This was the sight off our balcony just after sunrise this morning. What a beautiful sight to wake up to!
sailboat & small military vessels
sailboat at sunrise, Valparaiso
There is no interdenominational service on Sundays when in port because so many people are trying to get off the ship for early morning excursions. Instead they offer a “non sponsored” meeting in the Artists Loft, so we went to that and then hurried downstairs to get to our shuttle which carried us outside the port to meet our tour bus. We walked a short distance through the historic part of the city to where our driver was waiting. I snapped a few quick photos as we walked along.
Armada de Chile Plaza Sotomayor
The weather was sunny and perfect with a high of 67 degrees. I still have a cough, as do some others around the ship. I think going from hot weather to cold and now back to hot may be part of the problem. Anyway, I wore a mask and was able to go without a problem.
Our tour focused on the history of Valparaiso and began with a ride up one of the city’s dozen-plus funiculars that have been in operation since 1901 for a visit to the Baburizza Museum.
funicular ride up the mountain
This Art Nouveau mansion is now home to a huge collection of paintings. It was built by a man who never married but had a knack for making money, traveling and collecting art from all over the world. He left the house to his nephew who sold all the furniture and turned it into a museum.
Museo Baburizza
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| view to the ocean |
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| stone mantel in living room |
After spending some time touring the different rooms full of wall-to-wall paintings, we climbed back into the wooden elevators to ride the funicular back down, then loaded back on the bus for a short drive through the UNESCO historic district to tour the Villa Victoria. Built in 1904, it was once the home of the wealthiest woman in town but is now a museum with period furnishings and again, more art. We watched a film detailing the history of the city and a demonstration of how whale oil barrels were made by hand.
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The port is one of the largest working ports I’ve seen. Tour buses are not allowed inside the port (for good reason) so we had to be shuttled outside the port to board the bus. I snapped a few window photos of the busy flea markets along the sidewalks in the old part of the city as we were driven back to the port. As with all of the big cities we've visited, graffiti is literally everywhere, even all over a very nice hotel we passed.
stacks and stacks of containers to be moved
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| sidewalk sales |
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| bus window photo |
We returned to the ship for a late lunch and then watched supplies being loaded beneath us that took all afternoon. Nothing could be loaded until the police dogs had sniffed everything out.
lots of produce!
We always sail on schedule, but today the ship was an hour late leaving port because of the quantity of supplies that needed to be loaded. I’ve never seen this before, but it was “all hands on deck” as ship workers formed an assembly line up the ramp, passing goods along as fast as possible for at least a solid hour!
oops, someone spilled the milk!
Barb: That was a pretty morning picture outside for you. The art museum was beautiful...that fireplace was amazing, and the windows to the sea is my favorite. I had no Idea they had funiculars there. If I were on a crew loading a ship, there'd probably be bruised bananas and cracked eggs! As I type this, Greg is in Miami eating a Cuban sandwich, waiting on his flight. The mission trip to Cuba was changed to Guatemala late last week because the missionary there said he was worried for their health and safety. The missionary managed to send his wife to Mexico on a flight. Pray for the people in Cuba. It is very difficult there for many people.
ReplyDeleteYikes! So glad for the change of plans if he is that concerned, which he must be if he sent his wife away! No doubt the people of Guatemala will benefit just as much as the Cubans would have.
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