Salvador, Brazil (11/5-10/2019)
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| Salvador's Colorful Colonial Architecture |
Visiting
Salvador, Brazil’s former colonial capital, is fun and interesting. Nighttime excitement
pours from the historic center of this city (the Pelourinho) with the sounds of
lively Brazilian music and drum corps overlapping from its squares,
restaurants, and street performers. Salvador
is Brazil’s third most visited location - behind Rio de Janeiro – check here to see our travel post and Iguacu Falls... for some good reasons.
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| Sao Francisco Church at Night - Salvador, Brazil |
The Afro-Brazilian
Bahia culture in Salvador is heavily influenced from decedents of the large
number of slaves brought from western Africa during Portuguese colonial times.
This is reflected in the music, food, dance, entertainment, art, folklore, religion,
and most importantly, the people. Unlike what happened in other slave
territories around the world, due the very large numbers of slaves imported,
they were able to maintain much of their culture. Salvador today offers a
unique tourist experience to experience this Afro-Brazilian mix of European and
African cultures.
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| Salvador's Pelourinho Main Square at Night |
Salvador is
one of the oldest cities founded by Europeans in the Americas and was Brazil’s Portuguese colonial capital for three
centuries. A huge amount of gold, sugar, and tobacco was brought through it and
Salvador became very wealthy. It is now a living museum of 17th and
18th-century architecture. Recovering from urban decline that
affected many colonial cities in South America, repairs and interesting tourist
attractions have been underway everywhere - Salvador is ready for visitors!
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| Music Street Scene - Pelourinho, Salvador, Brazil |
Salvador’s cobblestoned
central old town, Pelourinho, is the
place to be. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and music is everywhere,
especially Tuesday nights and on weekends. This area is not large so wandering
around is easy and fun. People watching is great here. Be careful in crowds
because pickpockets do operate in Salvador. Police provide good security to
keep this area safe – wandering too far outside is not recommended, especially
at night.
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| Outdoor Restaurants - Largo do Cruzeiro de Sao Francisco |
Salvador’s main
square in the Pelourinho, Terreiro de
Jesus, is surrounded by bars and sometimes has performers during the day. Taxis
can be found here. It leads into our favorite
nighttime square, Largo do Cruzeiro de Sao Francisco that
has restaurants where you can sit outside and enjoy music with the beautifully lighted Sao Francisco church (see photo). You should try a unique Bahia dish such as Moqueca, a rich
fish stew (see photo below).
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| Exciting Drum Corps in the Streets |
Three of
Salvador’s squares have been set up with stages offering music shows many days. Largo Pedro Arcanjo and Largo Tereza Batista are accessed from
the streets Gregorio De Matos and Largo Quincas Berro D’Agua from Rua V.C.
Rarelo. The shows are often free or have small cover charges (unless a big name
band comes in). You can stand and dance or sit at a table enjoying a drink or
meal at several restaurants.
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| Amazing Sao Francisco Church - Salvador, Brazil |
Religion
was a big part of colonial life and it is said this Bahia region of Brazil has
so many churches that you could visit a different one every day of the year.
Quite a number are located in Salvador. You should plan a visit to Sao
Francisco Church showcasing Portugal’s colonial wealth in Salvador
Brazil (see photo). Finished in 1723, it is possibly one of the most ornately ornamented
churches in the world with its almost ton of gold decorations covering the
inside – amazing!
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| Museu do Carnaval - Salvado, Brazil |
Salvador’s
Afro-Brazilian carnival is a huge party attracting up to 2 million visitors. Interested
in the history of carnival in Brazil?
Do plan a visit to Salvador’s Museu do Carnaval (see photo). The history and
excitement of this amazingly exciting experience is captured well with video
displays showcasing the music, history, and crowds that are uniquely Brazil. We
found ourselves dancing while watching. This museum is located behind the
Cathedral Basilica off Praca da Se.
