DAY 51 Mar 4 - Recife (Olinda), Brazil

Recife is the 5th largest Metropolitan area in Brazil with 3.8 million inhabitants, the largest metropolitan area of the North-North-east Regions, the 4th largest metropolitan influence area in Brazil and the capital of the state of Pernambuco. The population of the city proper is 1.6 million.

The city is located where the Beberibe River meets the Capibaribe River flowing into the Atlantic Ocean. It is a major port on the Atlantic Ocean.

The name Recife means "reef" in Portuguese, an allusion to the coral reefs that are present by the city's shores.

The many rivers, small islands and over 50 bridges found in Recife city centre characterize its geography and gives it the moniker of the "Brazilian Venice."The Metropolitan Region of Recife is the main industrial zone of the State of Pernambuco; most relevant products are those derived from cane (sugar and ethanol), electronics, food, and others. Thanks to the fiscal incentives of government, many industrial enterprises were started in the 1970s and 1980s.

It has a tradition of being the most important commercial centre of the North/North-eastern region of Brazil with more than 52,500 business enterprises in Recife itself.

A combination of a large supply of labour and significant private investments turned Recife into Brazil's second largest medical centre, (second only to São Paulo), modern hospitals with state-of-the-art equipment receive patients from several neighbouring States.

Like all other cities in the North-east, The City is developing its tourist sector. The beach of Porto de Galinhas, 37 miles south of the city, has been repeatedly awarded the title of best beach in Brazil and has drawn many tourists.

Its infrastructure is among the most developed in Brazil for travelers and businessmen, though there is wide room for improvement.

The city is also a renowned educational centre, and home to the Federal University of Pernambuco, the largest university in Pernambuco.

It is served by the Gilberto Freyre-Guararapes International Airport which connects Recife to many Brazilian destinations as well as major international cities in Europe, the United States and South America.

We arrived in the port shortly after 6.00. The tricky maneuvers required to reach our actual mooring, due in particular to the low depth of the water, meant that the Captain was kept very busy on the bridge until we eventually tied up just before 7.00.

Let me firstly say that the a/c is working, so far, and our cabin stayed nice and cool all night. I hope that we won't be bothering Nancy nor her colleague Lydia today.

The skyline of Racife shows it is well developed with many high rise buildings stretching throughout the large expanse of the City and as far as the eye can see. It was going to be very hot sightseeing here today amongst all that concrete.

To meet the ship’s arrival at the dock a local Samba troupe of colourfully dressed young men and women greeted us with some very energetic dancing. They were accompanied by a small brass band. The dancing went on for about one and a half hours.

The port is very industrial and several other vessels were there loading up or unloading their cargoes.

With this amount of traffic it is surprising that there is still room for ourselves and one other cruise ship to dock here right next to this industrial docking area. There is no actual dedicated cruise terminal in Recife and we were moored next to an old dirty disused silo.

As we left the ship to catch the shuttle bus from the docks to the town we met our four Canadian dinner partners from last night. They said they were pleased for us to tag along with them and they were soon negotiating a price for a mini-van to take us sightseeing in the area.

For $25 each we would, amongst other places, see Olinda, one of Brazil's best preserved colonial cities that was only about 10 minutes north of Recife.

This elevated city looks over Recife and the Atlantic Ocean. The views are wonderful and we could clearly see our ship from one of its vantage points.

All around is lush green foliage that stretches down to the coastline below. It is easy to see why the early Portuguese colonialists adopted this area to be their capital of the region long before the establ-ishment and growth of neighbouring Recife.

Olinda is primarily noted for its exceptional beautiful colonial buildings including many 16th and 17th century baroque churches and monasteries. The area is also a UNESCO World Heritage site just like they had in the city of Salvador that we visited a few days ago.

The facades of the churches are all badly weathered with presumably the effects of the high humidity this area encounters. The ones we visited were all 17th Century and in need of a good wash down or new coat of paint.

The oldest church we visited was the Cathedral that was built between 1537 and 1540. The inside was, as we have now become accustomed to seeing in Brazil, very ornate. While we were there many tourists were visiting this very impressive building and parking was at a premium.

Inside the building there is a huge bell on display that had been cast in Germany and shipped over here when the church was built over 500 years ago.

Presumably it was once housed in the belfry.

It is fair to say that we are now getting a bit overwhelmed with the amount of 17th Century churches we are seeing since arriving in Brazil a few days ago.

One thing this does show is the strength and might of the Portuguese Catholic Church during and immediately after the turn of the 1500s when its empire stretched far round the world.

I don’t know how many churches there are in total in this, the third oldest City in Brazil, but it is quite considerable.

One old church in particular did catch our attention as this was being restored with the help of grants from the World Heritage Foundation. It was situated on a mound and was already showing the benefits of some TLC.

