The city, which became Chile's first port in 1554, draws tourists to its pastel-coloured wooden buildings, sprawling up the hills. A series of wooden funicular lifts, taking people from the residential hilltops down to the industrial port area, have been declared one of the world's 100 most endangered historical treasures. And Pablo Neruda, the celebrated Chilean poet, built a clifftop home in the city which he used as a base to write his books.