Looking back at the photographs taken in Santiago de Chile we seemed to have crammed quite a lot into our few days in the capital city . . . . as you may well expect!

Our hotel (Hotel Orly) was centrally located although this did mean dropping the bags off at the hotel first and then taking the hire car back to the airport. It seemed a sensible idea at the time and from memory driving in Santiago was not too bad although like most cities you need to look after yourself first. I think I caught the bus back in from the airport having left Heather at the hotel, although I could be wrong.

From what I can remember Santiago was a pleasant place to spend a few days, there were lots of eating opportunities from cheap and cheerful places like Schopdog (a bargain hot dog and beer joint), Starbucks and plenty of empanada stands through to good quality restaurants and of course plenty of great wines to try too.

We enjoyed a trip on the cable car that linked the city centre to the hills overlooking the city, visited the railway museum - which housed lots of artifacts in a parkland setting - and also visited the famous Concha y Toro Winery. We also visited the Santa Carolina winery, which was no where near as commercialised as Concha y Toro, but also slightly more difficult to locate although once past the security doors it was probably a better experience overall.

Our flight back to the UK was with Iberia, via Madrid, into London Heathrow and at that time they had very poor in flight entertainment and certainly not up there with what would be expected today. It seemed a long overnight flight!