Appreciating Modern Architecture in Brasília, Brazil’s Capital

Touring Brasília's Architecture at night - here, the ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Why would you want to visit Brasília? It is an ugly city that lacks a soul,” is the most common remark I have heard from Brazilians about their capital. Despite these discouraging words I decided to visit the city for its modern architecture by Oscar Neimeyer and judge for myself.

My verdict: “Brasília is an ugly city that lacks a soul.”

Yet I stayed a midweek and enjoyed every single day. What happened?

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Meet the Baianas de Acarajé in Salvador da Bahia (Brazil)

Amidst a crowd of typical, T-shirts-and-jeans-wearing Brazilians, a black woman stood out. She wore an intricate, white, lace bodice covered with necklaces above a dark-blue, billowing skirt and a white piece of cloth artistically wrapped around her head. She was deep-frying some sort of snack.

Meet Salvador da Bahia’s famous Baianas de Acarajé.

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Hiking the Sugar Loaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

Hiking Sugarloaf Mountain and Urca Hill in Brazil

Thick traffic and having to watch my back had made me wary of Rio de Janeiro. But after a leisurely walk up the Sugar Loaf I took in the view and suddenly understood the spell that visitors as well as Cariocas (Rio de Janeiro’s residents) fall under.

And I wondered, what’s there not to fall in love with Rio de Janeiro?

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Bathing in Luxury at the Hotel Casa Gangotena in Quito

I was looking out over the Mediterranean dotted with a couple of sailing boats. Low rolling hills line the horizon. The image was framed by Corinthian columns covered in flowering vines. I felt as if I was on vacation in Greece, Italy, or Spain.

Did that make sense, with my being 9,350 feet above sea level, in Quito, Ecuador’s capital?

Not really.

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Exploring the Jesuit Estancias in Argentina

When in the 16th century the Jesuits came to Argentina, they founded schools and universities in Córdoba, an area today referred to as the Jesuit Block. In order to finance these institutions estancias were set up in the surrounding areas, where agriculture and cattle breeding prospered.

They became known as the Jesuit Estancias.

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Ouro Prêto on Foot, a UNESCO site in Brazil

Around 1700 gold was discovered in the state of Minas Gerais and in 1711 Vila Rica de Ouro Prêto (lit: ‘Rich City of Black Gold’) was founded. Thousands of slaves dug out the gold, which was taken to the town where it was weighed and melted into bars at Casas de Intendéncias (weighing stations).

Ouro Prêto became the epicenter of Brazil’s biggest gold rush.

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Strolling Brazil’s City of Tiles: São Luís

In the doorway stands an elderly man. Our eyes meet and I shake his hand.

“You are lucky to live in such a beautiful building. What an incredibly tiled façade your home has,” I comment.

Few cities in Brazil surprise me as São Luís does – Brazil’s capital of azulejos.

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