Ok it’s been a while since my last WC stadium city, but regular followers know the drill by now; first the ‘I’m in a new city’ post, followed a day or two later by the ‘I visited the stadium’ post – so let’s kick off with the former…
What a way to arrive in Salvador! The ferry from Itaparica was a beautiful way to travel – with Brenda the bike locked safely on the vehicle deck surrounded by motorbikes, I grabbed a seat at the front of the open air passenger deck and took in the views as we cruised across the calm bay waters in glorious sunshine:
On arrival, I enjoyed cycling along the urban highways from the port, through the city centre and across to the Itaigara neighbourhood where doctor Betania, Argentinian ex-rugby player Martin and their daughter Catarina live – I’m their first ever Couchsurfer, what an honour!
Yesterday morning I took a bus to the airport in order to visit the Federal Police office there to extend my tourist visa for another 3 months. Despite a typically beauracratic Brazilian process involving printing out forms to be hand written and then going to the nearby post office to pay a fee, it went pretty smoothly thanks largely to Denise the British Consul in Porto Alegre who’d called ahead and got me priority service! It’s nice to have this admin sorted as it was a risk to completing my journey should there have been a problem in getting the extension, but now I’m officially allowed to stay in Brazil until after the World Cup final, happy days.
After eventually working out which bus would take me back to the correct part of the city, I arrived at the apartment to drop off my newly stamped passport, picked up my tablet/camera, and left again to grab a taxi for the historic centre. Despite arriving after 3pm I managed to find the Salvador Free Walking Tour guys before they set off, which was great since pipe smoking Pedro and photo snapper Stephanie took us on a superb stroll through some edgy streets where tourists don’t usually go, and hence I saw much more of the real Salvador than if I’d explored on my own. Below are some of my pics, but you can also see higher quality snaps here.
Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado (blue building)
This view, mid afternoon
Patriotic shop
I think the real trophy should be this size!
We didn’t take the elevator…
…what”s that behind the cool bike…
…it’s the amazing funicular/cable railway!
Local footy fan’s home – Bahia won the state championship on Sunday vs fierce city rivals Vitoria
Derelict street corner
Ornate church front
This view, late afternoon
Doorstep street art
Getting reflective
“Dummy BoJo spotted in Salvador bric-a-brac shop”
We finished the tour in this lovely cafe…
…to enjoy the gorgeous sunset
It could be chaos on the streets of Salvador today because the police are on strike! However, as far as I can tell from my experience in Brazil so far, they don’t actually do anything most other days anyway so it shouldn’t make much difference, well I hope so, but the locals seem nervous. Might be an interesting cycle to the WC stadium this afternoon then…
