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Published: March 8th 2014
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Vitoria & Ilhabela
Today we sailed into the rather confined harbour of Vila Nova da Vitoria, which was first colonized on Whit Sunday May 1535. Some say it resembles a miniature Rio because of “its geography and scenery: a gorgeous backdrop of rolling hills with cliffs jutting out into the ocean, pristine beaches and an impressive bridge, the two-mile-long Darcy Castelo de Mendonza Bridge”.
The city of 300,000 today occupies an island, just off the mainland coast. It was moved there by the early Portuguese settlers to provide better protection from attacks by the local native population. The town name comes from a Portuguese victory over the Indians of the area.
The island itself is situated in a relatively poor agricultural zone but has succeeded because of its port. This section of Brazil, the Esprito Santo, with Vitoria as it’s center, served as an armed region to counter the attacks of pirates on the gold shipments being sent back to Portugal.
The primary source of income, other than the gold, was coffee until the 1960’s. The region now enjoys a mixed economy with iron and lumber shipments taking over.
Coffee production and fruit farms still continue to exist in the mountain areas surrounding the city.
The city of Vila Velha occupies the mainland right adjacent to Vitoria. Many bridges connect the two cities. The largest one is over 4.2 km long and spans the harbour entrance. We sailed under it to gain access to the port.
The harbour channel was particularly difficult to navigate as it is heavily affected by the tidal flow, so for a change was had a tug to shepherd us into our berth. The tidal effect in the area of the berth was at least 2.5 meters. Once again we lucked out and were docked right in the down town area.
Like many of the cities we have been in there are two distinct sections – the lower and upper city. In essence as the city developed from the shore then it moved inland up the hills. The rich, the governing class and the more powerful merchants moved first and the working trades and the poor ended up occupying the lower sections.
By moving inland and up the mountains the upper class took advantage of
the cooling breezes off the ocean.
The upper sections of the city are reached by steep steps and streets and feature many historical monuments, churches, colonial buildings and lush green parks. The lower region of the city has retained some of the original colonial gems, but is now dominated by the economic zone with modern buildings, and the bustling harbour.
Today we went on a 4 hour excursion to see the sights of the two cities.
The first stop was at the Garoto chocolate factory. I was expecting a full viewing of the factory and the production process of their chocolate delights but instead they just dropped us off at their factory outlet where you could view the finished product and its attractive packaging and then buy some of their confectionary.
Then it was back on the bus to go out to the Convent of Penha, which is situated on a high rock outcropping overlooking the sea and the harbour entrance. The Convent was one of the first things we could see clearly as we came into the harbour in the early morning.
The drive
to the convent “Hill” took us through many of the poorer sections of the city. There is a welfare system in Brazil and there is really no incentive to break out of the mold. The educational system essentially has failed and the masses are suffering for it. The government keeps it that way so that there is little opportunity for “real” opposition.
At the convent we had to transfer from our large touring bus to smaller 18 person vans. We had to walk up hill a short 300 yards to the smaller busses. They were the only type of vehicle, save for cars and small trucks that could navigate the steep winding mini mountain up to the parking lot 300 m below the rock on which the Convent was built.
Our final visit was to a pottery making co-operative. The different clay pots and serving dishes were hand made – not thrown. They were left to air dry and then taken outside to be fired in open beds of fire. The potters were using up all the scrap lumber they could lay their hands on.
After they pulled the fired pots
out of the flames the workers whisked them with mango juice. That turned the pots their distinctive black colour. Pulling them from the fire with a long stick is a very tricky business. We saw one woman with a very large burn on her forearm.
We returned to the ship fully expecting sail away to be at 5:00 pm as scheduled but that was delayed. The tide, which I indicated earlier, is strongly felt in the harbour and the harbour master and his pilots elected to keep us at berth until two inbound bulk carriers had entered. That delayed our departure for several hours. It was not until closer to 9:00 pm that we let go lines and sailed off.
In the morning we had sailed directly into the harbour and tied up on our starboard side so that meant that we had to turn around at some point. There was a small turning basin about a kilometer behind us so the Captain backed the ship up and with the assistance of two tugs turned the ship around to face the sea. Normally the tugs would not be required, as they cost about $4,000
an hour to have standing by to assist, but the Captain was not going to take any chances with the tidal flow and the narrow turning basin.
Saturday – Mar. 1/14, Ilhabela (São Sebastião Island)
We passed on taking any organized tours today, but did take the opportunity to go ashore and just look around on our own.
São Sebastião is one of the largest coastal islands in Brazil and the town of Ilhabela is now recognized as the sailing capital of Brazil. Translated from Portuguese Ilhabela means beautiful island. The Portuguese discovered the uninhabited island in the 16th century.
The island, which is a volcanic outcrop, is dominated with steep peaks, which are covered with dense tropical forest. The interior of the island and much of its east coast remain virtually unpopulated. The interior also hosts over 360 waterfalls.
Coffee and sugar plantations formed the primary economic structure of the island from the early 19
th century until the 1960’s. At that time the island experienced a sharp economic decline. The
saving factor was that residents from Sao Paulo started to develop the island as a recreational and vacation playground.
By the 1980’s many of the original plantations had become overgrown by the surrounding forest vegetation. To their credit the government planners protected over 85% of the island as a state park making the island a true gem.
As we were not on any tours we took our time going ashore. The ship was at anchor out in the tidal basin and we had to take a tender ashore.
The town was preparing for Carnaval so many of the streets had substantially reduced traffic flow on them or were entirely blocked off. We walked down to the Nossa Senhora, which is the town’s main church just off the town square and was built in 1816. We went inside and took a number of shots then went back out and walked around the tourist shops and back down to the ocean breakwater.
We walked back to the tender point and while Brooke took a seat I walked back down the beach and take some shots of Pereque Beach which was
about 1.6 kilometers from the center of town. On my way back I came across an area where they were preparing some floats for the local Carnaval parade.
The Captain advised us that we would be entering Rio’s harbour around 5:00 am the following day, and it is reported to be a spectacular sight. So I planned to get up to view our entry.
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