Porto Seguro, Brazil: "Old Town" San Diego?

Hey Everyone,

 

We arrived in Porto Seguro, Brazil last Monday after a 10-hour overnight bus.  Porto Seguro is a small coastal river port town.  However, like our guide book says, the colonial charm of Porto Seguro has given way to the commercialism of cheap T-shirt stands and packaged vacations for the Brazilian middle class.  It does hold the historical significance of being the location of the first Portuguese landfall in Brazil.

 

The town that was originally founded sat on top of a hill overlooking the ocean and natural reef breakwater a couple hundred yards out.  On our first day in Porto Seguro, I went to take a walk and check out the "Old Town".  They actually refer to it as the "High Town" (Alta Cidade) presumably because it sits above the surrounding landscape.  It is pretty much like "Old Town" San Diego except that it is at least 200 years older.  There are colorful small colonial buildings, three churches (for a church to building ratio of 1:8), a small lighthouse, and the marble stone marker set by the original Portuguese explorers.  It is not quite as commercialized as San Diego's Old Town, but it is close- just on a smaller scale.  It does have pretty enough views and would have been a nice place to live back in the day.

 

Charming but not anything spectacular.

 

I liked the next town better...

 

Sean