Salvador do Bahia

After a day at sea since leaving Rio, we arrived in Salvador this morning at 10:00.

Our last visit here left us with a very bad impression of Brazil, particularly insofar as one's safety is concerned. Understandably, we were a little apprehensive about returning to the scene of the crime.

On the other hand, we are older and a lot wiser than we were nine years ago, and we went ashore with no jewelry, almost no cash, and only the bare minimum of credit cards. We also booked a walking tour with a local that we hoped would help keep us safe.

Although we returned to the ship unscathed, both in Rio and on today's tour, we saw a snatch and grab incident where some unsuspecting tourist lost some belongings. The cruise lines need to be more vigilant about inforning their passengers of precauations to take when going ashore in Brazil.

Aside from that, we had a good two hour tour of the historic Pelourinho district.

A Unesco World Heritage site, Salvador was the first capital of Brazil from 1549 to 1763 and was also, from 1558, the first slave market in the New World. Salvador still has one of the largest concentrations of black and mulatto populations in Brazil resulting in the abundance of colorful costumes, and distinctive foods for which the city is noted.

The city is divided into an upper and a lower town that are connected by road, a cable car and the Elevador Lacerda, a 236 foot tall tower containing four elevator cars and was completed in 1873 and renovated in the Art-deco style in the 1930s.

During our tour, on several occasions, we were approached by individuals offering us different coloured ribbons. Our guide explained that, according to local legend, if you tie the ribbon to something and make three wishes, when the knot becomes untied, your three wishes will come true. The fence encircling a fountain in the town square is covered with thousands and thousands of multi-colored ribbons.

Because of the inherent risk involved in displaying one's cell phone, I took very few photos today but could easily have gone over the twenty photo limit on this blog.

Chances are we'll never venture back here ever again, but it was nice to leave Salvador this time with fonder memories.Read more