BAHIA (“bay”) is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population and the 5th-largest by area. Bahia’s capital is the city of Salvador on a spit of land separating the Bay of All Saints from the Atlantic. Once a monarchial stronghold dominated by agricultural, slaving, and ranching interests, Bahia is now a predominantly working-class industrial and agricultural state. The state is home to 7% of the Brazilian population and produces 4.2% of the country’s GDP.
Geography. Bahia now comprises an irregular bordered (from east to west) by Sergipe, Alagoas, Pernambuco and Piauí. In the northwest, it is bordered by Tocantins. In the southwest, it borders Goiás, and in the south, it is bordered (from east to west) by Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais.
The state is crossed from west to east by many rivers, but the most important is the São Francisco, which starts in Minas Gerais and runs through western Bahia before emptying into the Atlantic between Sergipe and Alagoas. Formerly plied by paddlewheel steamers, the river is only navigable to small modern craft but is still vital to the arid west since it continuously supplies water during seasons when many other smaller rivers dry out. The Sobradinho Dam created one of the largest reservoirs in the world; other major hydroelectric projects along its length include the Paulo Afonso Hydroelectric Complex and the Itaparica or Luiz Gonzaga Dam.
Bay of All Saints. The largest bay on the Brazilian coast at1,052 square km, it contains 56 islands, receives freshwater from numerous rivers and creeks (especially the Paraguaçú and Subaé), and is one of the most favorite spots for nautical sports, due to its regular breezes, the medium annual temperature of 26 °C (79 °F) and sheltered waters.
The Dendê Coast, south of Salvador has clear waters, islands, bays, coral reefs, and very diversified fauna.
Cacao Coast. Along the southern coast of Bahia has dozens of kilometers of beaches shaded by dense coconut groves, the Atlantic Forest, large areas of wetland vegetation and cacao plantations.
The Discovery Coast preserves, virtually intact, the landscape seen by the Portuguese fleet with 150 km (93 mi) of beaches, inlets, bays, cliffs, numerous rivers and streams surrounded by the verdant coconut groves, wetlands and the Atlantic Forest.
Whale Coast. Has 17 species of corals in its main attraction, the Abrolhos Marine National Park.
Diamantina Tableland. The geographical center of Bahia, a mountainous region with a diversified topography, 90% of the rivers of the Paraguaçu, Jacuípe, and Rio das Contas basins have their source here. The vegetation mixes cactus species of the caatinga dry lands with rare examples of mountain flora, especially bromeliads, orchids and “sempre vivas” (member of the strawflower family). The three highest mountains are Pico do Barbado, 2,080 m (6,820 ft) high, Pico Itobira, 1,970 m (6,460 ft), and Pico das Almas, 1,958 m (6,424 ft).
Cachoeira da Fumaça (“Waterfall”) falls 420 m (1,380 ft); the Gruta dos Brejões, the largest cavern opening of Bahia; and the Poço Encantado.
Climate. Tropical. It has the longest coastline: 1,103 km long (685 miles; north coast: 143; Bay of All Saints: 124; and southern: 418). With 68% of its territory located in the semi-arid zone, the State presents diversified climates and an average rainfall that varies from 363 to 2,000 mm (14.3 to 78.7 in) per year, depending on the region
History. In 1549, Portugal established the city of Salvador and was the administrative capital of Portugal’s colonies in the Americas until 1763 and the religious capital until 1907.
Bahia was a center of sugarcane cultivation from the 16th to the 18th centuries and contains a number of historic towns, such as Cachoeira, dating from this era. Integral to the sugar economy was the importation of a vast number of African slaves: more than a third of all slaves taken from Africa were sent to Brazil,
Demographics. (pop 14,561,000) Brown (Multiracial) people (62.83%), White people (20.60%), 2,328,000 Black people (15.99%), 42,000 Amerindian people (0.29%), 37,000 Asian people (0.26%).
Public Safety. Bahia has one of the highest crime rates in the country, having four of the ten most violent cities in Brazil. Gun violence in the state more than doubled from 2004 to 2014, ranking first out of the 26 states of Brazil. In 2014, the state also had the highest number of murders in the country.
SALVADOR (pop metro 3,899,533) is the capital of the Brazilian state of Bahia. With 2.9 million people (2020), it is the largest city proper in the Northeast Region and the 4th largest city proper in the country, after São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasília.
Founded by the Portuguese in 1549 as the first capital of Brazil, Salvador is one of the oldest colonial cities in the Americas. A sharp escarpment divides its Lower Town (Cidade Baixa) from its Upper Town (Cidade Alta) by some 85 meters (279 ft). The Elevador Lacerda, Brazil’s first urban elevator, has connected the two since 1873. The Pelourinho district of the upper town, still home to many examples of Portuguese colonial architecture and historical monuments, was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985. The city’s cathedral is the see of the primate of Brazil and its Carnival celebration has been reckoned as the largest party in the world. Salvador was one of the first slave ports in the Americas and the African influence of the slaves’ descendants makes it a center of Afro-Brazilian (negro) culture. The city is noted for its cuisine, music, dance, and architecture. Porto da Barra Beach in Barra has been named one of the best beaches in the world.
