General information
| Destination | Category |
|---|
| Valparaiso, Chile | Sightseeing Tours |
Program details
Uncover the legacy of Pablo Neruda, the famous Chilean Nobel Prize Laureate. This multi-facetious author has been translated all over the world. You might also know him from the Foreign Film Academy’s acclaimed “Il Postino” (The Postman).
The tour begins with a drive to the labyrinthine streets that carpet the hillsides of the Valparaiso bay. Here we encounter some breath-taking views and a wonderful variety of ancient colourful houses built by the first European settlers, among them the third of Neruda’s three Chilean homes, La Sebastiana, which was shared by Neruda with two friends, a married couple. The poet filled his part of the house with colour, antiques and staircases, almost like a miniature Valparaiso.
Your next stop is the village of Isla Negra, located on the coast between Valparaiso and Santiago. Neruda enjoyed a plentiful fortune and spent it mainly on very human pursuits such as travelling, collecting and entertaining. He went to Isla Negra to escape the hustle and the bustle of Santiago and to write.
His Isla Negra house still contains a great number of his personal belongings, form antiques to his eccentric collection of nautical items – even some ship mastheads! Indigenous masks, antique glassware… The house is filled with an eclectic collection of objects, resembling something like a Diogenes’ Syndrome with taste. Also on Isla Negra is the grave of Pablo Neruda, buried alongside his two greatest sources of inspiration: his wife Matilde and the infinitely beautiful Pacific Ocean.
Meeting/pick-up point: Hotel Lobby.
Duration: Eight hours.
Start/opening time: 9am.
Languages: English, Spanish .
Italiano
Español