São Paulo Surprise

Salvador was the place that I most wanted to visit in Brazil. More than Rio, more than São Paulo, more than Iguazu Falls, Salvador was the thing that appealed to me. My interest started when I would see blog posts of beautiful buildings and cobblestone streets, but I decided I would go when I was in Benin in West Africa. I was at the Museum of history in Ouidah, Benin, and they had many posts about the slave trade out of West Africa and to the “new world”. And there was a display about slaves going to Salvador. And how the African culture in Salvador became part of the culture of Brazil. And this interested me. I was loving the West African cultures I was moved by and horrified by the stories of the slave trade and I thought I wanted to see where the people ended up and what that city looks like today.

That sounds very thoughtful and that is why I decided to go, however, my time in Salvador was not spent doing some sort of deep research into the lives of people who were trafficked there, it was simply to see the city and experience it. And I was not disappointed.

Salvador is the capital of Bahia, state of Brazil, which is roughly in the northeast of the country, on a peninsula.  The old city part of Salvador, Pelourinho, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Salvador was the First Capital city of Brazil, it was, sadly, the first slave market in the “new world”.  Pelourinho, contains buildings from the renaissance time of the city, and the colonial era.

In short Salvador is amazing. It’s so beautiful. It reminds me a little bit of old Havana except that it is much bigger and there’s many more beautiful buildings and it feels less touristy than old Havana.  It has stunning squares, and hilly cobble-stoned streets. The buildings are brightly painted and the churches are beautiful. There are inviting cafés and art studios and markets selling food (not very vegetarian friendly) and handmade items.

Salvador has an upper town and a lower town connected by both an outdoor elevator and a funicular.  All the pictures in those post are in the upper town, where I stayed. Pictures of the lower town I will put in a separate post.

Part of the reason that I’ve broken up my Salvador blogs into a couple of different posts isn’t because I have that much to say, but it is simply that I took so many photos.

Churches

I stayed in Pelourinho at the Laranjeiras Hostel, which could not have been in a better location. I can’t recommend it highly enough. I had a lovely private room with a shared bathroom. I had French doors that opened and looked out onto the cobblestone streets and colourful buildings. And if I tried to take a nap in my room during the day there were little green birds that would sit and chirp outside the window. It was just stunning. (It didn’t have much of a fun hostel atmosphere, but the premises and location were perfect.)  An added bonus was from the women’s washroom you had a direct view into the practice space at the Olodum Creative School and you could see and hear the infection samba drumming. (Olodum is the famous samba-reggae drumming group in Salvador that famously plays in Carnival, but also does regular concerts and champions social causes in the region.)

In terms of what there is to do in Salvador there is a million museums, a lot of bars, a lot of opportunities to take in music, and visit historical sites. But for me it was a place to wander around and look at these incredibly beautiful buildings and take in some of the history.

I happily spent a few days there doing just that; walking around gawking at the buildings and the streets reading about the history and visiting a few of the museums. 

The Afro-Brazilian Museum and the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology are both certainly worth a visit.

What was the surprised was the excellent carnival museum: Carnival House. The history of Carnival and the social changes in Brazil was surprisingly interesting.  Had I been there for a shorter time I wouldn’t have bothered to go, but I had a lot of time in Salvador, and it was raining so I decided to go in. It was a very interesting and interactive and well-done museum. There’s even a place where you can put on some Carnival costumes and dance around to samba music which I did and, yes, I felt stupid, but it was fun.

I also visited an excellent modern Art Museum: Museu Abelardo Rodrigues. Small and free, but really well curated. The private collection of some philanthropic lawyer. Always nice to see.

I visited a number of charming little cafes. I walked around the market enjoyed more street drumming, drank from a coconut, and tried to sneak pictures of the women in their giant dresses.  Number of the women selling things at the markets food or crafts or whatever we’re wearing traditional Bahinan costumes called Baiana de Acarajé.  Brightly wrapped headscarves, a white or patterned blouse and an enormous skirt over layers of petticoats.  Many of them were selling Acarajé, a fried ball made of beans and stuffed with meat or shrimps, coconuts and other things. I was too shy to ask for a photo, so I just snuck a couple.

Smoking cigars in Salvador was a bit of a challenge. There are no official smoking lounges and although there doesn’t seem to be any law against smoking on patios, some of the busier restaurants just didn’t make me feel comfortable about smoking because almost no one on those patios was. But I certainly found places that were tucked away or where I felt like I could smoke without annoying anyone. One night when it was pouring rain, I went into a little pizza joint. I was the only one there aside from the owner and he let me smoke a cigar while eating my pizza inside. It was amazing. Also, drink cheap Caipirinhas, while having a cigar. That was perfect.

I try not to drink much (or at all) on my travels, but I had to make an exception for Brazil simply because the Caipirinhas were so delicious and I had never had them before.  Also, in Salvador they had a local alcohol called Cravinho. There’s an unmissable bar, O Cravinho, on one of the main squares. It has barrels outside and inside it is tiny and seemingly crowded at all times of the day. They sell Cravinho which is a cloves and cinnamon and maybe honey flavoured alcohol that they dispense from spigots in the barrels. It comes with different flavors and is served in little thimble sized glasses. I stood outside sipping from the thimble and smoking cigarillos. Nobody else really spoke English, but I certainly had a lot of pleasant smiles and cheers. It was a nice spot.

I didn’t have too many conversations with people because in Brazil most people didn’t seem to speak English and I’m utterly useless at Portuguese, but one night while eating a plate of vegetables and smoking a cigar in a side street while watching drummers, I had a long conversation with a man named Falcon, who had super long dreadlocks and giant combat boots and was definitely a bit of a character. The conversation carried on a bit longer than I wish it had but we had we had a fun chat about Salvador and life. It finally ended only when I promised him that I would return someday to see Carnival. Without seeing it, he said, I have not lived.

shops and studios

buildings in Salvador

That’s kind of what I did in Salvador for the most part, although I am saving some comments about my visits to lower town for a second post. There are more activities that one can do in Salvador – there’s capoeira classes and cooking classes and guided tours and visits to the beach, but I was content just to sort of chill out and walk around and take it all in. I definitely recommend it as a destination, and I liked it far more than Rio.

Next up: meandering the mossy and colourful streets and searching for cigars in Salvador’s lower town (next post here).