Cerro Alegre is basically the continuation of Cerro Concepción, the next hill along the ridge. I guess the dividing line is along Urriola Street. There are a few ways to get there; from the east along central Templeman street as I did in the last post, or the back route from the north from Monte Alegre street, or from the south, up Ascensor Reina Victoria (video here) and along busy Paseo Dimalow. The fact is you’ll need to visit the area at least twice to see it properly so you’ll probably use all these access points at some time.
Both Monte Alegre and Paseo Dimalow have good places for lunch, although not quite as good as La Concepción in my past post. Everywhere mentioned is on my map.
Popular Paseo Dimlow, and the nearby stretch of Almirante Montt, is thick with restaurants, but if you want yet another fabulous view with your food (see above), check out Hotel Fauna faunahotel.cl at 166 Paseo Dimalow. It was my third lunch of the day so I kept it light with a spinach, cheese and serrano ham salad on a flatbread which was simple but good (B).
Alternatively you could lunch at Pais, the restaurant of the Hotel Palacio Astoreca www.hotelpalacioastoreca.com at 149 Monte Alegre. I found the modern main dining room a bit formal for my tastes but I enjoyed sitting out on the terrace under a sun shade enjoying the limited view (the hotel is near the bottom of the hill).
The food, contemporary Chilean and international cuisine, is nicely presented. I kept it simple with some grilled Pejerrey (a local fish that tranlates as Chilean Silverside) and Puré de Papa Camote Asada (roast sweet potato puree) which was just okay (C+).
There is some interesting architecture in the area, such as the beautiful Art Nouveau Palacio Baburizza over the road.
It’s now an Art Nouveau museum www.museobaburizza.cl but I didn’t know this at the time or I would have gone in.
There’s some more wonderful street art around Monte Alegre.
From here it’s a short walk to Templeman Street which runs through the centre of both Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepcion. This steep hill is particularly famous for its painted houses and street art.
From here I took Ascensor Reina Victoria down to the bottom of the hill to look at the street art in the area around Avenida Elias and Cumming, and the mosaics in Plaza El Descanso. There aren’t any tourists walking around here but the art is great.
On the left, about halfway up the hilly stretch of Cumming is a staircase that takes you up to the cemetery…
…more of which next!