Fortaleza, Brazil

Fortaleza (meaning fortress) is the capital of the state of Ceara since 1799 and located in the Northeastern corner of Brazil and South America with a population of over 4.1 million. A city of forts,
the first was built in1603, taken over by the Dutch in 1630, destroyed in 1644 and then later rebuilt when the Portuguese took it over in 1654. Fortaleza is known to be the first city in Brazil (in 1883)to give freedom to slavery.

We drove through the city and surrounding areas with stops to see the Mucuripe lighthouse, the main city square, Praca de Alencar, futbol stadium (of course) and commercial, residential and hotel areas. Fortaleza has 350 miles of coast and beaches and has perfect weather being flat and 2.8 degrees (less than 200 miles) South of the equator.

The main focus of our tour was three stops:

-Teatro Jose de Alencar - where we visited a still very active theater with furnishings that were brought from Scotland. The theater is named for a native 19th century novelist, poet and dramatist who wrote 54 books. The early 20th-century Art Nouveau-style was constructed in 1904-10. With an 800-seat concert hall, the theater also includes a theater garden, an outdoor stage and a small annex with another 90-seat theater.

-Gothic-Roman style Metropolitan Cathedral built from 1938-1978. It is an interesting building that looks old from the outside but is actually very beautiful and modern on the inside. Designed by French architect George Mounier, the third largest cathedral in Brazil. It seats 5,000 worshippers, honoring St. Joseph, the Patron Saint of the Brazil. The cathedral’s central alter was brought over from Verona.

- Lastly, we visited the Fortaleza Central Market (Mercado Central de Fortaleza) which was once a 19th century prison (ironically, with all the challenges Brazil has had in recent years with crime, this prison is now a store) converted into a very large handicraft center with hundreds of stalls of embroidered textiles, woodcarvings, and lace. But since we never shop so we just took a nice walk around.

We did find that a nice 3 bedroom apartment on the beach may only cost $200k here.Read more