I haven't done a Brazil blog yet, basically because we haven't stayed in one place long enough for a top 5 but here is a run down of my thoughts so far.
Iguacu Falls - nothing much to add to Paul's blog and the videos. These falls are absolutely amazing and are vying with Halong Bay for my vote for the new 7 wonders of the world (www.n7w.com). In my opinion the Argentinian side is better through - more up close so it is a slower reveal with more wow factor.
Parque des Aves (Bird Park opposite the Falls) - S America gets all the most colourful birds and most of them are here! Beautiful parrots and macaus and lots of different types of Toucans. There are a lot of standard type cages but there are also a couple of large aviarys where you can walk with the birds; the toucans in these were a bit too friendly for me though - especially with their scary big beaks! My highlight were the hummingbirds which really are amazing - perfectly proportioned with wings that move so fast that you can barely see them but which gives them a really elegant flying style. I also dared to touch a snake in their 'animals up close' area, but it was small, docile and firmly under the control of a keeper so I don't think my snake phobia (second now to my saltwater croc phobia - thanks Oz!) was cured!
Hostel Natura (a few kilometres outside Fos de Iguacu) - the best hostel of the trip so far. Beautiful lush garden with a pool, a couple of lakes and plenty of lounging space. I loved sitting in one of the hammocks in the garden sipping a delicious Caipirnha from the bar. Friendly staff as well but the crowning glory is the collection of pets including a dog that loves to chase after limes instead of balls and a lovely stripey cat that I wanted to adopt! It is in the middle of nowhere but it only takes about half an hour on the bus to get to the Falls and there is nothing to do in the town itself anyway (allegedly - I didn't move from my hammock long enough to find out!).
Floripa - Floripa is the nickname for the main beach area on Santa Catarina island (main town Florianopolis, hence the name) and it has a lot of potential, but unfortunately not in the rain! We had one non rainy day here and we spent that on Mole beach, which is a classic holiday beach - sand, sea and beach bars! There are plenty of other beaches to explore but because of the rain we decided to visit the town of Florianopolis instead. It is a fairly affluent town with a smattering of historic buildings but we didn't see it at its best having foolishly chosen to visit not only in the rain but on a national holiday so pretty much everything was closed. Except for one of the main malls :-)
Rather than staying in the centre of Florianopolis we stayed in a suburb called Lagoa which is the bar capital of the area and is basically the place everyone goes in the evenings to party after a day on the beach. Great choice for our hostel location as it meant we could walk to dinner and drinks instead of having to taxi or bus everywhere. There is nothing to do (or even open) in the day if it's raining though. A good place to get a bit of the Brazilian beach party spirit when the sun shines.
Blumenau - this town is Brazil's 'little Germany' and is the unofficial capital of Brazil's substantial German immigration. We were very curious to see what Germazil would be like and it is pretty strange. A few authentic historic German-style buildings from the 19th C but a lot more modern buildings built in an olde German style in particular the Villa Germanica area which is where the annual Oktoberfest is held and definitely feels like Munich, Disney style. Still, despite the rain it was an enjoyable and unusual place to spend a day or so and we managed to educate ourselves about the variety of German style beers available in Brazil which are a definite improvement on the standard lagers: Skol (yuk!!) and Brahma (ok).
Curitiba - our first experience of a Brazilian city of any size. I am told that it is probably the poshest city in Brazil so I guess it is a good place to ease into the urban monsters of Sao Paolo and Rio! Despite yet more rain we managed to see a lot of the place in the 48hours we spent there, largely by hopping on a tourist bus which took us steadily (and more importantly in the dry) around the major sites of the town. We got the impression that there are some lovely big parks and the wire framed opera house looked good from the bus! But the only place that tempted us off the bus was the Oscar Niemeyer Museum which is primarily about the building (the work of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer of course). It is a quite spectacular example of architectural concept over, well, almost anything else (certainly practicaility and no doubt cost and programme). However, the 'eye' shaped building is pretty striking from the outside (photo to follow one day) and even in the rain it was worth an up close look. The inside is basically an art gallery and although it wasn't amazing there were some good exhibitions on notably by the engraver Marcello Grassman. Strange but intriguing brass rubbings that varied surprisingly little over a 50 year career. There was also some impressive misery art by a S American artist whose name I will need to look up!
We also spent a bit of time wandering around the historic centre, which has some impressive 19th C buildings and a couple of nice squares. There is still a fair amount of miserable modern stuff too though. The best modern innovation here is the bus stop tube. Photo to follow. There are also a couple of nice modern, shopping malls - Mueller and Estacion are recommended.
Main food and drink mention goes to Schwarzwald - a great German bierhaus with good beers, cheap German food (I do actually love Sauerkraut!) and a very lively atmosphere.
Scenic train journey to Morretes - this is a day trip from Curitiba on one of Brazil's very few mainline trainlines. It is a popular day trip which takes you through the Brazilian rainforest to the colonial town of Morretes. The 3 hour train journey exceeded expectations. I don't know whether it was all the rain we've been having or whether it always looks like this but the clouds were so low and some of the valleys so deep that you were given the impression of travelling through the clouds on the top of lush green mountains. The photos don't really do it justice but they do give a sense of the atmosphere.
The train arrives in Morretes at 11.15 and picks you up again at 4, which leaves enough time for a wander around the town, a leisurely lunch and a Caipirinha made with the Cachaca which is produced locally. The town was a slightly grubby predominately 19th C town set on a river. Enough to do and see to cover the 11.15am to 4pm timeslot but I suspect it wouldn't be so popular if it wasn't at the end of a stunning train journey. Medium picturesque! The Caipirinha was good though :-)
Currently on another bus on the way to Sao Paolo. The sun is shining which I hope is a good omen for our time in the urban jungle!
