Olinda

Well, Olinda is definitely not what we expected.

They tell you that it's the cultural capital of Brazil, that it's the 'Venice of South America', that it's historical centre is vibrant, brightly coloured and the best old town in Latin America, that the entire city is a UNESCO World Heritage site...

With respect to the people of Olinda and Brazil, we very much disagree.

The old town was 'ok', it was small, very quiet, and it that typical typical state of Latin American disrepair that can sometimes be charming, but here we found to be almost eerie.

The city of Olinda itself was absolutely nothing to write home about. It was dirty, the water was full of garbage, and it stank of sewer.

All this to the point that we only left our BnB to get groceries, and the one time we visited the old town.

We probably wouldn't recommend anyone come to Olinda. We think there's maybe a situation where people might enjoy it more than we did, but we are hoping for better from the rest of the Recife area.Read more