Ultimate stop of our Round The World trip, Salvador da Bahia!
1650km north of Rio, Salvador da Bahia is where the History of Brazil started in the 1501 when Amerigo Vespucci discovered it. On March 29, 1529, Tomé de Souza, first governor of Brazil settles there and the city becomes the first capital of the country under the name São Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santo (damn!).
For next two centuries, Salvador is a very rich city thriving on the sugar cane culture and is considered to be an intellectual and cultural center (with a few dark spots: the “Engenho” where using black slaves in the cultures). However, Rio was named new capital of Brazil in 1763 with the discovery of gold in Minas Gerais, and Salvador enters a crisis period. Fortunately, industries are starting to emerge in Salvador since 1980.
We spend three days in Salvador to discover the city and its surroundings. On our first day, we went on to discover the historical center of the city: most of its building from Salvador’s golden age are still there and standing.
Painting were cheap and nice
Salvador street food is well-known to be tasty
From the “Upper town”, we then took an elevator to go to the “Lower town” and check out its market and the port. The elevator is the only appropriate way to go down to the lower town, as it is really unsafe to exit the touristic area of Salvador: the police is only patrolling there.
The lower town. Less appealing right?
An example of the decadence of Salvador da Bahia…
…Next to a brand new elevator. The city has weird priorities.
The mercado
On our second day, we checked out Praia do Porto da Barra, the main beach of Salvador. We weren’t blessed with good weather, but we got to see a very nice double rainbow. The water was also significantly hotter than in Rio, which was nice.
Yep, that’s a double rainbow
Finally, we ended up our stay by a visit of Itaparica, a big island in front of Salvador that is way more quite. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon there, swimming, walking on our ended and picking up coconuts.
“The hell are you doing?”
We’re now writing with some emotion this article from Rio’s airport, waiting for our next two flights that will get us home. The end?
