good stop on your way.
Eduardo Vargas, Brazil and a friendly family
My second stop in Chile was Viña del Mar, a spa town close to Santiago de Chile and a destination for its inhabitants in summer time. As I was still coping with Chilean Spanish – which is hard to understand because of the well sounding but confusing mumbling of words – I was happy to be at the hotel of a family once coming from Offenbach am Main, Germany.
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Residencia Offenbacher Hof
I was laughing hard when I read the note from my travel agency that they booked the Residencia Offenbacher Hof in Viña del Mar, Chile for me – as Offenbach is a city close to Frankfurt am Main in Germany. In fact a German family went to Chile and opened this hotel here.
Harbour of the artists
Not far away from the capital of Chile, Valparaíso was once an important harbour that has been threatened several times by major fires. After the opening of the Panama canal the harbour usage declined and most goods are now transported to the nearby harbour of San Antonio. The city has been founded in 1544 in an area where the native Changos were once living and it has always been an inspiration for writers and painters – that’s why this city is known around the world.
Getaway by the sea
If the inhabitants of Santiago de Chile need some relexation and want to flee from the smog and bustle of their city, they just get to the nearby city of Viña del Mar. What you get here is a nice beach, lots of hotels, bars and restaurants. And a vivid cultural live with many concerts. Even the Chilean presidents know about this and have their summer residence at the Cerro Castillo.