Crisscrossed by rivers, canals and bridges, Recife is known as the “Venice of Brazil”. It is the capital for the state of Pernambuco and one of the largest cities in Brazil, with over 1.5 million people. Recife was founded in 1534 by the Portuguese and has a very unique history. The short version, the contact between the native Indians, black slaves and the Portuguese settlers was longstanding due to the sugarcane industry in this state which left behind visible traces of the culture in the region today. There is also evidence of the Dutch influence who occupied this region for some 20 years. Today, Recife is an inviting open air museum and an interesting mix of a modern metropolis, colonial settlement and tropical beach resort. Recife has something to offer everyone, charming colonial buildings alongside modern skyscrapers, historically significant churches and synagogues and emerald green waters palm-lined beaches. Recife is home to the longest beach in Brazil at 8 kms.
As mentioned today was the first day of Carnival and this was very evident with many street barricades already getting set up very early in the day. Music was playing in the streets and many of the streets were in the process of “getting dressed up” as we took the shuttle to the drop off point. Our drop off point, the Case da Cultura, was very interesting in itself, it was an old prison converted to a handicraft/souvenir mall. Each former cell was now a store, pretty interesting. So along with all the barricading of streets meant that our shuttle bus service was running reduced hours and this was because larger vehicles would have a difficult time in the streets after 2pm. To make a long story short, we also had a reduced day as we were warned about possible crowd pickpocket problems where one person from our ship did have an uncomfortable encounter which made us all rethink our day and our route. All was fine but we were just not able to see as much as we would have liked to. We did a short loop out of the prison mall around an area of party goers to get the feeling of Carnival and then made our way back to the prison mall - I say it that way because we felt more comfortable within the former prison walls. Anyway it had pretty good wifi. We were back to the ship by about 2pm for a usual late lunch before relaxing and getting ready for sail away and some ship exercise. Great dinner and show, we were very fortunate to see Lee Bradley tonight, he is one of Europes leading international operatic tenors, who puts on an excellent show. We have seen him a few times before on past cruises so this was a very nice to close our day with. Only a few pics of our day, hope you enjoy…. Our Head dining room steward made Jan a very nice bouquet of paper roses using napkins tonight, Rana is a very talented guy.
Quote of the day: “Keep your eyes on the horizon and your nose in the wind” - Clint Eastwood
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