Salvador forms the heart of the Recôncavo, Bahia’s rich agricultural and industrial maritime district, and continues to be a major Brazilian port. Its metropolitan area, housing 3,899,533 people (2018) forms the wealthiest one in Brazil’s Northeast Region (2015).
Salvador lies on a small, roughly triangular peninsula that separates the Bay of All Saints, the largest bay in Brazil, from the Atlantic Ocean.
It was first reached by Gaspar de Lemos in 1501, just one year after Cabral’s purported discovery of Brazil. During his second voyage for Portugal, the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci sighted the bay on All Saints’ Day (1 November) 1502 and, in honor of the date and his parish church in Florence, he named it the Bay of the Holy Savior of All the Saints.
Owing to whales’ use of the Bay of All Saints as a mating ground, Salvador became a large whaling port in the Southern Hemisphere during the 19th century but the trade had already begun to fall off by the 1870s.
Under the empire and republic periods, however, the town slowly began to industrialize. In 1873, Brazil’s first elevator, the powerful hydraulic Elevador Lacerda, was constructed to connect the city’s upper and lower towns. Having undergone several upgrades, it continues in use.
It also served as a port of call for most steamship lines trading between Europe and South America.
In 1985, UNESCO listed the city’s Pelourinho neighborhood as a World Heritage Site. In the 1990s, a major municipal project cleaned and restored the neighborhood in order to develop it as the cultural center and heart of the city’s tourist trade. The development of the Historical Center, however, involved the forced removal of thousands of working-class residents and now necessitates local and municipal events in order to attract people to the area. The relocated workers, meanwhile, have encountered significant economic hardship in their new homes on the city’s periphery, separated from access to work and civic amenities.
In 2007, Porto da Barra Beach in Barra was named by the Guardian as the 3rd-best beach in the world.
Most enslaved Africans in Bahia were brought from Sub-Saharan Africa, especially the Yoruba-speaking nation (Iorubá or Nagô in Portuguese) from present-day Benin. The enslaved were forced to convert to Roman Catholicism, but their original religion Yorùbá was combined with Roman Catholicism to make the syncretic religion known as, Candomblé, which has survived in spite of prohibitions and persecutions. The enslaved Africans managed to preserve their religion by attributing the names and characteristics of their Yorùbá deities to Catholic saints with similar qualities. Still today all Candomble sessions are conducted in Yoruba, not Portuguese.
With its beaches, humid tropical climate, numerous up-to-date shopping malls (The Shopping Iguatemi was the first shopping mall in Northeastern Brazil) and pleasant high-class residential areas, the city has much to offer its residents.
Economically Salvador is one of Brazil’s more important cities. Since its founding, the city has been one of Brazil’s most prominent ports and international trading centers. Boasting a large oil refinery, a petrochemical plant, and other important industries, the city has made great strides in reducing its historical dependence on agriculture for its prosperity.
Salvador is the second most popular tourist destination in Brazil, after Rio de Janeiro. Tourism and cultural activity are important generators of employment and income, boosting the arts and the preservation of artistic and cultural heritage.
Chief among the points of interest are its famous Pelourinho (named after the colonial pillories that once stood there) district, its historic churches, and its beaches. Salvador’s tourism infrastructure is considered one of the most modern in the World, especially in terms of lodging. The city offers accommodation to suit all tastes and standards, from youth hostels to international hotels
Tourism and recreation. The Salvador coastline is one of the longest for cities in Brazil. There are 80 km (50 mi) of beaches distributed between the High City and the Low City, from Inema, in the railroad suburb to the Praia do Flamengo, on the other side of town. While the Low City beaches are bordered by the waters of the All Saints Bay (the country’s most extensive bay), the High City beaches, from Farol da Barra to Flamengo, are bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The exception is Porto da Barra Beach, the only High City beach located in All Saints Bay.
The capital’s beaches range from calm inlets, ideal for swimming, sailing, diving, and underwater fishing, as well as open sea inlets with strong waves, sought by surfers. There are also beaches surrounded by reefs, forming natural pools of stone, ideal for children.
Interesting places to visit near Salvador include: The large island of Itaparica in the Bay of All Saints can be visited either by a car-ferry, or a smaller foot-passenger ferry, which leaves from near the Mercado Modelo near the Lacerda Elevator.
BA-099 Highway, or “Line of Coconut” and “Green Line” of towns and cities, with exquisite beaches, north of Salvador heading towards Sergipe state.
