Salvador da Bahia Off The Beaten Path Tips by martinelli Top 5 Page for this destination

CEAO - Centro de Estudos...

<b>CEAO - Centro de Estudos Afro-Orientais (Centre for African and Oriental studies of Federal University of Bahia)</b> :: founded by the outstanding and legendary portuguese anthropologist Agostinho da Silva, this center gathers a lot of good information about the african legacy in Brazil. It's also possible to access its library and take yoruba classes!

http://www.ufba.br/instituicoes/ufba/ceao/i

Praça 15 de novembro, 17 - Terreiro de Jesus

Pelourinho

Picture: cover of the publication 'Brazil: a country of Blacks?', by CEAO. Note that the words 'black' and 'negro' don't have offensive conotation in Brazil.

Biblioteca Central dos Barris...

<b>Biblioteca Central dos Barris - Central Library of Barris</b> :: You don't have to understand portuguese to profit on this library. As a library, it's not very astonishing, but it promotes interesting events in its main square ('Quadrilatero'), shows interesting low-production or art movies in its two cinema rooms ('Walter da Silveira' and 'Alexandre Robato', always with extremely cheap prices, if not for free) and good plays in its theatre ('Espaco Xis'). It also promotes every July the festival 'July in Salvador', with a lot of free concerts, movie displays, workshops, plays, art expositions and more! If not free, ridiculously low prices.

http://www.funceb.ba.gov.br/dimas/julhoemsalvador/2002/index.htm

Itaparica Island
The island...

Itaparica Island

The island itself (in front of Salvador) is not something to drool for, in my opinion. Not Itaparica (maybe Frades or Madre de Deus). But crossing the All Saint Bay back and forth is absolutely marvelous.
This is a picture of Salvador from the sea...

<font color=red><i> Picture borrowed from <a href='http://www.grantangi.com/prodscript.phtml/en/reports/brazil/'> Udo Müller's site </a href></i></font>

Sao Marcelo Fort
Built by the...

Sao Marcelo Fort

Built by the dutches when they were struggling for the power in Salvador, it is most definately one of the greatest vies. Once a fort, once a prision, all you have to do is to go to the pier beside Mercado Modelo, get a boat and enjoy the spectacular view of the city and the bay!

<font color=red><i> Picture borrowed from <a href='http://www.grantangi.com/prodscript.phtml/en/reports/brazil/'> Udo Müller's site </a href></i></font>

Pesque-pague If you go to... Litoral Norte - North Coast Review

<font color=red>Pesque-pague</font color> If you go to Litoral Norte and are already a bit tired of wonderful beaches, a good and relaxing and sure fun option is to stop by one of the pesque-pague (fish-and-pay) places. Here's the deal: you rent the fishing equipment for about US$0,75, buy some bait for US$ 0,50 and spend the day fishing in artificial lagoons amongts natural white dunes. It's calm and quiet... and they have delicious drinks. They're all over the Litoral Norte. One I went to and liked was in <a href='http://www.hotelneptunus.com.br/pesque-pague.htm'> Hotel Neptunus </a href>. Check the page for the address. But you can't miss it, it's 5 minuts past the entrance for Buraquinho beach. Check one of the tilapias I fished there! Just a little sample of all 17 of them...

A great option while in... Litoral Norte - North Coast Review

A great option while in Salvador is to take a day off, rent a car ang go up to Litoral Norte (north coast). That region is called 'The brasilian Polinesia'... The beaches are simply wonderful, calm, not too crowded. If you like turtles, go to Praia do Forte, to know the Tamar Project, but I personally think it's a bore. Go to the small almost virgin beaches, spend a day under the shadows of the coconut trees (the road you're taking is actually called Estrada do Coco - Coconut drive). Here's a little map of the beaches...