1st Feb - Changing of the Guard with the President of Chile - Last Day before heading home

Views from our hotel. Santa Lucia hill and the street below that turns into a market in the afternoon/evening.

We were fortunate that the receptionist at the hotel told us what was worth doing today.

So we set out to cover each of her suggestions.

First, we walked to witness the changing of the guards at the palace.

Interesting walk there. 

Got there in plenty of time. Secured the perfect spot right at the front of the parade ground. Very impressive parade with horses, brass bands, and drums. The entire parade took about half an hour.

The band also played tunes including “Can’t help falling in love” as well as - check out the song they played next - hint music sheet on the Tuba!

At the end of the parade, the president came out to wave and talk to people. 

After the parade was over we caught a taxi to the funicular. After working out the pricing structure we decided to pay for the round trip which included the funicular ride up and cable car ride back down. We stopped for a while at the top of the hill, to take in the panorama affording great views all around the huge sprawling city, to take photos, to have refreshments, and to look at and purchase souvenirs. 

We then continued walking up to the top of the hill to the Cerro San Cristobal.

We then walked around to the other side of the hill to the cable car.

We got off at the station in the middle to explore that area where there was a massive public swimming pool and also the heritage Victoria Turret which has had many uses in the past but is now an event centre. Climbing up on top of it afforded more good views.

Back down at the base of the cable car we caught a taxi back to the base of the funicular where we had decided to have lunch as there were several restaurants there. We liked the look of the Jardin del Cerro and the food and drinks didn’t disappoint.

We caught. A taxi back to our hotel to have a bit of a rest before heading off out again, walking to Santa Lucia Hill. Spending a while there climbing up and down the winding and narrow stone steps and exploring the area.

We saw the rock - Tuff - in a few places around the city - quite a bit here on the hill

Back at our hotel with a bit of time to share the complimentary bottles of wine that we were given, a bottle of bubbles and a bottle of red, shared in Bill and Linda’s room.

Then off to our final night’s dinner for our reservation at Bocanariz Wine Bar. We had a great table, right near the action at the bar. We also had fun wait service with delicious meals and what seemed like a bottomless bottle of wine. An enjoyable last night’s meal.