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| Romantic Courtyard Restaurant - Salvador, Brazil |
The
hour-long cultural show Bale Folclorico da Bahia is an interesting experience in
Salvador showcasing unique Bahian music and dance. The show starts out slow
with African-based song and dance reflecting mythology – the African ‘gods’ of
the Candomble religion still practiced
by many in Bahia. This leads up to an exciting display of lively Samba and Capoeira, the martial arts form of
dancing practiced by slaves to stay fit and prepare for possible uprising from
their masters. The show ends with an uplifting samba dance that was done by
slaves.
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| Nice City Beach - Praia Porto da Barra |
Salvador
also offers some fun beach experiences. Praia Porto da Barra (close town
beach) is nice (see photo). You can rent chairs and an umbrella for about $5 and nice affordable
drinks and food are available right on the beach. It is very popular (crowded)
on the weekends. Barra is a short taxi ride from Pelourinho. Fans of nautical
history, don’t miss the well-done Museu
Nautico da Bahia here. The new large shopping center, Shopping Barra, is located here with upscale fashions and
restaurants – nice place! Try the tasty cheese (Queijo Assado) they roast on
the beach. Sipping a caipirinha is a
thing to do in Brazil and can be done in many favors.
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| Mar Grande on Island of Itaparica |
For less crowded
beach experience, we enjoyed the 40-minute ferry ride to Mar Grande on the island of Itaparica. The beach there has three
restaurants where you can sit right on the beach with your feet in the sand and
enjoy drinks, food, music, and take a dip in the ocean to cool off (see photo). The ferry is
located in lower city near Salvador’s Mercado Modelo accessed by the Elevador
Lacerda. Praia do Forte is a
very nice beach located about 1 ½ hours drive from Salvador.
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| Mercado Modelo - Salvador, Brazil |
Public transportation is good and safe in Salvador – a
car rental will make your visit stressful. We found the taxis to be professional
and very reasonable. If you are looking for fun Brazilian souvenirs from local crafts
people, the Mercado Modelo is the
place to go (see photo).
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| Unique Bahia Dish - Moqueca ou Ensopado de Camarao con Peixe |
A note about the
Brazilian people... The people of Brazil exhibit a zest for life with their love for
friends, family, music, food, and laughter. Their willingness to be friends
with you was shown throughout our visit. A friendly smile is almost always
returned in kind and they often go out of their way to help you. We can learn a
lot from Brazilians. Portuguese is spoken in Brazil. You will encounter some English,
especially in hospitality. Due to the similarities of Portuguese with Spanish
and the fact that most the rest of the South American continent speaks Spanish,
we found trying some Spanish worked well in many cases.
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| Bahia Artwork - Salvador, Brazil |
Some history of
Salvador... In
1549, the Portuguese came to Salvador to set up Brazil’s first capital. For
three centuries, huge wealth was taken from this area in the form of sugarcane,
tobacco, cattle, gold, and gems. Salvador became one of the richest cities in
South America. A large slave population was used to extract this wealth – so
big slaves made up half Salvador’s population.
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| Get Ready for Sexy Brazilian Bikinis! |
In 1763, with the decline of the
sugarcane industry, the capital was moved to Rio de Janeiro and Salvador went
into decline until recently. Since 1993, with UNESCO and other funding, a very
noticeable revival of this once great city has come about.
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| Casa do Amarelindo - Salvador, Brazil |
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| Dining Room of Pelo Bristo |
We stayed
at Casa
do Amarelindo and were very glad we did. This former colonial mansion 10-room
boutique hotel is rate #1 on TripAdvisor
for hotels in Salvador for very good reasons. It is an oasis of sophisticated
elegance located right in the center of Salvador’s famous old town (Pelourinho)
where most things are happening in Salvador. Step out the door and you are
right in the action. The rooms, bedding, and furnishings are top notch and the
staff goes out of their way to help you make your stay memorable. They even
have interesting day trips with personal guides they can arrange for you. Their
excellent restaurant, Pelo Bistro, is
also one of the top-rated restaurants in Salvador providing an excellent
breakfast (included) in the morning. The pool and bar overlooking the ocean is
wonderful to cool down and enjoy a drink after your daily excursions. If you
come to Salvador, look no further than this gem of a hotel!
See our other beautiful places we visited in Brazil:
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