Sao Luis Brazil
Frequently Asked Questions
At the port of Itaqui, a deep-water industrial facility set apart from the old districts. A shuttle, taxi or organized excursion is required to reach the heart of the city.
No. Itaqui is an industrial port far from the historic centre: walking is not an option. Plan for the round trip by vehicle and save most of your time for the old town.
The Reviver district, Praça Dom Pedro II and the Palácio dos Leões form a coherent walking route once you have transferred in. Counting the round trip from Itaqui, that fills the half day.
Because entire walls are covered in blue, green and ochre glazed tiles, set there by Portuguese merchants to shield their houses from equatorial heat. The city holds the largest collection of such ceramics in Latin America.
The core of the historic centre, UNESCO-listed since 1997: some 3,500 old buildings on a seventeenth-century grid between the Anil and Bacanga rivers. Cobbled streets line up balconied houses, craft shops and tiled facades whose patterns change from one doorway to the next.
French navigators, in 1612, before the city passed to the Portuguese crown. It is the only Brazilian capital born of a French venture, a distinction locals are happy to point out.
The buildings of government, including the Palácio dos Leões, seat of the state administration. Its old trees offer one of the best vantage points over the bay surrounding the peninsula. The Mercês convent, the Desterro church and the Casa do Maranhão round out the cultural route a few streets away.
Concentrate your walking in the early hours, bring a hat and take regular breaks in the shade. Tropical downpours, brief and dramatic, wash the cobbles and revive the colours of the tiles; regulars wait them out under an arcade.
Lace, ceramics and buriti-fibre objects made in the interior, sold in the craft shops of the old quarter. The local cooking, built on rice, shrimp and crab, is worth a stop too.
Only partly. Many colonial cities in the Americas have been restored to a high gloss; this one still lives in its original walls, flaking paint and all. Many find that added authenticity appealing, but anyone expecting an immaculate setting will be surprised.
