Quote: (10-26-2011 10:06 AM)UrbanNerd Wrote:
I love Salvador. I am pretty sure that on my next trip to Brazil, I will spend much more time in Salvador than Rio or Sao Paulo.
Been way too often in Salvador. My argentinian future ex-wife worked there (happily, at the Club Med on Itaparica island, so I didn't have to go too often in town) and I visited her at least four times a year during three years before we got married. I really hate the place, which is overpriced, very ugly as soon as you leave the Pelourinho area, rather dangerous, dirty and too stretched to navigate easily (some 30 km from Pelourinho to Itapoa). Also Salvador tries hard to be a giant "Black Disneyland" theme park for white tourists from southeast Brasil, from Argentina and from Europe (some two millions inbound tourists, plus some five millions national tourists visit Salvador each year), and all that pseudo-cultural BS for mass tourism is not only annoying, but also grotesque. Salvador is anything but authentic.
The only thing that is great in Salvador is the food, I am salivating just thinking at the bahianese "moqueca de siri e camarao" (that said, the moqueca capixaba - from Vitoria - is maybe even better).
Sao Luis, which has also a beautiful restored historic district and very nice beaches, is MUCH more enthralling, authentic and interesting, and is still untapped - and is safer also.