Salvador has four parks, green areas protected, as Jardim dos Namorados Park, Costa Azul Park, Park of the city, Park of Pituaçu.
Jardim dos Namorados is located right next to Costa Azul Park and occupies an area of 15 hectares in Pituba, where many families used to spend their vacations in the 1950s. It was inaugurated in 1969, initially as a leisure area. It underwent a complete renovation in the 1990s, with the construction of an amphitheater with room for 500 people, sports courts, playgrounds, and parking for cars and tourist buses.
Part of the city is an important preservation area of the Atlantic forest. It was completely renovated in 2001, becoming a modern social, cultural, and leisure place. The new park has 720 square meter of green area right in the middle of the city. Among the attractions are Praça das Flores (Flowers square), with more than five thousand ornamental plants and flowers.
Pituaçu Park occupies an area of 450 hectares and is one of the few Brazilian ecological parks located in an urban area. It is surrounded by Atlantic forest, with a good variety of plants and animals.
Historic Centre of Salvador de Bahia World Heritage Site. Was the first capital of Brazil, from 1549 to 1763, Salvador de Bahia witnessed the blending of European, African, and Amerindian cultures. It was also, from 1558, the first slave market in the New World, with slaves arriving to work on the sugar plantations. The city has managed to preserve many outstanding Renaissance buildings. A special feature of the old town is the brightly coloured houses, often decorated with fine stucco work.
Founded in 1549 on a small peninsula that separates Todos os Santos Bay from the Atlantic Ocean on the northeast coast of Brazil. Salvador de Bahia’s historic centre – an eminent example of Renaissance urban structuring adapted to a colonial site – is the Cidade Alta (Upper Town), a defensive, administrative and residential neighbourhood perched atop an 85-m-high escarpment. This densely built colonial city has religious, civil, and military colonial architecture dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries.
It was the centre of the metropolis in Portuguese America and facilitated trade with Africa and the Far East. The city grew quickly, becoming Brazil’s main seaport and an important centre of the sugar industry and the slave trade. The historic centre’s main districts are Sé, Pelourinho, Misericórdia, São Bento, Taboão, Carmo and Santo Antônio. Pelourinho has a 16th-century plan, monuments, and a homogeneous construction. Buildings that date to the 17th and 18th centuries include the Catedral Basílica de Salvador and the churches and convents of São Francisco, São Domingos, Carmo and Santo Antônio. 16th-century public spaces include the Municipal Plaza, the Largo Terreiro de Jesus and the Largo de São Francisco, as well as baroque palaces: the Palácio do Arcebispado, Palácio Saldanha and Palácio Ferrão. There are many streets lined with brightly coloured houses, often decorated with fine stucco-work. After 1558 it was the first slave market in the New World, with slaves arriving to work on the sugar plantations.
It follows the theme of world exploration along with the World Heritage List of the Old Havana (1982), Angra do Heroismo (1983), San Juan de Puerto Rico (1983), and Cartagena (1984).
Day 1.
I arrived at the Salvador Rodoviaria. Across the large road is Salvador Shopping. I ate here and got an Uber to my hostel Barra Hostel.
Salvador Shopping
Day 2. The worst travel day of my life
Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim. I took a bus downtown and then an Uber from downtown to the church. On the way I stopped at a tobacco shop. Once back downtown, I realized that I had left my wallet at the shop and got an Uber to try to find the store. I was in totally the wrong neighborhood, the driver became frustrated and took me to the guard house of a police/military institute. I got out of the taxi leaving my pack as I had not paid for the taxi yet. The driver left. Now I had no wallet, computer, Kindle, electrical cords, umbrella, day pack. I paid the Uber guy by credit card but he refused to answer the phone or return my stuff.
This was an insurmountable problem. I had one credit card and no debit cards but US$700 for emergencies. I booked a flight home (Sao Paulo, Cancun, Calgary, Comox), had a PCR and went to get my flight. The PCR was positive but had no problems boarding to Sao Paulo and Cancun. Rules require a 10-day quarantine before returning to Canada. WestJet gave me a replacement flight for Feb 21st and I caught a plane to Mexico City after spending a day in Salvador seeing the Historic Centre.
Day 3
Rio Branco Palace. Built in 1549, it is closed but near the entrance to the elevator, the only practical way down. Elegant lobby and stairway through windows.
Archbishop’s Palace of Salvador. Now a 3-story building with shops on the bottom. Can’t be entered.
Basilica Cathedral. Lovely painted polychromes, paintings and coffered ceiling. .5 BR
Afro-Brazilian Museum
Casa Jorge Amado Foundation. 4-story house all in Portuguese, I had to guess that he was a poet and wrote movies. A highlight not understanding anything was the roof top view point. 10 BR
Largo do Pelourinho. The square in front of the Amado Foundation – a large triangle.
Modelo Market. Knick knacks and clothes.
