Valparaíso by Poole & Craib - Valparaíso, Chile - Immortalized in Lyrics on Waymarking.com

"Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Despite only being the second largest city in the metropolitan area of Greater Valparaíso, with the first being Viña del Mar, Valparaíso serves as the namesake for the region due to its historical and cultural significance.

Valparaíso played an important geopolitical role in the second half of the 19th century when it served as a major stopover for ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by crossing the Straits of Magellan. Valparaíso experienced rapid growth during its golden age, as a magnet for European immigrants, when the city was known by international sailors as "Little San Francisco" and "The Jewel of the Pacific". Notable inheritances from its golden age include Latin America's oldest stock exchange, the continent's first volunteer fire department, Chile's first public library, and the oldest Spanish language newspaper in continuous publication in the world, El Mercurio de Valparaíso. In 2003, the historic quarter of Valparaíso was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Over the first 15 years of the twenty-first century, the city reached a recovery, attracting artists and cultural entrepreneurs who have set up in the city's hillside historic districts. Today, many thousands of tourists visit Valparaíso from around the world to enjoy the city's labyrinth of cobbled alleys and colorful buildings. Approximately 50 international cruise ships call on Valparaíso during the 4-month Chilean summer.

Valparaíso stages a major festival attended by hundreds of thousands of participants on the last three days of every year. The festival culminates with a "New Year's by the Sea" fireworks show, the biggest in all of Latin America, attended by a million tourists who fill the coastline and hillsides with a view of the bay. Even though everyone calls it the Valparaíso Fireworks, it is, in fact, a fireworks display running along a great part of the coast from Valparaíso, past Viña del Mar and all the way to Concón.

Coordinates are from the Monument to the Heroes of Iquique, Plaza Sotomayor.

Source: Wikipedia (visit link)

Musician: Poole & Craib Name of Song: Valparaiso Relevant Verse: Take me back to VALPARAISO / Take me in your dreams / Sailing into Valparaíso / A life ago or so it seems / So it seems / You there with me Location website: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
There are no specific requirements for logging a waymark. You are, however, encouraged to include any funny or interesting pictures of your visit.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.