A Walking Tour of Valdivia

An excerpt from my novel-in-progress:

However, all extended vacations eventually tarnish. As her daughter’s family eased back into their normal routines, Pamela had to entertain herself. Without a car, her outings consisted primarily of long walks to downtown Valdivia. Once there, she looked across the river, often holding an umbrella over her head, and strolled along streets lined with buildings exhausted by excessive rainfall and accumulated soot …

Now I have to follow in my character’s footsteps, taking my own long walks through the city.

Map courtesy of the Valdivia Chamber of Tourism

The heart of Valdivia spreads out from the Feria Fluvial, the fish market on the river, where tour boats ply the waters, a bridge stretches over to Isla Teja, and Valdivians pass below the gleaming-white Dreams casino-hotel highrise, its roof swooped up like a bulldozer’s blade (actually, it’s supposed to resemble a sail.)

To the Market:

My Airbnb street

Two routes take me to the market from my Airbnb home on a street near the bridge in the upper right corner of the map above. The first is a shorter but gritty main artery, Avenida Ramón Picarte, ending at the public plaza three blocks from the docks. Cars, buses, and bicycles jostle for room in the street, and pedestrians fill the sidewalks. Stained concrete buildings house the usual jumble of banks, pharmacies, eateries, car dealerships, garages, and shops selling everything from electronics to hardware.

Homes in this part of the city tend to be small, mostly of wood, stamped metal, or corrugated tin siding, with sloping tin roofs and paint faded by the smoke of wood-burning stoves and winter rains. But there are also unexpected pockets of stately old houses that survived the 1960 earthquake.

The more picturesque route takes twice as long (about 45 minutes) along the Costanera (riverside promenade) off Avenida Arturo Prat, mentioned in a previous post. The pace here is more leisurely, the homes and occasional restaurants and hotels more upscale. Racing shells often skim the water where the wide expanse of the Calle-Calle merges with the Cau-Cau in a lush corridor of forest to become the Río Valdivia. With its confluence of rivers, Valdivia has been Chile’s rowing mecca since the late 1800s, home to several prestigious teams and world-class rowers.

El Casco Urbano:

The plaza bandshell

The city’s urban core fans out for several blocks in three directions from the fish market. Tour operators hawk their adventures from kiosks along the docks, and artisans spread out their wares on the ground when weather permits. Across the street, a large building houses the city marketplace, brimming with colorful craft stalls and seafood restaurants. Shops and eateries line the streets to the public plaza, a spacious park with many old trees, wooden benches, and a bandshell. Spontaneous entertainment here is provided by performers, from flame throwers to guitarists, and pontificators.

At about this point on my long walk, I need to find a restroom. At the marketplace, I can pay 200 pesos (about 35 cents) for a neatly folded wad of toilet paper, which I take into the regularly cleaned stalls. Used paper must be put into a basket, not the toilet.

La Zona Típica:

Brightly painted entranceway

A black submarine marks the end of the Costanera, but Avenida General Lagos continues downriver through a more sedate residential neighborhood of traditional German-built homes and mansions. Some of them are rundown, sorely in need of facelifts, but others have been restored and serve as extensions of several universities located in Valdivia. A good place to turn around is the Hotel Naguilán, across from the uninhabited Islote Haverbeck.

Isla Teja:

Wishing on a lily pad

The bridge just north of the fish market connects Valdivia proper with Isla Teja, a large island surrounded by rivers and wetlands, home of the main campus of the Universidad Austral de Chile, one of the country’s top research universities. A riverside botanical garden borders the lovely grounds, and trendy bars and cafes line Avenida Los Robles. A couple of mansions and a factory have been converted into museums, and a nearby park features paths and sculptures surrounding a large lily pond.

Anyone who reaches this point in the walking tour deserves a beer, the city’s preferred beverage; a pisco sour; or a tall glass of freshly blended berries.