Today, was our first time the port town of Santos and our first of many ports in Brazil. Due to traffic concerns with our originally planned trip to São Paulo we decided instead to visit the Santos area all within close proximity to the port. Cathy, Ann, John and myself met our guide Denis and started our tour of Santos stopping by the Coffee museum. In discussion with Denis, he told us that we could get to São Paulo in an hour, so we revised our plan and drove to the city. São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil with a population of about 12 million and almost 22 million in its metropolitan region. The traffic is overwhelming but we moved along very well making our first stop at the massive Independence Monument overlooking the Ipiranga River. Next, we visited the Municipal Food Market with its large stained-glass windows and a vaulted ceiling. The lower floor is packed with food stalls selling all different kinds of produce, meats, fish and exotic fruits...on the second-floor mezzanine is where you’ll find all the restaurants and bars and the best views of the stained glass. From the here we went to Cathedral Square and to see the beautiful São Paulo Cathedral, a huge Neo-Gothic church that can hold up to 8,000 worshipers. Next, we stopped at Foundation Square to visit the Patio do Colgio...this historic building marks the site where São Paulo was first founded in 1554. The city’s origin began with a Jesuit mission that was set up to educate the indigenous Tupi-Guaraní people and convert them to Catholicism. São Paulo is home to the largest Japanese population outside of Japan and we made a stop in this area to catch a glimpse of wall art and shopping. From here we did a drive by the Municipal Theater, Benedict Monastery, Train Station, Soccer Stadium and the Jardins District. São Paulo is known as the place to see some of the world’s best street art and nowhere is this more evident than in the bohemian neighborhood of Vila Madalena. We parked the car and did a walk about to take in the artwork...area’s most famous street is Beco do Batman or Batman’s Alley. In this narrow back alleyway, every inch of the walls on both sides of the street are covered in artwork. It’s an incredible sight and definitely one of the must-see places in São Paulo! We made a stop at a Baroque-style church is dedicated to Our Lady of Brazil...the interior resembles churches in Portugal, while the ceiling is covered in reproductions of the Sistine Chapel. Our last stop was Avenida Paulista...another São Paulo must-see...it’s was clogged with traffic, but our view from the Banespa Building was great...this skyscraper is often called São Paulo’s Empire State Building and was inspired by the famous New York structure and by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. The building affords fantastic views of São Paulo’s city center and beyond. We were able to get in our visit to the Banespa and the Rose House next door just before the skies opened. The rain was so heavy the highway flooded and it took an hour to detour around the flooded section before leaving the city taking us 2.5 hours to return to the port. We were very glad we went to São Paulo and thank Denis Gonçalves our guide/driver for a great day and start to our Brazilian adventure.
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