Salvador, Recife, FdeN Day 3
Salvador, Recife, FdeN
Day 03 - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 – City Tour, Salvador, Bahia, BR
A city tour was included in our Salvador package. The tour company had scheduled the trip to begin at 8:30. While we waited I went out to get a weather reading. It was 80° with 74% humidity and it was a beautiful sunny day.
Sergio came to pick us up at 9:00. We drove through several residential neighborhoods and picked up a fellow passenger Laura. Our first stop of the day was the lighthouse.
As we had walked there the day we arrived we took several people pictures while Bob and Susan went inside the museum. Their report was that it was excellent; very well done, and worth the price of admission.
The Portuguese sea captain Cabral landed on the southern coast of Bahia in 1500, and claimed this territory for Portugal. In 1549, Portugal established Salvador on a hill facing the Bay of All Saints.
Salvador was the first capital of Brazil and for the first 224 years of the territory of Portugal, the city controlled the commerce and shipping of goods back to the mother country.
In the 17th Century over 1.3 million slaves were brought to Salvador from Africa to be sold in the markets in the city. Almost 40% of all slaves imported to the new world came through Bahia to be processed to work the sugar cane plantations
Products exported from Bahia now are petroleum, sugar, chocolate, soy, wine, and the tourist industry is also very important to the economy.
Our tour guide Jude told us more about the city and pointed out buildings of importance on our way to Municipal Square. Sergio let us out in the High City and we learned about the first cathedral and other government buildings of the capital era.
We were joined by another group of 12 people. Jude led us to the Convent of San Francisco and to the Cathedral of San Francisco. The church was built by the rich sugar cane barons in the 18th century.
There are over 1800 kilos of gold from the state of Bahia that decorate the altars and the walls of the church. The cloister of the convent is decorated with Azulejos, stunning blue ceramic tiles from Portugal.
Jude guided us through the old colonial neighborhoods and shops where we were tempted to buy a few remembrances of Bahia. While a few people went to the bank to exchange money, Gennie found a post office and purchased stamps for the post cards she has been buying.
The tour ended in the Pelourinho District. We said good-bye to Jude and we asked Sergio to drop us off at a supermarket within walking distance of our hotel. We bought water and a few groceries for our evening meal and then walked across the street to Habib’s for lunch, a fast food restaurant specializing in Middle Eastern cuisine.
The weather was very hot and humid as we walked home from the grocery store, but we all made the 2.5 mile trek. We felt good about walking off our lunch. We got back to the hotel at 2:45.
We put our groceries away and then met at 3:30 to add another adventure to our day. I checked the bus lines and we were able to catch the red bus to go to Praça da Sé to go back to the High City.
The cost for the bus was 3 reais each. Bob, Gennie and I enjoyed a ride with the Bahians. For 15 centavos more we rode the Lacerda Elevator down to the Low City and the Porto da Barra (port) and Naval Base.
We strolled through the Mercado Modelo a tourist paradise for arts, crafts, and souvenirs from Bahia. We took many photos and then on our way to the naval base, we saw several young boys diving for coins in the bay.
We gave them some incentive to be photographed and then I bought them a lunch and they were very appreciative of a good meal.
Across the street from the lower elevator was a huge water sculpture. We took time to take photos and talk to a few local people. We went back up the elevator and then to the bus stop where we caught the red Barra bus back to the hotel.
We had over 400 pictures to sort and then write the day’s journal that captured our full day in Salvador.
Accommodations: Portobello Ondina Praia Hotel --- Meal: B
Comments
Rhythm, Planeta Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brasil (1:55)
Azulejos
Cathedral of San Francisco
Bahiana
Old City Salvador
Water Sculpture and Lacerda Elevator
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