Santiago cityscape
Santa Lucia
We arrived in Chile pretty shattered, having travelled 30 hours door to hotel, so the first evening we just strolled around the Providencia neighbourhood of our (very nice) B&B hotel. We lucked in to a great street cafe that we later found has a special mention in Lonely Planet for genuine well cooked Chielean food at sensible prices! It was a great place, complete with passing one-man-band, except it was one-man-and-my-two-kids!!Next day we set off on foot to get our bearings around the older part of Santiago that houses most of the interesting architecture and government buildings. We walked till we dropped and then some, collapsing back far too early to help the jetlag! The three highlights of the day were Santa Lucia, the site of the earliest part of the city, a small hill with panoramic views all around.......
The 'Mint' - really the former Governor's palace
Green steeple
Dancing in the Street, Chile style!
The Cathedral 
.......the Museum of Belles Artes, a glorious Art Nouveau building housing an
ecletic and impessive collection, including a wonderful room with mattresses and cushions showing a vibrant video entitled "Gimme Shelter" - just when we needed to put our feet up!.......
(Third pic is actually the old Train Station, another wonderful old building)
....and finishing with the sublime Central Market, a really magnificent edifice, with massive fresh fish stalls around the four sides, with the centre being a cacophony of seafood restaurants. It was a Sunday and the place was heaving with locals having a Sunday lunch; the waiters could be a bit overpowering trying to lure you to their particular restaurant, but we found a lovely one, with waiters who spoke no English, but we manged to sort out beer, white wine and a mixed seafood platter and it was a memorable meal, even if we couldn't identify it all... Po Toi will seem tame after this!!!
Our "local cafe
The seafood restaurant
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