Iguacu Falls - nothing much to add to Paul's blog and the videos. These falls are absolutely amazing and are vying with Halong Bay for my vote for the new 7 wonders of the world (www.n7w.com). In my opinion the Argentinian side is better through - more up close so it is a slower reveal with more wow factor.
Parque des Aves (Bird Park opposite the Falls) - S America gets all the most colourful birds and most of them are here! Beautiful parrots and macaus and lots of different types of Toucans. There are a lot of standard type cages but there are also a couple of large aviarys where you can walk with the birds; the toucans in these were a bit too friendly for me though - especially with their scary big beaks! My highlight were the hummingbirds which really are amazing - perfectly proportioned with wings that move so fast that you can barely see them but which gives them a really elegant flying style. I also dared to touch a snake in their 'animals up close' area, but it was small, docile and firmly under the control of a keeper so I don't think my snake phobia (second now to my saltwater croc phobia - thanks Oz!) was cured!
Hostel Natura (a few kilometres outside Fos de Iguacu) - the best hostel of the trip so far. Beautiful lush garden with a pool, a couple of lakes and plenty of lounging space. I loved sitting in one of the hammocks in the garden sipping a delicious Caipirnha from the bar. Friendly staff as well but the crowning glory is the collection of pets including a dog that loves to chase after limes instead of balls and a lovely stripey cat that I wanted to adopt! It is in the middle of nowhere but it only takes about half an hour on the bus to get to the Falls and there is nothing to do in the town itself anyway (allegedly - I didn't move from my hammock long enough to find out!).
Floripa - Floripa is the nickname for the main beach area on Santa Catarina island (main town Florianopolis, hence the name) and it has a lot of potential, but unfortunately not in the rain! We had one non rainy day here and we spent that on Mole beach, which is a classic holiday beach - sand, sea and beach bars! There are plenty of other beaches to explore but because of the rain we decided to visit the town of Florianopolis instead. It is a fairly affluent town with a smattering of historic buildings but we didn't see it at its best having foolishly chosen to visit not only in the rain but on a national holiday so pretty much everything was closed. Except for one of the main malls :-)
Rather than staying in the centre of Florianopolis we stayed in a suburb called Lagoa which is the bar capital of the area and is basically the place everyone goes in the evenings to party after a day on the beach. Great choice for our hostel location as it meant we could walk to dinner and drinks instead of having to taxi or bus everywhere. There is nothing to do (or even open) in the day if it's raining though. A good place to get a bit of the Brazilian beach party spirit when the sun shines.
Blumenau - this town is Brazil's 'little Germany' and is the unofficial capital of Brazil's substantial German immigration. We were very curious to see what Germazil would be like and it is pretty strange. A few authentic historic German-style buildings from the 19th C but a lot more modern buildings built in an olde German style in particular the Villa Germanica area which is where the annual Oktoberfest is held and definitely feels like Munich, Disney style. Still, despite the rain it was an enjoyable and unusual place to spend a day or so and we managed to educate ourselves about the variety of German style beers available in Brazil which are a definite improvement on the standard lagers: Skol (yuk!!) and Brahma (ok).
Curitiba - our first experience of a Brazilian city of any size. I am told that it is probably the poshest city in Brazil so I guess it is a good place to ease into the urban monsters of Sao Paolo and Rio! Despite yet more rain we managed to see a lot of the place in the 48hours we spent there, largely by hopping on a tourist bus which took us steadily (and more importantly in the dry) around the major sites of the town. We got the impression that there are some lovely big parks and the wire framed opera house looked good from the bus! But the only place that tempted us off the bus was the Oscar Niemeyer Museum which is primarily about the building (the work of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer of course). It is a quite spectacular example of architectural concept over, well, almost anything else (certainly practicaility and no doubt cost and programme). However, the 'eye' shaped building is pretty striking from the outside (photo to follow one day) and even in the rain it was worth an up close look. The inside is basically an art gallery and although it wasn't amazing there were some good exhibitions on notably by the engraver Marcello Grassman. Strange but intriguing brass rubbings that varied surprisingly little over a 50 year career. There was also some impressive misery art by a S American artist whose name I will need to look up!
We also spent a bit of time wandering around the historic centre, which has some impressive 19th C buildings and a couple of nice squares. There is still a fair amount of miserable modern stuff too though. The best modern innovation here is the bus stop tube. Photo to follow. There are also a couple of nice modern, shopping malls - Mueller and Estacion are recommended.
Main food and drink mention goes to Schwarzwald - a great German bierhaus with good beers, cheap German food (I do actually love Sauerkraut!) and a very lively atmosphere.
Scenic train journey to Morretes - this is a day trip from Curitiba on one of Brazil's very few mainline trainlines. It is a popular day trip which takes you through the Brazilian rainforest to the colonial town of Morretes. The 3 hour train journey exceeded expectations. I don't know whether it was all the rain we've been having or whether it always looks like this but the clouds were so low and some of the valleys so deep that you were given the impression of travelling through the clouds on the top of lush green mountains. The photos don't really do it justice but they do give a sense of the atmosphere.
The train arrives in Morretes at 11.15 and picks you up again at 4, which leaves enough time for a wander around the town, a leisurely lunch and a Caipirinha made with the Cachaca which is produced locally. The town was a slightly grubby predominately 19th C town set on a river. Enough to do and see to cover the 11.15am to 4pm timeslot but I suspect it wouldn't be so popular if it wasn't at the end of a stunning train journey. Medium picturesque! The Caipirinha was good though :-)
Currently on another bus on the way to Sao Paolo. The sun is shining which I hope is a good omen for our time in the urban jungle!
No comments:
Post a Comment