Incidentally while we were touring round Olindo we took on board our mini-van a young guide who conversed with us in Spanish (both George and Jennifer speak the language) and who was very knowledgeable about the area.

He worked as a volunteer for an organization that tried to keep young Brazilian children off the streets by finding accommodation and care for them. At the end of the local tour we gave a donation to this worthy cause.

As we wandered through the streets we came across an amusing over sized statute of a naked lady at which we three men in our group decided to pose.

It did appear that this monument was attracting as much attention as the old churches did that we had come here to see.

Most of the houses in Olinda are pained in bright pastoral colours and this makes the area even more unique. We were told that many of these homes don’t have numbers to identify them just their colour.

It’s a shame that the same care taken on these old houses couldn’t have been applied to some of the churches.

In addition to the brightly painted houses there are sections of the town where graffiti is tastefully used to brighten up otherwise dreary walls. Some of this street art is very attractive and not in the least offensive.

After a quite exhausting tour of this beautiful (and Linda means beautiful in Portuguese) city where the temperatures had been well into the 90s (38C) we agreed to keep the driver and van on a little longer.

For an extra payment we would be taken to a special restaurant for lunch and then see some more sights in the metropolis.

Our first stop in Recife was at the highly impressive Governor’s Palace with its military guards.

This building had originally been the over sized home of the Dutch Governor when that nation briefly controlled this area of Brazil in the mid 1600s.

A statute lies oppose this grand building commemorating the Dutchman, Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen, the first occupant of this home from 1636-44 when he was Governor of Pernamboco State.

Opposite the Palace, on the other side of a little park, was the equally impressive and recently restored Justice building.

Next it was a visit to the old prison that dated back to the early 1800s. In the 1970 it was converted into a shopping area with many of the cells turned into small shops selling all kinds of bits and pieces. The whole prison was now very colourful and this enterprising conversion had obviously been a success.

We were now ready for lunch as we arrived at the Spettus Steak House. Well, we didn’t know what to expect as we sat down in this large minimalist styled busy restaurant where an interesting and extensive buffet was on display.

Within a minutes of sitting down we were being poured small cups of what we thought was black coffee only to find it was some type of bean soup, and very tasty it was too. A plate of assorted breads followed then the fun begun!

While still expecting to be presented with a menu a whole succession of young servers arrived offering meats on a large skewers from which pieces were carved for us individually and on request. As none of us spoke Portuguese it was difficult knowing what we were eating or even what the form was.

Skewer after skewer appeared bearing succulent meats; beef, lamb, chicken, pork, various type of sausage and so it went on and repeated itself until we were all saying “no more thank you”.

Interspersed with this we were given pieces of lobster tails and large shrimp (prawns) and other delicacies, the names of which we did not know.

We declined ordering wine but did enjoy some very welcoming cold local beer.

We questioned amongst ourselves whether we should try the buffet but we were all now absol-utely and completely ‘stuffed’ as the saying goes.

However a quick inspection of the buffet showed a lovely salad bar, a fish counter with lobster tails and an assortment of other shellfish, various hot dishes in terrines plus of course a desert display. These were all beautifully and temptingly laid-out.

It seems that many of these dishes were indeed brought over and served (or offered) to us rather than us going over and helping ourselves.

This really was all quite an experience especially as we had been completely in the dark about what to expect coupled with our inability to have sound communications with the waiting staff.

We posed for a picture with the delighted restaurant manager as we left with the buffet table in the background.

Yes it wasn’t a cheap meal but didn’t completely break the bank!

Next it was time to move on through Racife where there is just an amazing amount of high rise accommodation. Some of it is social housing but much housed the middle and upper class of this fast growing City. We also saw much poorer housing where the homes were built on stilts over water.

Our driver took as along past the beach, which stretches the whole length of the City. Sharks are a problem here and a small wall has been built a short way out into the sea to keep them from reaching the inner waters and attacking bathers. However there are fatalities each year we are told.

Soon we were back near the port area where we noticed that some of the beautiful fine old colonial buildings, just like those we had found in Salvador, had been allowed to decay through neglect.

The driver brought us back to where we were able to pick up the ship’s shuttle bus. George, Rosalyn, Robin and Jennifer wanted to see just one more ancient church so they took a slight detour while we went straight back to the ship to cool down.

All in all it had been a very good day. We had not only seen some wonderfully interesting sights but had also had a great fun lunch too in the very good company of our Canadian friends.

Back on board we found our cabin acceptably cold. After this it was up to the Lido restaurant for our ice cream and cold drinks.

We then sat there for awhile with Henk and Lucia and a couple of their friends comparing notes on the days activities and Prinsendam ship matters generally.

Tonight we missed dinner in the main restaurant and had a snack instead in the Lido. Then it was the blog and sorting out photos time in a nice cool cabin.