Santiago tidbits...
- capital and largest city in Chile
- founded in 1541 by Pedro de Valdivia
- population of over 5 million people
The Santiago Metro underground railway network is the second largest and most modern in Latin America (Mexico is first), and 7th in frequency - running approximately every 1.5 minutes! There are 5 lines and 108 stations encompassed by 64 miles of track.
The Metro carries around 2.5 million passengers per day for the very reasonable price (for us anyway) of about $1.00 each direction. And in March 2012 it was selected as the best underground system in the Americas.
The collection of artistic murals in the Universidad de Chile (University of Chile) subway station (below) depict scenes from Chile's ancient and modern history and is considered among the world's most artistic subway stations.
The mural "Visual Memory of a Nation" was created by Mario Toral
and done in acrylic and oil on canvas. There are 6 panels.
Plaza de Armas - The Main Plaza
The business center, The Cathedral, the Archbishop's Palace,
City Hall, Central Post Office and National History Museum.
Interesting sculpture.
Tribute to Simon Bolivar.
Metropolitan Cathedral.
The old Post Office.
Lots of outdoor restaurants.
On December 8, 1863, during the celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception at the Church of the Company of Jesus, a Jesuit church located in downtown Santiago, a fire started just before 7 PM when an oil lamp on top of the main altar ignited some of the veils that adorned the walls.
Unfortunately the church doors swung inward and a strong wind blew the doors open during the mass and the wind knocked a candle off the podium. The fire quickly ignited and the main door became jammed with a pile of approximately 200 women and children trying to escape.
The side doors were closed so the church could accommodate more people (they too opened inwardly). Because the men were separated from the women by an iron grating and closer to the main entrance, most of them escaped quickly.
Between 2000-3000 people died in the fire - mostly women and children. It took 10 days to cleanup the bodies, which were burned beyond recognition and buried in a mass grave.
The Ex Congreso Nacional statues commemorate the altar
of the Church of the Company of Jesus, a Jesuit church located in downtown Santiago
and site of the Church of the Company fire December 8, 1863.
We completed our walk of the city with a quick walk through Los Graneros del Alba, the largest and most entertaining handicraft center in Santiago.
And now it was Lynne's turn to buy our return tickets for the subway (but she could speak Spanish at least).
Catorce entradas por favor...
Our farewell lunch was at Giratorio, floor #17 of the revolving restaurant with a wonderful 360 degree view of Santiago. We couldn't resist taking photos of our reflections in the mirrored ceiling. (We are easily entertained).
Lynne shares her original and very entertaining poem
about Nicole and each of us a we await our appetizers.
The view below...
Taxi queue.
Great view of the cranes working below.
Hooking up some fresh cement to the crane for pouring into the lower platform.
Back to the hotel to wait for Christian to take us to the airport for our overnight departures back to the USA. What a fantastic trip!
loved the photos of the group in the mirrored ceiling! I would be as easily entertained LOL-
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