Blogs from Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil, South America
Olinda et Recife - 2 au 5 mars 2012
Published: March 8th 2012South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda
March 2nd 2012
Le séjour a débuté à Olinda, superbe cité du XVIIIe très bien préservée, logée sur une colline surplombant Recife et ses immeubles industriels et commerciaux. Les rues pavées , les maisons multicolores, les églises baroques lui confèrent un charme qui rappelle celui de Trinidad, à Cuba. Je me fait le plaisir d’un hôtel dans une vieille bâtisse en bois qui transpire l’histoire, la Casa do Amparo. Recife, la capitale de l’Etat de Pernambouc, a longtemps été le bras industriel et portuaire d’Olinda, avant de devenir la capitale. Elle est d’abord plus rude, urbaine et commerciale de nature, très animée et donc moins accueillante aux touristes qu’Olinda la carte postale. Je rejoins Carolina (rencontrée sur Couchsurfer.com) et ses amis sur la plage de Boa Viagem et découvre les charmes de la ville ; la plage est superbe, ... read more
September 24th 2011
Olinda is a cute city with colourful houses and several churches. Recife is the bigger neighbour city, which has several things to offer. But take care of the sharks at the beach ; )... read more
May 23rd 2011
Our next destination from Joao Passoa was Olinda, a colonial city two hours away. We got let off the bus in Abreu e Lima, not really knowing how to get to Olinda, but some helpful man showed us where to get the next bus from and from there it was about 45 minutes. As soon as we got off the bus in Olinda's main square a tourist guide sprang at us, offering pousadas and a tour of the city. We declined his offers, but after a while of looking around for budget accommdation and not being successful we let another tour guide take us to a cheaper place. Unwittingly we somehow arranged a city tour with him even though we didn't really want to take one; explaining to him that we were just going to look ... read more
March 16th 2010
As I mentioned from the last blog, I managed to book the last seat on the coach to Olinda, a small town about 5kms north of Recife and my chill out destination before my flight to Manaus. I had to wait in the bus station in Salvador for about 6 hours, giving me plenty of time to think about the last few days, home, family and friends and what lies in store from the next encounter. Time passed relatively quickly and I was soon on board the bus, although, as is no surprise, securing the last seat means getting the worst seat, at the back of the bus right next to the toilet! The next 14 hours were spent with toilet fumes coming from one side and the arm of a rather large gentleman sitting next ... read more
February 25th 2010
It all begins outside a church... a man has a pack strapped onto his torso like a man posessed , then the music starts. There is a white man playing guitar and perhaps his father on violin. Everyone is seated around this pack of sambistas conversing in typical brasilian style . . loud and expressive like the drummers, then the peole get off their perfectly round bundas and take to the streets in their hundreds flipping their feet to the irresistible rhythm of samba. The street is intoxicated with noise. . it keeps moving, up the hill, across town .. children are weaving through , beer sellers are carting their barrows, and every song is anthemed by the mass that enshroud the musicians and the human speaker.. Every now and again you bump into a ... read more
first taste of brazil - gostoso
Published: January 26th 2010South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda
January 26th 2010
OOOOhhhh BRASIL ...beleza rhythm,colour, curves ..life here is sumptuous like the corpo dorado. I would mention the women but the guilotine might fall upon me and there is far more fruitier things here than fake boobs and thongs...yes thats right nature is more powerful than silicone..(brazil is ahead of the usa in that dept) Yes I have fallen in love with the fruit here, lets start with A! acai- if you havent heard of it then you should know its tasty ike chocolate -rasberry and more healthy than ginseng and evangelical christianity put together .. its my daily drink coupled with honey granola and banana! right , im not gonna do the whole alphabet as am on a bus leaving Sao Paulo and the favelas are distracting me but just to say , the fruits are ... read more
September 24th 2009
Again our bus took longer than sheduled although this bus only took 14 hours instead of 13 which was not too bad at all, stuck the headphones in and tried to get some sleep. Our last day in Salvador was quite lazy, all we did was wander around the old town and try and find somewhere to have lunch. After that it was back to the hammock in the hostel to chill out till our bus journey! We met a guy from Chile (Matiusz I think) on our bus who is going to Olinda so we decided to travel together for the couple of days. Our bus arrived in Recife and we jumped in a taxi for the 15 minute drive to Olinda, Recife´s neighbouring town and more picturesque competitor! When our taxi arrived we told ... read more
July 28th 2009
Hey all, sorry for the lack of communication but we were in a little sleepy town just outside of Recife that had no internet, no comuters and we had to walk for 25 minutes to get to the ATM! Apart from the above stated Olinda was a really pretty little town that was full of locals, seafood restaurants and typical Brazilian architecture. On our first night we were so relieved that our cards allowed us to withdraw money to pay for the overpriced taxi we had just got from the airport and once in our overpriced hostel we were tired, starving and overall hot! The latter was thoroughly welcomed and we stripped from our hoodies and jackets. After a quick refreshing wash we headed out to the seafront which was literally over the road and checked ... read more
March 2nd 2009
We got a 15 minute bus ride from Recife and just kinda spent the day in Olinda walking around this pretty little town which consisted of lots of churches, cobbled strets and carnival decorations.... read more
February 20th 2009
Carnaval is coming Carnival in Olinda and Recife is supposedly the third most important in Brazil. Some claim to fame after Rio and Salvador! However, we chose to come here as it is said to have a tradition and intimacy that Rio or Salvador lack. And, perhaps just as importantly, it is safer. We arrived in Olinda on the Thursday morning and after a bit of a walk, managed to find the house we were staying at. Like all the other Brazilian cities, accommodation rates skyrocket in Olinda around carnival. In fact, we couldn’t even find anywhere when we started to look about 3 weeks ago. Luckily, Lynne had been looking at an American bloke’s website, who calls himself the “gringo in Olinda”. His name is Ernie and he lives in Olinda with his Brazilian ... read more
