Salvador de Bahia – Part 1

5th – 6th April 2008

The Linha Verde bus that took us to Salvador wasn’t the only thing that was green… too many home made Mojitos and a Strawberry Daiquiri meant that Sam was feeling the pain as we boarded the bus. It wasn’t exactly the express bus we’d expected, but it was comfortable and the service at bus stops, cans of ice cold beer sold through the windows is something that National Express could learn from!

Salvador, the third largest city in Brasil, is the capital of the state of Bahia, dubbed ‘Africa in exile’ for its mixture of African and European. Often referred to as Bahia rather than Salvador, the city is home to a heady mix of colonial buildings, beautiful beaches, African culture, pulsating musical rhythms* and a rasta guy we’ll call Bob and tell you about later...

3 hours later, we arrived at the Rodaviaria, and expected to be mobbed as we got off the bus, with offers of taxis into town… it was very quiet and we got a proper taxi from the official stand. He even put the meter on without us prompting! The journey seemed very pleasant, until a car drew up next to us, hooting its horn and gesturing for us to pull over… We looked at each other and thought one thing… HIJACK!!!

Turns out Sam’s door wasn’t closed properly. What helpful people!

The taxi driver didn’t know where our hostel was… we found it eventually by chance. The hostel owner greeted us and informed us that the Tourist Police were on strike for 3 days, and that we should be extra careful on the streets… she then showed us to our small, cramped, stuffy bunk room… how we missed Praia do Forte. Time to get out and explore – but is it safe?!

We’ll post up more pictures of Salvador soon – we didn’t take the digital camera out as it was likely to be stolen – we have a disposable camera… can’t wait to get it developed!

Sam’s friend Nicky flew into Salvador on Saturday evening and we took a bus to the airport to meet her. We sat outside under the runway and watched her plane come in to land. Nicky had also flown from Madrid with Air Europey, but this time it was a proper big aeroplane. Sam was very excited by the loud roar of the engines. I was concerned. I thought I was the geek.

The next day we decided to take a bus into the Pelourinho, the historic centre of Salvador. For a short time we thought we were back in England as the heavens opened whilst we waited for our bus. This didn’t feel like a tropical rainstorm either but more like the cold drizzle we all know and love :-/

We sought shelter in the nearest public building. As this was a Sunday and many places were shut we found ourselves in a museum hosting an exhibition of Buddhist relics. To Nicky and Sam’s horror we were ushered through the doors and sat down to watch a poorly dubbed DVD about the relics before being asked to remove our shoes for a chance to see the relics for ourselves…and to have a blessing from a monk! Ady agreed…we all suspected he had an ulterior motive, which turned out to be true – he wished for safe travels and immunity from the mosquitoes!!! Poor little lamb has already been bitten to death! Nicky and Sam had by this point made a rather hasty exit!

After several hours of sightseeing and street-seller avoidance (we were hassled non-stop and it was getting tiresome) we were thirsty. Nicky wanted a beer and spotted a bar selling what hopefully would be cheap beer. The guy who owner the bar had a barbeque going in the street, in an old car wheel. He was cooking food for his family and friends. There wasn’t another tourist in sight; we were guessing they may have been intimidated by the locals!

We stumbled inside and tried to explain that we only had R$10, and asked how much the small plastic cups of beer that all the locals were drinking were. R$2.50 was the reply, and a table was quickly put together for us in the street. Out came a large bottle of Bramha, and 3 cups… we paid and it was only R$2.50 for the bottle! The woman who owned the bar was like a Big Momma… from the moment we sat down we were made to feel part of the family. Not one street seller hassled us there (I think they might have been scared to!) and soon we were offered some food from the BBQ – some delicious lamb skewers and liver – free local food – what a find! We ordered another bottle of beer, this time it was only R$2.00! We’ve got some pictures, which we’ll get developed and post up soon! The locals seemed pleased that we had strayed away from the tourist bars, and joined them to enjoy ourselves their way.

Time to head for the bus home, by now we barely had our bus fare home left. We promised we would return on Tuesday for another drink and said our goodbyes.


After hearing of a concert going on in the Atlantic Suburbs, we caught a bus up the coast to see what was going on. Before we could enjoy the music, we needed some food. A Churrascaria offering all you can eat was the best thing we could find… the food was excellent but we didn’t really do it justice – the Brazilians certainly know how to eat!

The concert was rock music – we spent more time people watching than looking at the band and decided to call it a night at around 10pm – Nicky was feeling jet lagged and we were all ready for bed… all that remained was to get a bus home…

It said Farol de Barra on the front – but didn’t mention how it got to the Farol de Barra… round the houses on a magical mystery tour. The driver was a maniac, even so, at one point Nicky managed to fall asleep sitting up. Then he came to a bus stop and stopped with the usual Brazilian braking technique. There was a bang as Nicky’s head hit the seat in from of her! That certainly woke her up! An hour later we approached our stop… from the wrong direction. At least we were home!
*from our guidebook