Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
When arriving in São Sebastião, belonging to São Paulo, I was in trouble finding my hotel, the Ilha de Toque Toque boutique hotel. As the name suggests, it might be on an island (ilha). I entered the street adress into my navigation system and was led to a strange place within São Sebastião.
Continue reading “Ilha de Toque Toque boutique hotel”
Brazil is a country with a lot of tropical rainforest. Many areas are quite unreachable and in earlier days some places could only be reached by boat. That is why some cities exist: Especially the Portuguese colonial masters arrived with their ships at the coast and had to walk into the mainland to find gold (for example in Minais Gerais).
Continue reading “Road trip from Santos to Rio”
A good starting point for a visit to São Paulo is the Praça de Sé – the historic center of the city. It is a nice place surrounded by palms, often crowded and it has seen mighty demonstrations (like for free elections in 1984) in the past. You can get here easily by metro, using the station naturally called Sé.
Continue reading “Praça de Sé”
If you need to relax a bit, São Paulos equivalent to the Central Park, the Parque do Ibirapuera might be the place for you. It is a 160 hectare park with ponds, woods and lawns where you can relax, do some sports or look out for art.
Continue reading “Parque do Ibirapuera”
There a quite some museums in São Paulo (like the Museu da Imagem e do Som, MIS; or the Museu da Casa brasileira), but because of limited time I only had the possibility to visit two of them: The Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) and the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM). At least the MASP has to be put on your shortlist.
Continue reading “Museums in São Paulo”
São Paulo is one of the biggest cities in Brazil und going by car into the town is quite an adventure. I wouldn’t say that traffic is as mad as in Marseille, but it is definitivly close to it. Especially the motorways around the city are special: Most times four lanes going parallel, then two surprisingly change their direction or cross the other two via a bridge. A miracle, if you arrive without getting lost at least once.
Continue reading “Entering São Paulo”
“Although São Paulo is definitely a city in which cars rule,
you’ll have to possess vast amounts of patience
(and a certain degree of insanity)
to consider renting a car here.”
– Michael Sommers
I was at the triangle Brazil / Argentina / Paraguay, I had my hotel in Brazil and visited the Brazilian side of the falls. And I went to Argentina to see las cataratas from there. How to get to Paraguay? It would be possible to walk over the bridge and the border, but the temperatures were to high for such a hike.
Continue reading “With a taxi to Paraguay”
When entering the rain forest around Foz do Iguaçu you will mostly don’t see too many animals. Having a look at the birds and reptiles living at this spot is possible when visiting the Parque das Aves in Foz do Iguaçu.
Continue reading “Parque das Aves”
The Brazilian part of Cataratas do Iguaçu is smaller then the Argentinian side. It is also part of a National park preserving the area. It is mainly one route leading you from an entry point along the river directly under the falls. It is an easy walk but if you don’t like to get wet (at normal Brazilian temperatures absolutely no problem) you have to prepare.
Continue reading “The Brazilian view on the Falls”