Saturday, April 9, 2016

Cerro Santa Lucia and Santiago Market


Cerro Santa Lucia is a small hill in Downtown Santiago. The park consists of many gardens and a castle is built on top of the hill. The lower areas of the hill contain beautiful terraces and fountains.

Lower terrace

Stairs continue up the hill to another terrace and fountain.

upper terrace

From the terraces the road winds around through the gardens until it reaches the Castle Hidalgo

Circular garden with the Castle gates in the background

The Castle was a defensive fort in the 1800's with several castle gates and cannon.

Gate to the old fort

The area was later redeveloped, adding the lower terraces and a chapel to the hill.

The chapel

On the top of the hill are several lookouts overlooking downtown Santiago.

Downtown Santiago

Close by to Cerro Santa Lucia  are several other attractions. The Galleria de los Bellas Artes is a small, yet interesting gallery with a grand entrance hall.

The entrance hall

And after enjoying the artwork, it's a short walk to the central market. 

Mercado Central

The central market is a huge complex selling a large variety of fresh fruit and vegetables and, of course, there are several restaurants selling freshly cooked produce.

This includes traditional Chilean food such as Pernil (marinated pork shoulder)

Pernil

and terremotos - a local cocktail consisting of a scoop of pineapple ice cream and pipeño (a type of wine tasting similar to a dry sherry).

A Terremoto (with the rest of the Pernil in the background)

It's one of those drinks that sounds like it really shouldn't work... but it's strangely delicious. However, they are also deceptively strong and trust me, more than one of these is not a good idea...

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