In celebration of Michael’s 30th Birthday (this Sunday, Sept 9!!), we decided to go to Chile which appropriately marked the 30th country that he has been to!

We started the trip in Santiago and then made our way to Chilean wine country, but I took way too many pictures to fit into one post so here is a look at our time in Santiago.

We arrived late Wednesday evening and started bright & early on Thursday with a hop-on / hop-off city bus tour.  It was totally the way to go and allowed us to see a lot of the city, learn lots of cool facts, and remain totally stress-free.  During our tour we made stops in Providencia, El Golf, Alonso de Cordova, Plaza de la Constitucion, and several others.

Coming from São Paulo, Santiago seemed very different.  It had much more of the old-world, European charm with beautiful buildings left and right. The snow-capped Andes mountains provided a beautiful backdrop to what is a very clean, organized and metropolitan city.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous.  Although they are heading into spring, it felt like a crisp fall day.

Neither Michael nor I had been to Santiago before, but we kept feeling like parts of it reminded us of other places we had been before.  A little Denver mixed with San Francisco mixed with Charlotte mixed with Buenos Aires… We could never quite put our finger on it but it basically felt familiar and new all at the same time.  Here are some pictures from our day exploring.

Plaza de la Constitucion

I loved all of the beautifully painted benches:

Sweeeeeet

Plaza de las Armas 

Afternoon enjoying Chilean beer in Bellavista.  

Providencia

In the evening, we headed to the W to grab a drink at their rooftop bar and appreciate the amazing views of the city.  *This is a total must-do if you’re going to Santiago.* 

We ended the night at an adorable restaurant in Providencia, Nolita, with an incredible dinner and a great bottle of Chilean wine.  It was all just so perfect that we were literally the last people to leave the restaurant, not wanting the day to end.