Went for a long walk earlier all the way along Avenue Francia up to the top of the hills and then along Almeria until I went too far and didn't know where to go, further or head back. I made my way down the hills along back streets, stairways and windy old cobbled roads.
The view from the top of the hill was amazing, you get a panoramic view of the whole city below and around and a view of the whole harbour on the cities western edge.
I was told that Valparaiso is famous for street art and its very easy for me to see why. Along my walk it seemed that most of the good graffiti was either in the really dodgy parts of town or the artier parts by the small galleries, boutiques, trendy bars and art schools. The dodgier parts of towm meant that it was difficult to photograph in those areas as there is a much higher risk of being robbed or mugged, I still took some pictures being careful not to draw too much attention to myself, I didn't really have anything of any value on me, just my camera phone.
The higher tiers of Valparaiso seem to have either grandiose estates and massive houses and buildings or huts that wouldn't look out of place in shanty towns or slums. It is also littered with small parks and squares everywhere you look. All I have to say with exceptional views of the rest of the city. I managed to take lots of pictures of the landscape and of the street art, some I have to say to see in real life would blow your mind, some of the murals looks like huge blown up photographs but up closer have either been airbrushed or just done by someone who is extremely skilled with a spray can. The dodgy parts of town weren't actually that bad, people must just over exaggerate it a lot or I went on a lucky day when there wasn't anybody about, I don't know but its better to be safe than sorry. I wanted to go to the Lord Cochrane museum but couldn't find it anywhere, the map I had was shit and I didn't bother asking anyone. After walking all day and not eating since 9.30 I was quite hungry, I went off all excited to go to J.Cruz and get the world famous chorrilliana, when I got there, there was a massive queue outside, I knew where it was because I went out looking for it yesterday so was easy to find again. It is at the end of an alley way covered in all types of graffiti, some good, some not so good but all looking good as a whole, better than bare concrete. The amount of Chileans on non Chileans who have told me to go to this place to check out the chorrillianas is a joke, more than I can count on one hand, plus the numerous reviews I have read about it. When I had a look yesterday I saw that it was small and I probably did go in the late lunch rush but still, the queue looked as if it would take hours to clear so I left and went elsewhere. I will conquer the chorrilliana another day but today I'm done. I don't know exactly what they are or what they look and taste like but basically its meat, meat, meat, chips and egg. I'll have to find out what they are and write about it another time. On my way to J.Cruz along my walk I went past a greasy spoon that had 2 completos plus a drink for only $1100 which is under £1.50, sounded amazing but my eyes were drawn to this thing called a gigantic! It was a churrasco but about twice the size of a normal one, on my plate it was absolutely huge, must have easily been a foot in diameter. Boy oh boy was it a struggle to finish, even with plenty of aji added, I stupidly didn't order a drink so became very thirsty very quickly. At least now I can say I have tried it even though it wasn't actually that great and I probably will never deliberately have one again.