Salvador (Bahia)

We originally had no plans for Salvador, or more properly our plans consisted of simply walking to the nearby marketplace and checking that out. However, after reading more about the city and especially its old town, we decided to book a basic highlights tour that would get us around the city.

Dawn was breaking as we approached the city ahead of our 7:00 AM docking time. The Brazilian Navy was conducting some sort of exercise and a few ships were steaming around nearby. We rousted the boys out of bed a little bit early so that we could have breakfast before our 8:45 rally time for the tour. We had about 30 people on our bus, and there was another on the same tour with probably an equal number. We set out at 9:00 for the Santo Antônio da Barra Fort and Barra Lighthouse.

We had a quick stop at the fort and lighthouse, then it was on to the old town. On the way we passed through a wide variety of neighborhoods, with housing ranging from extremely basic to opulent high rises. Once near the old town we got out and walked, getting a great view from the heights and then exploring a couple of churches. The best part was probably walking down a windy cobblestone road and seeing the locals going about their business.

The bus stopped at the port to let off folks who did not want to visit the Mercado Modelo. We did want to see the market, so we stayed on. We hoped to find some cold drinks at the market as it was hot and humid and the boys were pretty worn out. We failed in that respect, however, so we simply walked back to the ship for a quick lunch. Since Liz and I were still interested in the market we left the boys on the ship and walked back to explore. It was worth it as we made a purchase for someone back home.

We were back on the ship about an hour before the 3:30 all-aboard for a welcome shower, some puzzle-doing, and some ping pong.Read more