From Barra Grande to nearby spots in the Peninsula do Maraú region

From Barra Grande to nearby spots in the Peninsula do Maraú region

The fishing and touristic boats at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

From the pier at Barra Grande beach, tourists can take boats to small trips in the loch, visiting islands, cascades and some other small beaches nearby. 

A local tour operator have speedboats able to take tourists quickly to nearby points of interest. This tour operator and some fihserman can be contacted nearby the pier, the only construction over the waters. 

Some of these places will be commented in the next posts. 

The fishing and touristic boats at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

To get to Barra Grande and the Maraú Peninsula, see our previous post>
http://brazilguide.blogspot.com.br/2015/09/peninsula-do-marau.html

The sunset at Barra Grande beach in Bahia, Brazil

The sunset at Barra Grande beach in Bahia, Brazil

Doubtlessly, the best thing to do at Barra Grande beach is to appreciate the sunset. As the Maraú is a big peninsula, we can see the sun seting behind the sea, a rare scene is Brazil, as the coastline in Brazil faces mostly the east, but never the west. 

The amazing game of colours at Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

The colours produced by the waters in combination with the clouds are breathtaking. The calm of the fishermen´s boats just add a bit of poetry to the scenes. 

The marvelous sunset at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

The marvelous sunset at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

The marvelous sunset at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

The marvelous sunset at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

The marvelous sunset at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

The marvelous sunset at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

The Barra Grande Beach at Maraú Peninsula (Bahia, Brazil)

The Barra Grande Beach at Maraú Peninsula (Bahia, Brazil)

The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

The Maraú Peninsula, as all peninsulas, forms two kinds of beaches: the ones in front of the open sea, and the others in front to the loch. The Barra Grande beach is one of those in front of the loch, and hosts the touristic village inside the peninsula. Its where most of the inns, hostels, bars and restaurantes are located.  

Sculpture in one of the restaurantes in front of Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

The Barra Grande village is, thus, where most people are, and if you want a bit of social life, it is the place to be in the peninsula. Night bars provide nice parties with brazillian and international music, some of then in front of the beach. 

The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

As this beach is in front of the loch, waters here are very calm, almost without waves, forming a huge, natural, salty swimming pool. 

Walking "over" tthe waters at the Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

At some points, the depth is so low that you can walk over the waters, at some points forming an incredible wet-sand mirror reflecting the clouds. 

The natural, wet-sand mirrors at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

The natural, wet- sand mirrors at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

The natural, wet-sand mirrors at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

Young people chilling at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

Young people chill out in the Barra Grande beach, practicing sports, dancing and drinking. 

The marvelous sunset at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

If your are far away from the boats and from people´s noise, you can have the chance of seeing a sea turtle or swimming with then. They love the calm waters of the loch. 

The marvelous sunset at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

The marvelous sunset at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

The marvelous sunset at The Barra Grande beach, Peninsula do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil

Península do Maraú

Península do Maraú

View of Barra Grande beach, inside the Península do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil 

The Maraú Peninsula, located in the south coastline of Bahia State, is one of the most beautiful places in this state at the northeast of Brazil.

View of Barra Grande beach, inside the Península do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil 

A still hidden spot from massive tourism, it is best known by locals and some foreigners who decided to open some business there. 

View of Barra Grande beach, inside the Península do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil 

A funny thing about northeast coastline in Brazil is the large presence of europeans owning hotels, b&b´s, inns and restaurants. They all seem to have given up a stressful life in big economic centres of Europe in exchange of endless beaches, palmtrees, sun and heat. The Península do Maraú isn´t different. 

View of Barra Grande beach, inside the Península do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil 

Even Brazillians don´t know the place, a kind of paradise for the wealthy people in Bahia. Maybe due to the the difficulties to access it, and the distance from the nearest airport, it is still a place out of the mainstream.

Nevertheless, there are options of accommodation for every pocket. 

View of Barra Grande beach, inside the Península do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil 

In fact, the nearest airport is the Airport of Ilhéus (Jorge Amado Airport, IATA - IOS), 129 km south, distance made in 2h13 minutes, according to googlemaps. But inside the peninsula there are about 30 km in a dirty road untill the Ponta do Mutá (the extreme point of the peninsula), with lots of sand, what makes this part of this trip harder. So, the best would be to get an off-road transportation, or a higher SUV, in order to do well at this track. 

View of Barra Grande beach, inside the Península do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil 

Salvador isn´t the best option for reaching the Peninsula do Maraú, unless you have lots of time and you enjoy driving or staying in a shuttle watching the landscape. Googlemaps informs it would take more than 5 hours to reach the Peninsula, by taking the ferryboat at Salvador to cross the Bahia de Todos os Santos ("All Saints" Bay). And, more than 6 hours if you get  the highways to turn around the bay. But this estimated time works only in regular days, because during holidays traffic jams and lots of people trying to cross the bay at the same time can make this trip a true hell. 

View of Barra Grande beach, inside the Península do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil 

Of course, if money is not a problem, going by helicopter is also an option. Some inns have heliports.

