12th Iberoamerican Congress on Pattern Recognition
CIARP 2007
Viña del Mar / Valparaiso, Chile. November 13-16

Valparaíso

http://www.municipalidaddevalparaiso.cl/depturismo/

The city of Valparaíso was given the "World Heritage" status in 2003.

The most important port city of central Chile. It looks like a huge and splendid amphitheater that faces the Pacific Ocean. The city is surrounded by forty-five hills that along with its ravines plunge down into the sea, and whose beaches and rocky formations form a narrow, coastal plane.
Home of The National Congress headquarters, Valparaiso also centers the cultural, naval and fishing institutions of the country. The city finds in its heritage, in its traditions, in its art and in its relation to the sea, the basis for its development

Valparaiso's fifteen funicular elevators, which are currently in use, are an important part of the city's identity. These elevators, built more than one hundred years ago, constitute a current and complete transportation system. They are fundamental for the vertical development of the city.

The trolleys also give a distinctive seal to Valparaiso and they are a valuable and efficient transportation system for its citizens.

The Port's bohemian lifestyle offers in its streets and hills an active nightlife, with its pubs and restaurants.

Valparaiso has had a great attraction and it has been a source of inspiration for artists, musicians and great poets. Pablo Neruda, the Chilean Nobel Prize Winner for Literature, lived and loved Valparaiso. He lived in the city, and built his house there, which is today the Museum "La Sebastiana", Neruda declared his love to this "crazy port", to this "adsurdity of a city", indicating that, if we walk through all of Valparaiso's stairways, "we will have traveled all around the world"

Valparaiso is located 9 kms. from Viña del Mar and 120 kms. from Santiago de Chile.