Santiago ...Day 2

 

Next day, it was Mick’s bright idea to go further afield in Santiago by using the Hop On – Hop Off bus tour.  It took us to the up-market commercial area of Providencia, nicknamed Sanhatten because of all the high-rises, banks, designer shops and chi-chi restaurants.

 

 

  

 

  A few of the older buildings have been allowed to stay!

 

 

After that we hopped off in the Bella Vista district, renowned for its brightly painted buildings housing artisnana (arts and crafts) and lapis lazuili jewellery shops, cafes and bistros.  Also for lots of bright street graffiti.

 

 

     

We hopped on for a couple more stops back to the central area we’d covered on foot the day before, had no  luck getting into the Mint (only open at weekends) and decided the Design Centre entrance fee was too steep, so walked to find the Brazil area, recommended by Lonely Planet as worth a visit, with cheap travelers’ hotels – we should have guessed from that that it might not be worth the trek!!  Also the fact that our bus didn’t bother going there was another clue! The one gem was the Catholic School, a wonderful, well-maintained  building in an otherwise miss-able district:

 

 

 

 

 We hope Victor got justice!