Olinda

It’s a beautiful old place! With beautiful histories and rumors. And a delicious tapioca. XP

“Os pes em Pernambuco, a cabeca no infinito” (the legs in the Pernambuco, the head in the infinity): this is the musical emblem of “mongue beat” which when first shown up in Recife in the middle of the 90’s, made such sense that the New York Times wrote that the music of Brazil has a new address: Recife in Pernambuco. The “mangue beat” is a mix of international and local rhythms.
Olinda is one of the most beautiful colonial cities, with scheduled buildings, a bohemian life, lots of art galleries, museums, and you can feel music everywhere, generally it is an artistic city. Moreover the colourful poster, that advertises Olinda in a lot of Brazilian walls, has the logo “Arte em toda parte” (art in all the parts) and the explanation: painting exhibition everywhere: in houses, workshop, restaurants, hotels, and the fact that you can meet the artists and discuss together with them render this small city pole of attraction for the hole world. Moreover it is not accidental that it is included in the list of world heritage of UNESCO.
Olinda is an amphitheatrically city, in a colourful scenic, with bright green forests from “jacaradas” with red flowers, tall coconuts trees, sweet -smelling gardens with begonias , bougainvilleas, crinums, night flowers, jasmines, hibiscus. The houses are in a colonial style, in all colorations, with pave streets and square which separate them. Most are renovated, and in incredible combinations of colours. You see a ledge white house – doors – windows light blue, a ochre with coffee, one green dark with green open, rose, yellow and all the blue nuances as well as the earth colours. There are houses with colours mauves, bordeaux, coral, red, orange, colours that you would never imagine to colour a house.
In between the houses and the forests sprout up, like gigantic mushrooms, big churches and monasteries. By the East it is the Atlantic. By the West immense plantations of sugar cane, that stop little before Recife, the city that erects in the depth wit her skyscrapers, built at the length of the ocean.
Recife and Olinda are the centres of music, painting, sculpture, dance and many festivals. The beach of Recife is endless and is full from sharks. Fortunately a coral group of reefs at length of 100 metres from the coast, allows the swimming in a natural surrounding.
From everywhere you hear the music come out rhythmically from the houses and streamed in the squares and the streets causing the rhythmical sway in the hearing of “forro” and “samba” music. It makes your mirth and penetrates you in a unique way. It’s just magic.
If you are planning to travel to Brazil there is a place you can’t miss out: the magic city of Olinda. This apparently small town is nowadays part of the capital of the northeast state of Pernambuco, Recife and is full of remains of its glorious colonial past. It’s a perfect place to relax and know more about Brazilian history. Here you will find one of the oldest churches and monasteries, and you can find also yourself lost in the past. The best time to get there is during Carnival. Olinda is proud in saying that it has one of the best and largest carnivals of the world, famous for parties of every taste. It is virtually impossible to find accommodation during this period unless you book months in advance or know some locals. The Carnival is crazy with 11 days of reveller and much difference from other cities in Brazil. Their hospitality is quite famous.

the carnival is great

I once read an article about Olinda in a magazine.
The small picture I saw, is staying in my head and make me wanna fly there.

Beautiful views of Recifes and the beaches… And the churches are amazing

I will go to Olinda’s in next Febuary! I will try do this… ;)