Sao Marcelo Fort. On an island in the harbour.
Museum of Modern Art of Bahia. Religious art and ethnography, huge wood carvings
I flew early to Cancun, had a 9 hour layover and then an early evening flight home via Calgary to Comox. The Calgary leg was late and I almost missed the connection arriving at 01:30am in Comox – Sandy D, my local saviour was there to pick me up. She is lovely.
Tentative WHS
Brazilian Fortresses Ensemble (30/01/2015)
Station écologique du Raso da Catarina (Bahia) (06/09/1996)
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Mata de São João: Garcia D’Avila Castle
Zoos: Praia do Forte: Tamar Turtle Project
World of Nature
Morro do Chapeu State Park
São Francisco River Monument Park
Sete Passagens State Park
Caves and Sinkholes
Lapa Doce Cave
Toca da Boa Vista
Lakes: Sobradinho Reservoir
Trails 2 – Hikes: Morro do Chapeu Trail
Festivals
Celebration of Yemanja
Salvador de Bahia Carnival
Washing of the Steps of Bonfim Church, Salvador
Cities of the Americas
ALAGOINHAS
CAMACARI/SIMOES FILHO
FEIRA de SANTANA JUAZEIRO (Bahia)
PAULO ALFONSO
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Brazil – Bahia South (Vitoria da Conquista, Itabuna)
Discovery Coast Atlantic Forest Reserves World Heritage Sites. In the states of Bahia and Espírito Santo, consist of eight separate protected areas containing 112,000 ha of Atlantic forest dense rainforest and shrubland vegetation (“restingas”). The rainforests of Brazil’s Atlantic coast are the world’s richest in terms of biodiversity. The site contains a distinct range of species with a high level of endemism and reveals a pattern of evolution of great scientific interest and conservation.
Three national parks (Descobrimento, Monte Pascoal and Pau Brasil), two federal biological reserves (Sooretama and Una) and three special reserves (Veracruz, Pau Brasil/Ceplac and Linhares)
It is the result of the mix of regional endemic species of the Atlantic Forest with elements of the Amazon ecosystem, particularly observed among the species of plants and birds. In the past, corridors existed between these two major ecosystems. They were subsequently interrupted, which probably contributed to the great wealth of flora found there with many endemic and rare species, sometimes limited to fragments that are barely modified ancient environments with original natural ecological processes.
It contains around 20% of the world’s flora, including 627 species of endangered plants. In some areas, more than 450 species of trees over an area equivalent to a football field have been identified. The fauna of the region is represented by 261 species of mammals including 21 marsupials (of which 15% are endemic and 15% threatened), 620 birds (19% at risk), 280 amphibians, and 200 reptiles. In total 185 species (of which 100 are endemic) are threatened with extinction, including 73 species of mammals of which 21 are primates. Among the 118 species of endangered birds, 49 are endemic. All 16 species of amphibians that are threatened are endemic. Of the 13 species of reptiles that are threatened, 10 are endemic.
These fragments of reduced size require intensive management. The six protected areas that make up the site are contiguous with two others located within reasonable proximity and connected by habitat corridors and semi-natural buffer zones. The property is surrounded by a buffer zone consisting essentially of private properties dedicated mainly to pastoral activities and forest plantations. The buffer zone is the Mata Atlântica Biosphere Reserve of nearly a million hectares which provides a comprehensive management framework to central areas of the site.
PORTO SEGURO*
Porto Seguro Lighthouse
Epic Discovery Memorial
Pau Brasil NP
M@P: Abrolhos Archipelago
XL
Abrolhos Archipelago (Bahia)
Ilha de Tinhare
Cities of the Americas
EUNAPOLIS
ILHEUS
Airports: Ilhéus (IOS)
ITABUNA
JEQUIE
SANTO ANTONIO de JESUS TIEXEIRA de FREITAS
VITORIA da CONQUISTA
Villages and Small Towns
Arraial d’Ajuda
Caraíva
Lençóis
Morro de Sao Paulo
Trancoso
Airports: Lençóis (LEC)
Religious Temples: Cairu: Convento e Igreja de Santo Antônio
World of Nature
Alto Cariri NP
Boa Nova NP
Chapada Diamantina NP
Descobrimento NP
Grande Sertão Veredas NP
Monte Pascoal National Park
Serra das Lontras NP
Veredas do Oeste Baiano Refuge
Waterfalls
Cachoeira da Fumaça (BA)
Cachoeira Tijuípe
Caves and Sinkholes
Gruta da Torrinha
Poço Encantado bahia
Rivers: São Francisco River
Festivals: Universo Paralello, Bahia
Beaches
Itacaré Beaches
Itaquena Beach
Marau: Taipus de Fora
Ponta do Corumbau
Trancoso: Praia do Espelho
Lighthouses: Morro de São Paulo: Farol do Morro
