The carnival of Salvador de Bahia 2012 is around the corner! The big party fueled with music, drink and massive crowds will soon occupy up the streets of Salvador. During the dates of the carnival two large closed circuits are set up in the city of Salvador: the Barra Ondina circuit and the Campo Grande circuit. Parading through them, mammoth juggernatus, the trios elétricos, with music bands and artists playing on top of them.

Three useful sources on all carnival-related info:

• Portal oficial del Carnaval 2012. The carnival’s official website.
• Folia Bahia. Complete information including a map showing where the carnival circuits are.
• EFolia.net. Another site with a good deal of practical info.

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dates of the 2012 carnival in Brazil

The Brazilian tourism authorities recently launched the website Brasil 360° Experience, with versions in Portuguese, English and Spanish.

While most travelers are familiar with panoramic and 360° photos, 360° videos will be a novelty for many. As the image moves, the viewer can change the angle of vision and point the camera in whichever direction he chooses. It is a technology that produces surprising and fascinating results. Brasil 360° Experience aims at surprising the views with moving images of a handful of Brazilian tourist destinations.

The website contains videos of Rio de Janeiro, Cuiabá and the Pantanal, Curitiba and Foz de Iguazú, Manaos and the Amazon and Salvador de Bahía.

The page contains a link “Know more about…” that takes the reader to the Brazilian Tourism Portal, a true liability for the promotion of Brazil as a tourist destination. At the portal, when the tourist tries to find out more information about, say, tourist attractions in Rio de Janeiro, he or she will find the following screen:

Worry not. If you want more info on the destinations covered by the new website, you can check our very own entries for those destinations:

• destination: Rio de Janeiro
• the Pantanal handbook
• destination: Curitiba
• destination: Iguazu Falls
• destination: Manaus
• destination: Salvador
• the Amazon: an index of blog posts

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This is the fourth on a series of videos produced by the Brazilian tourism authorities. They all have a common theme: those states that will host 2014 World Cup games. During the coming weeks we will present all those videos here in the blog. They are shortish videos, with conventional but beautiful images of the states and its main destinations.

Bahia:

We have devoted several blog posts to the state of Bahia, including our guides to Arraial d’Ajuda, Boipeba, Caraíva, Lençóis/Chapada Diamantina, Morro de São Paulo, Porto Seguro, Salvador and Trancoso.

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World Car Free Day is quite devoid of any meaning here in Brazil. That doesn’t mean we can’t take the opportunity to reflect on a truly worrying fact of life in Brazil. A recent article at the Thrill of Brazil blog reflected on something that will be familiar to anyone who’s spent any time in Brazil during the last few years: monster traffic jams, once a São Paulo trademark, are becoming an unstoppable reality of life in other large Brazilian cities like Rio de Janeiro or Salvador.

Go read the article: São Paulo’s World Famous Traffic Jams Starting to Spread throughout Brazil. Salvador de Bahia-based Michael Sommers is the writer of the excellent Moon Guide to Brazil and the Moon Guide to Rio. And one of the most knowledgeable travel writers on Brazil you are likely to come across.

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The carnival in Salvador de Bahia 2010 will take place from 11 to 16 February. A handful of websites with information on the carnival:

• Portal oficial del Carnaval 2009. The carnival’s official website. Detail information of the carnival events hasn’t been made public yet, it will be announced during the first fortnight in January.
• Folia Bahia. Complete information including a map showing where the carnival circuits are.
• EFolia.net. Another site with a good deal of practical info.

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destination: Salvador

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[photo: view from the window of our room at the Ibis Rio Vermelho]

NAME: hotel Ibis Rio Vermelho

WHERE: Rio Vermelho, Salvador de Bahia

WEBSITE: Ibis Salvador Rio Vermelho

IN ENGLISH: yes

PRICES ON THE WEBSITE: yes

LOCATION: the hotel is located in the Rio Vermelho neighbourhood, right next to a tiny and secluded beach. Rio Vermelho is one of the bohemiam quarters of Salvador, with lots of restaurants and an active night life. To get to the center of Salvador (Pelourinho) from Rio Vermelho you have to take a taxi or a bus. The tourist Salvador bus stops right in front of the hotel. See the location of the hotel on Google Maps.

THE PREMISES: the hotel occupies a building attached to the Mercure hotel – belonging to the same hotel chain. It has the classic structure of most Ibis hotels, with a dining room and bar on the ground floor.

THE ROOMS: your standard Ibis room, correct. Separate bathroom. Tv and telephone. For our travelling needs, more than enough.

