Paseando por Santiago

I've heard a lot of people say that Santiago is a chaotic and ugly city, and that it doesn't have any touristic places to see. I think that it can be chaotic for people that are used to live in smaller cities, but since I have been living here for more than 10 years, I've learn to love my city, with all its fails.
I think there are a lot of beautiful places in Santiago that are worth seeing, you just have to search for them. I love walking through my city, and that`s how I've discovered a lot of cool places. For example, one time I was walking with a friend through Santiago Centro and we found a lovely neighborhood with european architecture, that had small buildings and a square with a water fountain. It was so beautiful, neither of us knew it was a famous place, so the whole experience of founding it was really awesome, because it appeared out of nowhere, so unexpected. But I know that not all tourists like this way of knowing a city, and they prefered to visit the most iconic places, and not waste their little time walking with no destination. So, my top 5 places you have to visit if you are in Santiago are:

- Museo de Bellas Artes: I chose this place, because I think the musseum is a gorgeous building, and the neighborhood is really nice too. So, I would suggest you to take the subway, get off at Baquedano station, and walk through the Parque Forestal until you reach the musseum. After that, you can stay in the park, sit on a bench, or go to...

-Barrio Lastarria: is right next to the musseum, and it has a really cool vibe, with a lot of bars and cafés, where you can relax, and also there are a lot of bookstores with chilean autors. I recommend you the bar that is right in front of the musseum, and the Alexander drink, is really good XD

-Barrio Bellavista: a great place to party, and to eat chilean food. I recommend you Venezia, delicious and cheap! Eat everything you can, and then, make some exercise walking through La Chascona, one of the three beautiful houses of Pablo Neruda.

-Cerro San Cristóbal: you have to go up in the teleférico and go down walking. The view from the virgin, the trees, everything is perfect.

-Cajón del Maipo: I don´t know if you can consider it as a part of the city, but since it is in the Metropolitan Region, I would recommend it anyway. It´s the perfect place to escape from the noise of the city, breath fresh air, and see a clean river XD Besides, there`s a fantastic restorant there, El Calipso, which has delicious italian food, and it`s located in a meadow with animals, flowers, trees, so lovely!!!!

xoxo