FLORIANÓPOLIS (1 - the city)
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| Downtown Florianópolis |
One of my favorite places in Brazil is undoubtedly Forianópolis, or simply, Floripa.
History and location
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| The Hercílio Luz Bridge, linking the city of São José, in the continent, with the Island of Santa Catarina, where Florianópolis is. |
The city got the name from Marshall Floriano, a military President of Brazil in the beggining of the XXth century, who massacred a revolt against his government there. As if winning was not enough, he put his name to the city.
History is history and now kindly known in Brazil by "Floripa", the city is very peaceful and calm, even more considering it is the capital of Santa Catarina state, the second southernmost of Brazil.
In fact, Joinville and Blumenau are the major cities of Santa Catarina State, a rare situation compared to other Brazillian States, where generally the capital is also the most important and/or populated city.
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| The two bridges, seen from a boat trip |
Floripa is located in one big island, the Island of Santa Catarina, spreading for about 31km north-south, linked to the continent by two bridges, the historic one, called Hercilio Luz, nowadays deactivated but maintained as the city´s postal card and a new one which links the island to the continent by a highway.
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| The Hercílio Luz Bridge, linking the city of São José, in the continent, with the Island of Santa Catarina, where Florianópolis is. |
Originally the island was known as Ilha do Desterro (Island of Exile), as it was occupied by the azorians, inhabitants from the Açores archipelago (a portughese possession in the North Atlantic Ocean).
Even nowadays locals preserve a very strong accent from Portugal, a result of a smallar immigration from other parts of the world. Immigration from Europe, Africa and Middle-East, a common fact in most parts of Brazil, isn´t very much verified here. Santa Catarina´s countryside received lots of germans, italians, poolish and other europeans, but it seems none or few, other than the azorians, have come to Floripa.
Magic Island
As the Island of Santa Catarina, also known as the "Ilha da Magia" (Magic Island) is big enough for the city, it hosts a strongly urbanized citycentre, in the middle of the island, as well many villages and neighbourhoods spreading alongside its numerous beaches.
Each beach can host a town or a village, varying from small fishermen´s towns to the high-end Jurerê Internacional beach, separated from each other by mountains, dunes and mangrooves environmentally protected.
Amongst humble fihsermen and the nouveau riche trying to show-off their wealth, there is place (and beaches) for all tribes, all musics and pockets. So, just choose your beach well - according to your tastes - or just stay downtown to visit the most known of them each day of your stay.
In the next posts, we´ll travel through the most known and some hidden jewells of Floripa.
