We explore Olinda small UNESCO center

We wake up naturally ( early…. ) and we are refreshed. We take our time for breakfast and getting ready before going out to explore the city on foot.

The historical center is fairly small and to visit, you mostly just stroll around and enjoy the atmosphere. During the day, it’s a sleepy little village – people go about their days, we hardly see any tourists on a Saturday. 

We walk to the opposite side of where we stay, intending to make our way back and stopping to see the few sights. Olinda was one of the first cities in Brazil and made its wealth from sugarcane business. It’s a Unesco listed village because it has a lot of colonial buildings dating 16th and 17th century. The city has been destroyed many times when the Dutch attacked and invaded – and after a while the nearby town of Recife took advantage and trade moved there instead. Olinda lost its importance in benefit of the neighbor. It’s a nice vantage point from the top of the hill, we can see Recife and the coastline, and the Old fort walls can be seen by the seaside. A lighthouse crest one side of the peninsular and is now barely higher than some tall trees.

We visit many churches, monasteries and convent – each visit doesn’t take more than 15 to 20min and the distances between them is minimal.

We wanted to visit one museum but it was closed, it was about the giant statues that parade during Carnival. It’s alright there is another one place to see them, it’s called Casa dos bonecos. We arrive at lunch and there is a small guided visit of the house in Portuguese. Alexis does understand part of it and we can enjoy the many glass fiber statues ranging from politicians, football players, super Mario or even bob Marley. The visit has two interesting interactions, one is the dancer. She performs for us a traditional carnival of Olinda dance and picks two of the group for them to try. She teaches a few moves and it’s good fun ! The second part of the visit, they pick one of the statue and shows how it’s placed on your head and shoulders – for the strong one, you can try to carry it too ! It’s between 18 and 20kg. Two Brazilians from the group attempt it.

There are a few more rooms in the small house to visit, filled with more statues of any genre and styles. The guide/owner of the house explains that in Olinda they try to keep the Carnival traditional, which means no speakers, techno music or modern music. Only orchestras and human played instruments are authorized – the large statues are also part of this traditional. Indeed, in the Salvador Casa do Carnaval, we saw some fiber statues but not as much and, in the videos,  I don’t recall seeing them – it was more trucks with large stereos and singers as well as dancers parading around. 

We go back up Alto do Sé to visit the church there and find lunch on one of the panoramic restaurants along the plaza. Then we wanted to backtrack to San Francisco’s convent, when we walk in front before, it said that it would reopen at 2pm, but it was closed when we came back…  We will try again tomorrow morning. 

As we walk back to the hostel, we pass by yesterday’s bar area and it’s completely closed and deserted. The city has two cycles during the day and by 5pm, half of the shops reopen. 
We also walk in to front of the city museum – we are unsure as there are not much information but since we are here, we might as well check it out. The museum is one house filled to the brim with donated precious exhibits found in the city: furniture, church statues, crystal chandeliers, precious porcelains and much more ! It’s a surprising mix of colonial artifacts, testament to the wealthy past of the city. It’s free, and guided. The lady many the counter is the same that does the visit and she spoke Spanish and Portuguese. Alexis could translate for me. She explains everything and makes there 3-4 rooms alive with stories. It’s not a long tour, probably 20 min, but it was interesting. 

We have been out and about almost the entire day and visited the whole city, minus the San Francisco’s convent. We go back to the hostel for some rest and to wait until nightfall.

We leave to go back into town after 7pm, and the city is a lot busier than last night. We make our way back to crossroads from yesterday. The blue building is now open and it’s the location where carnival orchestras are rehearsing – the street is full of music! People are about mingling and drinking on the street. There are a few stalls of grilled meat and a couple also selling caipirinhas. We find one of the rare plastic chairs and table left and enjoy the music, people watch and just the evening air. It’s a nice way to spend the evening. Few hours later, we start to feel hungry and there is a window restaurant selling sandwiches on the way back to our hostel.  Nice stop again, where we watch them getting a sanitary control while we wait for our order on (again) plastic chairs on the sidewalk. 

We had a good day in Olinda, it’s just the right little, quaint and quiet historical village to explore after  the previous bigger cities we stayed in.