La Sebastiana (Pablo Neruda House) & Cerro Bellavista Open-Air Museum Guide

"I feel the fatigue of the stairs across my knees, / I climb to my house on the hill..." wrote Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904 to 1973) of his beloved Valparaíso refuge, La Sebastiana. Perched high on Cerro Florida with unobstructed views across the entire crescent of Valparaíso Bay, Neruda's house pairs naturally with a downhill walk through the twenty monumental murals of the Museo a Cielo Abierto on neighbouring Cerro Bellavista.

1. La Sebastiana: Pablo Neruda's House in the Clouds (Inaugurated 1961)

Located at Calle Ricardo de Ferrari 692 on Cerro Florida, the house was originally started in 1959 by Spanish immigrant builder Sebastián Collado, an eccentric aviation enthusiast who wanted a bird's-eye view of every ship, seagull, and hillside in Valparaíso. When Collado passed away before finishing the five-storey structure, Neruda, who was searching for a house in Valparaíso "that seemed to float in the air, but stand firmly on the earth", bought the upper three floors (while his friends, sculptor Marie Martner and Dr Francisco Velasco, took the lower levels) and inaugurated La Sebastiana on 18 September 1961:

• Five Ship-Like Levels of Curiosities & Poetry: Guided by an engaging complimentary multi-language audio tour (provided by the Fundación Pablo Neruda), you climb narrow spiral stairs through rooms painted in sky blue, coral pink, and sea green. Highlights include the living room and rose-pink bar (where Neruda mixed his famous champagne-and-cognac Coctelón to watch the New Year's Eve harbour fireworks), a vintage wooden carousel horse from Paris, nineteenth-century marine maps, ship skylight windows, stained-glass skylights, a dining table set with coloured glassware (which Neruda believed made water and wine taste better), and his top-floor writing study and bedroom looking straight out to sea.
• Visiting Practicalities: La Sebastiana is open Tuesday through Sunday (closed Mondays); photography is permitted in the gardens and exterior plazas while interiors are kept camera-free to keep the narrow stairways moving smoothly. Check the official Fundación Pablo Neruda portal for current seasonal hours.

2. Museo a Cielo Abierto on Cerro Bellavista (Inaugurated 1992)

After exiting La Sebastiana, walk ten minutes downhill along Calle Ricardo de Ferrari onto Cerro Bellavista to enter the Museo a Cielo Abierto (Open-Air Museum), the pioneer of Valparaíso's street-art renaissance:

• Twenty Murals by Chile's Master Painters: First conceived between 1969 and 1973 by professor Francisco Méndez and architecture students from the Catholic University of Valparaíso (before being painted over after the 1973 coup), the project was revived in the 1990s by painter Nemesio Antúnez and inaugurated in 1992. Winding down Pasaje Pasteur, Pasaje Guimera, and the Rudolph steps to the top of the 1911 Ascensor Espíritu Santo, the walkway displays twenty signed outdoor murals by giants of twentieth-century Chilean art, including Roberto Matta, Mario Toral, Roser Bru, José Balmes, Gracia Barrios, Matilde Pérez, and Nemesio Antúnez.