After our fabulous trip to the Pantanal in the hinterlands of Brazil, we
flew to Salvador on the Atlantic coast in north-eastern Brazil. Salvador (or Salvador de Bahia), is known for its Portuguese colonial architecture, Afro-Brazilian culture, and tropical climate. We were really looking forward to spending some time there.
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| Portuguese colonial architecture in Salvador (UNESCO), Brazil |
Salvador is also known for its old city centre which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and its fabulous beaches.
We'd planned to stay by one of the more famous of those beaches, in the seaside suburb of Barra. It is located in the southern part of the city on the Atlantic coast, and is one of the traditional neighbourhoods of Salvador.
We'd booked a one-bedroom AirBnB apartment there. Unfortunately, the apartment did not live up to its description on AirBnB in terms of cleanliness and maintenance.
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| View from our apartment in Barra, Salvador (UNESCO), Brazil |
However, it had an incredibly redeeming
feature – its fabulous views, especially of the sea, coast, and sunsets. It also had a great
view to the street so we had ample opportunities for people-watching.
Salvador is the 4th largest city in Brazil
with around 2.9 mil people, so we decided to take a tourist bus to give us an
overview of this large city.
The first stop was in the city centre at the
Mercado Modelo. The building dates back to 1861 and used to be the customs house.
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| Marg at the Mercado Modelo, Salvador (UNESCO), Brazil |
We thought this historic market was architecturally attractive, but the goods on sale were mostly souvenirs and touristy stuff, so we passed through it quite quickly.
Across the road we saw the port. In the 16th century, the Port of Salvador was a thriving pirate den. However, as Salvador has grown, the area has been cleaned up and restored.
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| Quaint fishing boats in the Port of Salvador (UNESCO), Brazil |
It is now a busy modern port, but still contains quaint and colourful fishing boats and some historic buildings.
The city area of Salvador consists of two parts; the Lower Town which contains the market, port, and main commercial district; and the Upper Town which is the administrative, religious centre, and primary residential area. The Upper Town also contains the historic centre.
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| Elevador Lacerda takes you between the Lower and Upper towns of Salvador (UNESCO), Brazil |
So leaving the Lower Town port area, we ascended 72 metres to the clifftop Upper Town via the Elevador Lacerda, an interesting art deco elevator, that connects the two levels of Salvador.
At the top, we called into the tourist office where a young woman spent ages on the phone on our behalf. She was trying to organise payment for our luggage on our flight out of Salvador in the coming week.
Luggage is charged separately to the seat
ticket in South America, and buying in advance is half the price than at airport check-in. Not speaking Portuguese made it almost impossible to achieve this by ourselves, so we were very grateful for her help.
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| View of the Port of Salvador from Salvador's Upper Town |
While at the top, we noted the many historic buildings there, and also enjoyed a fabulous view back over the port area that we'd recently left.
With luggage sorted, we headed back down to the port on the Elevador Lacerda. As we continued our bus trip, we decided to return to the historic Upper Town the next day.
The bus then took us through an incredibly diverse range of neighbourhoods.
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| Favelas 10 minutes away from expensive yachts |
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| Buildings covered in mould - many others were worse |
Houses and shops in many areas were in absolutely terrible condition, with mould and signs of dampness everywhere. Many buildings appeared to be disused, giving parts of the city, a very run-down and poverty-stricken look.
It was pretty ghastly and we were shocked at
how bad the conditions were. There was colour and vibrancy, but heaps of
collapsing structures and decaying facades.
Our bus driver went really fast through one
particular area, and we were pleased not to stop, because there were several groups of men shouting at each other.
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| Some of Salvador's interesting public art |
But we also saw some wonderful street art and creative spaces that help give this city its great vibe.
At one point, we drove alongside the metro
which is raised up between the lanes of car traffic. Beneath it was a walking path and a cycle path, two
lanes going each way to keep everyone away from the cars. We think this very sensible approach would work well at home in New Zealand.
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| Beautiful Salvador beach |
By then we had crossed the city and come out
on the Atlantic coast where we saw beach after beach after beach - big beautiful sandy
beaches and some intimate bays.
There were plenty of people enjoying the beach. sunbathing,
playing volleyball, swimming and paddling. It was lovely. More places for us to return
to later.
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| Street market, shops and Bonfim Basilica - the pink in the Bomfin photo is thousands of good-luck ribbons |
Heading back into the city, we stopped to view several small markets, some local shops, and the multi-faith Bonfim Basilica. The Basilica had thousands of pink and other coloured ribbons, that people had tied to a fence for good luck.
After about 6 hrs, we arrived back at the apartment feeling very happy with our day.
The next day we caught a quite crowded bus into
the historic centre to go exploring.
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| Portuguese colonial architecture in Jesus Square, Salvador (UNESCO), Brazil |
There we saw some amazing Portuguese colonial buildings, some colourful art-deco ones, and not so good historic ones, all in differing stages of wellbeing.
The Portuguese founded Salvador in 1549 as the capital of Brazil. It soon became the first slave marked in the New World, using Africans to work on sugar plantations.
These days, it is one of the oldest colonial cities in the Americas, and the Africans add immensely to the wonderful culture and feel of the city.
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| Pelourinho, Salvador's historic centre |
We had a wonderful walk around Pelourinho, the historic area. There are many squares reached by cobbled
hilly streets, crowded with small and large and colourful buildings. It is extremely attractive.
We found Salvador people to be incredibly
friendly and helpful, but with not much English spoken. Those who do speak
English, seemed to really enjoy practicing it on us.
We however, struggled with our almost non-existent Portuguese.
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| Marg in Salvador's Pelourinho historic centre |
We kept lapsing into a mix of Portuguese,
Spanish and English: Bom dia (good day in Portuguese); por favor (thank you in
Spanish); bye (goodbye in English)!
Later, back in Barra near our AirBnB, we
enjoyed another nice seafood meal including an amazing crab dish (6 crabs in one
dish!), and did some local sightseeing.
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| Leigh at the Forte de Santa Maria on Barra Beach, Salvador (UNESCO), Brazil |
A sightseeing highlight, was the quaint white colonial Forte de Santa Maria at the end of Barra Beach.
Barra is lovely. One night, we were offered a free caipirinha
drink to entice us into a restaurant there - how could we refuse? A caipirinha is
made with the local spirit cachaça, topped up with pounded ice and limes. Very
moreish. So we decided to continue with them as our drinks with the meal.
However, we seriously underestimated the
potency of cachaça and had a very wobbly stroll home that night - perhaps one
less next time!
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| Barra Beach cafes and bars near our AirBnB |
By the time we were ready to leave Salvador, we'd had a fabulous time. We enjoyed having our own space for several
days at the AirBnB rather than a hotel, and even had time to do laundry, update our blog, and go for several long walks. But after some rest and great sightseeing, it was eventually time to move on.
Our next destination is Belo Horizonte, our entry point to visit Ouro Preto, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The above blog is part of our 4-month tour of South America. The first blog on this tour is called "Buenos Aires here we come".