Vitoria Brazil
Frequently Asked Questions
In the heart of the city, on the island where the capital of Espírito Santo is built, at the head of its bay. The historic centre is within immediate reach of the berth.
Through a narrow channel threaded between the hills, reckoned one of the trickiest in Brazil. On approach you catch sight of the Convento da Penha, a sanctuary founded in 1558 crowning a wooded crag on the Vila Velha shore.
The Cidade Alta takes an hour or two on foot from the pier. The crossing to the Convento da Penha in Vila Velha fills the second half of the day and delivers the best view of the bay.
The Palácio Anchieta, a former Jesuit college now the seat of state government, which opens some rooms and its chapel to visitors; the metropolitan cathedral with its neo-Gothic spires; and the Theatro Carlos Gomes, modelled on Italian houses, on Praça Costa Pereira.
One of Brazil's oldest sanctuaries, perched on a rock about 150 metres high in Vila Velha and still the object of living devotion across the region. A shaded ramp leads up; from the terraces the view takes in the whole bay, the bridge across it, the beaches and the two sister cities.
Vitória's version, made without coconut milk or palm oil, unlike its Bahian cousin: just fresh fish, tomatoes, coriander and annatto, simmered in a panela de barro, the black clay pot.
The black clay pot hand-shaped by the women artisans of the Goiabeiras district, in which moqueca capixaba is cooked. The craft, passed from mother to daughter, is recognized as Brazilian cultural heritage, and the pots make a souvenir with real meaning.
On the Vitória side, Camburi beach stretches about 6 kilometres of sand along a promenade busy from morning to night. On the Vila Velha side, Praia da Costa draws families below the white apartment towers.
Few, since the city still appears on only a handful of itineraries. That is its appeal: a human-scaled capital with the quiet bustle of a regional city that has not rebuilt its centre around visitors.
Brazilian reais and Portuguese. Restaurants and shops in the centre accept cards; keep cash for the craft market, where basketwork, lace and clay pots come from workshops in the region.
