April 26th
Today our first cruise ends and the second begins. It was a very busy early morning as we had to switch cabins. That meant packing up everything and then unpacking in our new cabin. It was worth it as now we have a prime AFT corner cabin. Will post some pictures of the cabin and the ship later in the cruise on a sea day.
We had everything done by 9:30AM and we were ready to leave for our tour of Valparaiso with Michael. Also here we are meeting Fran and Angelo Golino who are joining the group for the next cruise.
The day started cold and dreary near the port. We headed out of the city to the Casablanca Valley to visit a few wineries. Once out of the city the skies turned a beautiful blue and the temperature warmed up. Another beautiful day.
We enjoyed seeing the wineries and a taste of the product!!!!
Michael then took us to lunch at a “mom & pops” restaurant where we had great empanadas and good wine for $3.50/person.
This is our guide, Michael, on the left with the owner of the restaurant.
It was then on to return to Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. Vina del Mar is just a overgrown beach resort without much character, Valparaiso is much more interesting but dirty, crowded and built on very high hills. Before we added the second cruise, we had planned to stay a few days in Valparaiso. I am really glad we did not. Buenos Aires was a much better city to spend time in.
View of the “elevator”
Found a purple house. Most of the homes are constructed out of corrugated tin that was used as ballast for ships arriving in Valparaiso to transport ore back to Europe.
This is the Brighton Hotel. Built on the side of a hill. Really neat looking!!!
It was then back to the cruise ship to begin the next portion of this wonderful experience.
