We booked a
3-hour afternoon city tour called “Santiago Essentials” with a company called
“Private Guide Santiago” for approximately $150 per person. Our guide Jeanette
was personable and interesting as she and her driver led us on a tour of
Santiago’s best sights. After they picked us up at the Holiday Inn, we drove
downtown to take a short walking tour of the historic area, including the “Plaza
de la Ciudadania” (‘’Citizenry Square’’) within view of the giant “Bandera del
Bicentenial” (Chilean “Bicentennial Flag”, which resembles the flag of
Texas because a US Envoy suggested its design), “Palacio de La Moneda” ( “Palace of the Currency”, which is the
presidential palace), “Plaza de la Constitucion” (“Constitution Square”, with
its smaller flags and the statue of Presidente Salvador Allende), “Palacio de
Tribunales de Justicia” (Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and the court martial
court for the army/air force/police, with a condor standing on an open book
with the word LEX [Latin for law] sculpted over the portico, with Montt Varas
Square in front), and the “Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino” (in the “Palacio
de la Real Aduana” [“Palace of Customs”]). Note that with our limited time, we
did not enter any of the aforementioned structures; we only viewed them from
the outside. We were able to pause for a bit in the “Plaza de Armas” (the “Main
Square” to watch some street performers [musicians and dancers]), and we went
inside the beautiful “Catedral Metropolitana de Santiago” (which took over 50
years to build and was completed in 1800). Afterwards, we walked towards our
pre-arranged meeting point, passing the “Sede de Santiago del Congreso Nacional” (former “National
Congress” building, where the governing body met until Salvador Allende's
socialist government was overthrown by Augusto Pinochet's military coup in
1973) with its “Jardines del Recinto” (“Enclosure Garden”; because the Congress building has a cross within a square plan, it creates
four courtyards, including this one), and the “El Palacio Club de Septiembre”/”Academia Diplomatica” (“Edwards
Palace”/“Diplomatic Academy”).
Although we were
very pleased with our private guide Jeanette, we experienced an issue with our driver.
While we walked through the downtown area with Jeanette, our driver seemed to
be running an Uber-type service. He made us wait for him for nearly 45 minutes
as Jeanette telephoned him repeatedly and he gave her one excuse after another.
When we re-entered the car, we noticed an electronic keycard from the Singular
hotel on the back seat, yet there was no card there when we initially entered
the car at the Holiday Inn, leading us to believe that we waited for him
because he was driving someone else instead of waiting for us. When he finally
showed up, we loaded into the
car and drove through the distinguished
neighborhoods of Barrios Bellavista, Bellas Artes, and-Lastarria. (One
neighborhood would have sufficed; after the third similar area, it grew
repetitive.) We finished our tour at “Cerro Santa Lucia” (“Santa Lucia Hill”),
where the city of Santiago was founded in 1541 and which contains the fort
Castillo Hidalgo (from 1820). We climbed up a meandering path on the mountain
(unexpectedly through the Nam food festival) and down the other side through
the gorgeous “Terraza Neptuno” (“Neptune Terrace”)
with its 1903 “fuente” (“fountain”) that was built in an attempt to beautify
the city. The fountain includes a bronze sculpture of the god Neptune seated and
holding a trident. Two parallel winding
staircases lead to the arc of triumph adorned by columns and other decorative
details. (Personally, we would have preferred to approach Cerro
Santa Lucia from the fountain side because of its dramatic scenery rather than
to end our tour there.)