The only problem of coming through Ilhéus is that this airport has fewer flights than Salvador, and most of them, if not all, are domestic flights. But flights to Ilheus are avilable from the main cities of Brazil.  

View of Barra Grande beach, inside the Península do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil 

But all effort is valid to get there, as the next posts will show. 

View of Barra Grande beach, inside the Península do Maraú, Bahia, Brazil 

Morro de São Paulo

Morro de São Paulo

In Bahia State shores, a hill located at an island south from Salvador (the capital city of Bahia State), became one of the most famous destinations of domestic tourism in Brazil: Morro de São Paulo (hill of Saint Paul).

The fortress at Morro de São Paulo, Bahia, northeast Brazil

The easiest way to get there is to take one of the catamarans, big speedy boats departing from Salvador harbor, at Cidade Baixa, directly to Morro de São Paulo. 

The boats at Morro de São Paulo, Bahia, northeast Brazil

The catamarans dock at the historic fortress harbor in Morro, where guys can take tourists´bags to their hotels or inns.

The docking place at Morro de São Paulo

The docking place at Morro de São Paulo

The church at the historic village at Morro de São Paulo, Bahia, northeast Brazil

A big tree welcomes visitors at Morro de São Paulo, Bahia, northeast Brazil

Other options of transportation would take very long time. It is possible to go by car from Salvador to Valença, the nearest city from Morro. In this case, it is required to do the turn around the Bahía de Todos os Santos (All Saints Bay), a task that will demand lots of time. From Valença, small boats can eventually take tourists to Morro, but it won´t be a professional tourism company, so I would recommend this option only for adventurers careless about comfort or spending more time. 

Atop the hill, the historic city hosts restaurants, snack bars, small stores, banks and souvenir shops, as well as some hotels. 

The church at Morro de São Paulo, Bahia, northeast Brazil

The village at Morro de São Paulo, Bahia, northeast Brazil

Beyond the historical village and the fortress, the place consists of five beautiful beaches, one after the other, reachable either by boat or by walking.  The further beach you stay, the calmer it will  be, as you can get more isolated from the crowds at the village center; however, the most distant beach you stay, the harder it gets to arrive at your hotel. 

As a compensation, you can feel more integrated with nature.  

The first beach and its village at Morro de São Paulo, view from the sea. This is the most urbanized among the beaches.

A guy taking some tourist stuff somewhere in Morro de São Paulo

It is common people gets seasick during this trip, speacially if the sea is rough. But the journey takes about one hour, and it is recommended to look out the horizon in order to avoid getting seasick.

Nevertheless, the photos can prove the place is worth visiting while in Bahia, the land of all saints. 

The view of the Atlantic from Morro de São Paulo, Bahia, northeast Brazil

A hotel at the historic village at Morro de São Paulo, Bahia, northeast Brazil

A hotel at the historic village at Morro de São Paulo, Bahia, northeast Brazil

Lollapalooza Brazil 2016 will be held in São Paulo

Lollapalooza Brazil 2016 will be held in São Paulo 

In March 12 and 13, 2016, Lollapalooza Brazil will be held at São Paulo´s racetrack José Carlos Pace, or simply the Interlagos Racetrack, famous for the Formule 1 championship and some historical victories of Ayrton Senna, Brazil´s most famous F1 driver. 

The site is only in portuguese: http://www.lollapaloozabr.com/ lollapalloza Brazil, as well the site for buying tickets: http://premier.ticketsforfun.com.br/shows/show.aspx?sh=ESIN0000012LP.

They inform tickets will be sold daily at Citibank Hall, located at Nações Unidas Avenue, 17955, Santo Amaro, São Paulo - SP.

This is the only way of not paying a delivery fee.

Be cautions if you buy half entrance: meia-entrada", or simply "meia".

Only if you can proove you´re a student or have other legal allowances (proof of poverty, be over the age of 60 etc), you can enter the festival with a half entrance.

To get to the racetrack, it´s better to take the CPTM train at the line 9 Emerald (linha 9 Esmeralda) in the direction of Grajaú, and get down at Autódromo station, the antepenult station. It is required a certain walk, but a taxi from the central neighbourhoods is expensive and parking there would be too messy and also expensive, if it happens you have a car. 

This train line connects twice with metro (subway) lines: at Santo Amaro station, with the 5 lilac line (linha 5 lilás) and at Pinheiros with line 4 yellow (linha 4  amarela). This yellow line can take you to the Jardins and Paulista areas, as well to downtown.
 

Brasília hosts perfume marketing

Brasília hosts perfume marketing

Though even among Brazillians there´s a certain controversy about our capital´s beauty, Kenzo had no doubts on choosing the city for this marketing video:

The buildings choosen as background where the National Congress and the Republic Museum. Both are relatively close, in the civic area, at the Ministries´Esplanade. 

The modernist conception of Brasilia took advantage of its location, where almost-always-blue skies and a relatively plain terrain in the Brazillian highlands allowed big green areas separating the buildings, connected by large streets, making a unique city. 

This combination of strong sunlight and poetical architecture indeed provided a perfect scenery. Oscar Niemayer probably never thought that the ramps of his buildings would be used as a catwalk.