Still in Salvador — An Elegant Sufficiency

Well, Isaaco had said the next stop would be equally breathtaking, if not more so…

My first photo of the interior of the Church and Convent of São Francisco shows how overwhelmed I was at first sight.

Once I'd got my breath back, had sat down and got the measure of this amazing place, I hoped I had a steadier hand! The ceiling was quite distinctive and so beautifully designed.

If anything, the gold was more lavishly applied than in the Cathedral and the exquisite artistry of the craftsmen was pointed out by Isaaco - not that we needed it to be pointed out. It was beautiful.

The patterns, the figures, the shapes…

And yes, those areas of blue and white tiles just hit the spot with me - very special indeed.

Looking back, away from the nave, we noticed two balconies up there, linked by the choir. Being here during a service must be quite an experience I would imagine.

For now, Isaaco pointed out one or two revealing details. Look closely at some of the figures, he said, for some are more accurate than is usual in such a place in their depiction of body parts! This shows the contempt the African artisans had for their wealthy patrons, he said. A closer look did indeed reveal one or two details that I’ve not seen in such a setting before!

Time to move on then, back through the old town, where things were getting a little warmer as we neared midday.

I had expected more of this kind of street sellers but actually, this was one of very few we saw.

Walking down through the Pelhourino area, Isaaco pointed out the Michael Jackson figure, for it was here he filmed the video for They don't care about us. Other musicians and artists have worked in this area too, though it was into the Museum of Gastronomy that we headed next.

It was a little tight in there, I was unclear what we were seeing and didn't take photos of the main exhibits. I couldn't resist snapping this wonderful drawing of a Baiana de Acarajé.

Back out on the street, a chap was painting a design onto a woman's leg in white paint. Isaaco had spoken of this earlier, had advised us against taking up any offer of such body painting because in his words “We don't know what they put in that paint”. We think this one was for a photo shoot and I would have liked to have taken a closer look, but we were headed downhill and with the uneven surfaces to manage as well, I didn't want to have to run to catch up.

These cobbles were incredibly tiring to walk on and even though we took the pavement where we could, there were places where we had no choice. Going downhill was especially precarious.

We were glad to reach our vehicle again then, driving straight back to the port in time for lunch. Isaaco had another group to take our on the same route in just ten minutes time - no rest for the wicked, eh?

Having taken that photo of the Cidade Alta perched high on the bluff, I looked again at the painting on the wall of our suite on board Voyager. I wonder where the artist took their inspiration from?

We really enjoyed our day in Salvador, were glad of Isaaco's excellent local knowledge and shepherding skills and will remember this World Heritage Site fondly. It's quite a contrast to the next port of call, Maceio, where we had planned to visit one of the renowned beaches.

We weren't scheduled to arrive until 11am, so spent the morning catching up on one or two things, including making a decision to cancel our beach tour this afternoon. With temperatures forecast to be in the high 30s (Celsius), combined with the humidity that sounded pretty beastly. The tour we'd booked included four and a half hours beach time and without knowing if there'd be any shade, we feared turning into a couple of crisps, in spite of SPF50.

Our guidebook was dismissive of downtown Maceio, but nevertheless we thought we'd take the shuttle bus in and take a look around. We may not come this way again!

So we watched the local fishermen (and tried to work out what those strange paddle things were), felt pleased not to be rushing out on a tour and in our own time, went off and jumped on a shuttle bus.

First question, should I go back and put some make up on? 😉🤣

The bus went at an exceptioally slow pace and the odd photo snapped through the window made me question the description of this city in my guide book. Perhaps it was going to prove to be an interesting place to spend an hour or two after all?

Well, the shuttle bus stop was at this market, beyond which was the town beach, we learned. My Hero, decisive as ever, decided he'd not seen anything to tempt him out of an air conditioned environment and decided to stay on the shuttle back to the ship. I thought that I would at least take a look in the market - after all, I might miss out on something spectacular!

Well, sadly, I wouldn't have missed out at all. I wandered around the marketplace, looked at cute baby clothes but knew that Arthur had plenty to wear (and I couldn't understand the phrases printed on them anyway),

The souvenirs reminded me of all those things we'd just had to clear from our home before the building works began. All of that is far too recent a memory to even think about collecting such things again! I needed nothing here, so made my way back to the front of the market and looked out towards the shuttle stop, where a bus was waiting. Time to go.