Vina del mar is a touristy city with many beaches and plenty of ocean front or ocean view properties. It has winding roads that caress the various beaches that line the eastern part of the city. There are boardwalks with playgrounds and various forms of beach environment activities. Cafes and ice cream shops are in abundance. The coast is known for is large waves and hilly topography. In vina, the hills are dotted with high rise apartment buildings and condos. They look like small country clubs.
Valparaiso is also a hilly city and unlike vina, it is a working town as it houses chiles main port. Up on the hills, houses are packed together likes decks of cards, one on top of each other trying to reach for the sun, much like vegetation would in the jungle. We went to see one of the more famous houses, that of Pablo Neruda. It had five stories with each floor not having more than 200 sq ft. More on this house later, but it shows an example of what people lived like. I imagine that others not as fortunate would have a similar house with a family occupying each floor.
A series of ~33 hills make up the communities of valparaiso. The hill boundaries are outlined by the drainage fans that spill towards the bay. The roads of the town stretched up the hills away from the bay like vines, twisting and turning, trying to make their way up to the summit. The roads were narrow and had no structure to them. They provided the main transportation routes for man, car and many dogs. Yet even in the nest of people, roads and multi-colored houses, there were small parks, public terraces or community squares with breathtaking views of the surrounding hills and the bay below.
I've included some pictures, hopefully you get a sense of what I'm talking about. ONe of them is a map of the valparaiso hills.
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