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Santa Lucía Hill
Santa Lucía Hill
Santa Lucía Hill (e/Alameda del Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins in the south, Calle Santa Lucía, and Victoria Subercaseaux, Santiago) — at the eastern end of downtown Santiago you will find Cerro Santa Lucia (Santa Lucía Hill) which is a small hill that is adorned with wonderful facades, fountains and stairways and that even has a ‘castle’ on it. It was at the foot of this hill that Pedro de Valdivia founded the city of Santiago on February 12th, 1541. The Spanish conquistadors used Santa Lucia hill as a lookout point for the planning of the city, according to the traditional Spanish checkerboard layout (though it remained largely unchanged). Nowadays, visitors come here to take in the view of the city from there.