Blogs from Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil, South America

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South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda October 25th 2012

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world - equivalent to an incredible 35 United Kingdoms - and, after my extended stay in São Paulo, I have only four weeks to see what I can of it. Opting for quality rather than quantity, my plan is to devote three of those weeks discovering Brazil's northeast reagion, the Nordeste, before spending my final week or so in Brazil in and around its most famous city - Rio de Janeiro. I say goodbye to a distinctly dreary São Paulo - I wake up on the morning of my flight to the sound of thunder and torrential rain. Rain I can deal with, but the combination of thunder/lightning and flying is not one I particularly look forward to. Take-off from São Paulo's city-centre Congonhas airport is, predictably, very ... read more
Faded grandeur, Recife
Faded grandeur, Recife
Faded grandeur, Recife

South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda June 20th 2012

Well our first full day in Olinda was not a great one and we have decided to call it quits on this vacation. The day started off nicely with a leisurely morning of sleeping in and of course, wait for it . . . it was rainy and overcast. We lounged around a bit and then got the low down from the hotel manager, the only person here who speaks English, on what there is to do. We tried for a few hours to schedule some excursions with absolutely no luck. The only thing available for the rest of the week was a trip to different beaches. But since the weather sucked at our beach, the last thing we wanted to do was spend time and money to go to another beach where it was raining, ... read more
Inside the Chruch
Giant puppets worn at Carnival
View of Olinda

South 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
Olinda (35)
Olinda (36)
Olinda (42)

South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda 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
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South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda 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
An Olinda street
The view from Rua Bispo Coutinho
The Misericordia Church

South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda 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
The Hostel
Olinda
Olinda

South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda 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
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South 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
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South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda 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

South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda 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




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