PRICES IN MARCH 2009: we paid R$109 per room per night.

BREAKFAST: not included on the price. It costs R$10 per person per day. We ended up having breakfast at the hotel to avoid being delayed. Breakfast is correct, it lacks the charm of a classic breakfast at a Brazilian pousada but it is more generous than a continental breakfast.

FOOD: available at the restaurant. We didn’t eat at the hotel.

INTERNET: the hotel offers paid wi-fi access. There is also a computer offering paid internet access.

RECEPTION: efficient and professional.

CONTACT BY EMAIL: we booked through the hotel’s website. All the options and charges were presented clearly.

OUR OPINION: those familiar with Ibis hotels are unlikely to be dissapointed. Comfortable accommodation with no luxuries attached at a very competitive price. Those wanting to stay at the Rio Vermelho neighbourhood will find the Ibis hotel an excellent choice. Being far from the center of town wasn’t a problem for us.
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The cities that will host the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil have been chosen. They are Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaos, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo.

It is almost certain that the World Cup final will take place at the Maracanã stadium in Rio. São Paulo and Belo Horizonte are fighting for the right to host the opening game.

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Maracanã

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Acarajé is a true culinary delicacy from the state of Bahia. An acarajé is a ball made from black-eyed peas and fried in dendê oil, usually served with hot chilly pepper sauce. It can be eaten along with dried shrimp and traditional dishes from Bahia such as the vatapá or the caruru.

Acarajé is often eaten as street food, found in traditional food stalls managed by the traditional baianas do acarajé, the ladies that have prepared the delicacy for decades and have turned their activity into an art.

Salvador is where the elite of the baianas do acarajé is found. Each citizen from Salvador has a favourite baiana, but if you choose among Cira, Dinha (no longer alive) or Regina you can’t go wrong.

When you order your acarajé, you have to make it clear if you want it con camarão (with shrimps) or sem camarão (without them). The former is a bit more expensive (in March 2009 R$4 at Dina’s). If you don’t want any hot sauce on it ask for it sem pimenta.

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The sorveteria da Ribeira ice-cream parlour is an unmissable Salvador classic. It has a legion of devoted fans, and the local edition of Veja magazine has elected it the best Salvador ice-cream for 10 consecutive years. The sorveteria was founded in 1931 by an Italian inmigrant. In 1962 a Spanish inmigrant bought it from him. For the next 42 years, he run the succesful business. In 2008 a local businessman bought the sorveteria.

The sorveteria is located in the Ribeira (see its location on Google Maps), quite far away from most tourist sights. But it is in the vicinity of the Bonfim church – while you are there, extend your trip to the Ribeira. The Salvador bus, Salvador’s hop-on hop-off tourist bus stops right in front the ice-cream parlour and waits for you while your order your ice-cream.

In spite of its fame, the ice-creams served at the Ribeira have popular prices. R$3 for a cone with a ball, R$4 for two. Outstanding amont the list of flavours there is a long list of exotic fruits: biri-biri, jenipapo, chirimoya, cajá, cupuaçu, mangaba, umbu, sirigüela, graviola, cajarana, acerola. Ice-creams are still prepared in the traditional fashion and the fruits are peeled by hand.

You will find all the information we have on this blog on Salvador at the entry destination: Salvador.

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SENAC is a private organization offering ocuppational training courses. It is financed by the Brazilian private sector. Bang in the middle of the Pelourinho, the best known part of the historic centre of Salvador, SENAC has a restaurant on a building of historical interest.

There is a por quilo restaurant on the ground floor (you pay according to the weight of the food that you eat). If you want to go to the traditional restaurant, take the door to the left and climb the stairs until you reach the restaurant.

The restaurant offers a buffet service. 40 savoury dishes representing all that it is traditional in cuisine from Bahia. And a dozen desserts too. All the dishes have a label with their name (in Portuguese and in English too) but in case of doubt, ask any waitress and she’ll be glad to give you more details.

Hard to resist the dessert section, it is calory galore, but there you go.

The SENAC restaurant is on the main Pelourinho square – ask around, anyone will tell you where the entrance is. It opens for lunch and for dinner (with the exception of Sundays, when it only opens for lunch). In March 2009 the price of the buffet was R$29 (drinks not included).

Right next to the restaurant there is a small and interesting Museu da Gastronomia (entrance is free).

For its exceptional location and for offering a perfect introduction to the local cuisine, the SENAC restaurant is a highly recommended place for a meal.

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destination: Salvador
a city called Bahia

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