Crisscrossed by rivers, canals and bridges, Recife is known
as the “Venice of Brazil”. It is the capital city for the state of Pernambuco,
and one of the largest cities in Brazil with over 1.5 million inhabitants. It
was founded in 1534 by the Portuguese, and the history of Rife and Pernambuco
is unique. The contact between native Indians, black slaves and Portuguese
settlers was longstanding in Pernambuco due to the prosperous sugarcane
industry, and left behind visible traces in the culture of the regions today.
Also evident is the legacy of the Dutch, who occupied the area for more than 20
years. Today, Recife is an inviting open air museum, and an interesting mix of
modern metropolis, colonial settlement and tropical beach resort. Located at
the intersection of the Beberibe and Capibaribe rivers, the city occupies an
important place in the cultural economic, political and scientific character of
Brazil. With its diverse history, culture and geography, Recife has something
for all tastes; charming colonial buildings alongside modern skyscrapers,
historically significant churches and synagogues, and emerald green waters
edging palm lined beaches. The local cuisine is known as Afro-Bahian, and
evolved from the plantation cooks improvising and altering African, Indian,
Portuguese, and native dishes using local ingredients.
Well we did not see this part of Recife. We did not have a
tour here, but instead opted to take the shuttle to an old prison that was
turned into a market. Here we are at a working port and you need to take the
shuttle to the port entrance. We are on the sea side of the ship today and it
is very pretty. Here are some pictures as we came in of the sea and the city
side.
Once you get to the port, you then can catch a shuttle to
the prison, or go on your own. This area is not very nice, and we did not feel
like doing a tour, so off to prison we went. Here is a band they had at the
port as we exited.
The bus ride was through some neighborhoods, so we got a few
pictures. On the way back it was raining as you can see in a couple of the
pictures.
The market was very interesting. You could see that it was
an old prison. It had two tiers with the market being in the bottom tier. The
stalls were the old jail cells. They also have some very nice painting in the
market. If we buy any wooden items in Brazil we have to turn them into the ship
to be put into the freezer for 48 hours to kill any insects that might be in
the wood.
Thus ended our morning and back to the ship for lunch. We
will be getting to the mouth of the Amazon in a couple of days and are looking
forward to that.
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