All museums in Belém appear to be closed, so off to the Brew Pub

Boat on the Rio Guajará with something (not sure what) in the foreground 

I think that before I arrived in Belém, knowing that it was in the Amazon basin, I was expecting the air to be thick with mosquitos and other bugs.  Almost like a heavy rain.  Thankfully, it's not.  So, stupidly, I forgot to Deet up when I went outside and now insect bites cover my arms.  Hopefully the percentage carrying yellow fever and that -- what's it called? -- chimichanga? virus -- is sufficiently low.

The bug content isn't as high as I feared, but the equatorial sun is even hotter.  It's like the intensity of the Las Vegas sun, combined with Washington, D.C., in July humidity.  So the thought of spending an afternoon in the air conditioned comfort of a museum -- any museum -- was very appealing.

So back to the museum district of Cidade Velha.

Side street near the Theatro da Paz

 It was a thankfully short walk.

Interesting building covered in these little blue tiles

 

Past the quay.

Praça do Relogio, I believe, but don't bet it all in Final Jeopardy based on that representation

I just wanted to find something open and air-conditioned.

This didn't lead to anything open or air-conditioned

Of course the Catedral da Sé would be closed. It's Sunday!

A man could work up a powerful thirst on such a quest.  So I decided to refresh myself with some coconut water.  We live in a place where coconut water is expensive, over-priced and comes in a bottle. In Brazil, it comes in a coconut.

Refreshment stand outside the Forte de Presépio

For three reaies, about $1.50, they chop off the top of the green coconut.

Opening up the coconut

And it's filled with a whole bunch of cold water with a slight coconut flavor.  There was more water inside than I was expecting. Not sure if it's available Harry Nilsson style, where they put the lime in the coconut (drink it all up).

Refreshed and fortified, I continued my quest:

Don't let the cars in front fool you. This museum is closed.

Even the museum of the history of Pará, the Brazilian state of which Belém is the capital, was closed. So there was only one thing left to do.  Off to the Brew Pub!  Off to the upscale Estação Das Docas for some upscale cuisine in an upscale Brew Pub.

Along the Rio Guajará at the Estação Das Docas

Some prefer dining al fresco. Me? I prefer the a/c.

The Amazon Beer Brew Pub had all the standard brew pub beer flavors:

Could be a brew pub anywhere in the states

I had the Red Ale Priprioca, which was mighty tasty to a thirsty man.

Remants of the Red Ale Priprioca

It was good.  Nothing special.  Nothing bad.  I had the Peixe Grelhado, or grilled fished.  I'm sure the use of the word "peixe," rather than referring to a specific fish, means they grilled up whatever got pulled from the waters that day.  Which sounded good to me.

Peixe grelhado with mashed potatoes

The mashed potatoes were herbed up with chives, which was good, but also had grape tomato halves all through them, which was not my idea of a mashed potato ingredient.  I do eat my tomatoes on every continent bur North America, so I ate these.  The tomatoes were crunchy and sweet and didn't ruin the taters.

For dessert?  Stout Açai, which was "fortified" with açai berry

A minha cerveja Stout Açai

It was less bitter than most stouts, so I would call that victory.  Then it was off for the real dessert.

The world-renowned Cairu ice cream stand

Cairu.  For ice cream.  Cairu has close to 50 flavors, mostly rain forest fruits that are ice cream flavors nowhere else that I know of.  I chose "Castanha do Pará," "the nut of Pará," which we call in the USA, "the Brazil nut."  In Brazil, the nut is tied to one specific state instead of the whole country.

Consider the Brazil nut.  It is awful in a bowl of Planter's mixed nuts.  As an ice cream flavor, however, it is AWESOME.  Beyond mere words.

Sun on the Rio Guajará

The sun was getting lower over the Rio Guajará.  Time to go back to my room and watch some USA vs. Portugal soccer.

The Elegant Decay of Belém (Part Dois)

Fishing boat moored alongside the Mercado do Ver-O-Peso

Here's my observation.  It's not particularly original, but it's the thought I'm thinking.

Rivers are the life blood of a city.  They really are.  Cities without rivers like plastic replicas of a real city.  Artificial.  This works for Las Vegas which is all about the artifice.  But it's what's missing from essentially soulless cities such as Atlanta or Dallas.  For this reason, we're drawn to the rivers of new cities.

Belém has impressive rivers, most significantly the massive Rio Guajará of the Amazon system.  Mercado do Ver-O-Peso is alongside the river.  It's not just a tourist attraction, it's a working market where fish, chickens, sausages, and fruits and vegetables from the Amazon are brought for sale.  I'm sure the Fishermen's Wharf section of San Francisco once served this same purpose.  I know the docks of Manhattan once did.

Mercado do Ver-O-Peso under an ominous sky 

Working boat at the quay, featuring decaying colonial buildings

Carrion at the quay (from a safe distance)

Carrion at the quay (up close and personal) 

You can tell that Mercado do Ver-O-Peso is a working market from the strong odor that would attract carrion fowl.  I also spared you the pictures of live animals for sale.  Those live chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs?  They weren't for sale as pets.

From the quay side, it was a short walk up the hill to Cidade Velha, the Old Town:

Straight up to the Catedral da Sé

This is the area with the highest concentration of tourist attractions in Belém.  And apparently they are occasionally open.  The Catedral da Sé?  Locked tight as the proverbial drum.  The Museu de Arte Sacra?  Closed for my convenience, or something or other said the sign.  I think it was closed for maintenance, but I could be wrong.  O meu português é péssimo.

It certainly looks nice.

Catedral da Sé

A religious figure important in the Portuguese history of Brazil

Igreja do Santo Alexandre e Museu de Arte Sacra

Fortunately, not all was closed in Cidade Velha.  The Forte de Presépio was open.  For the low low price of two reaies, I could tour the fort and a small museum about the conquest of the indigenous Amazonian tribes.

Entry into the Forte de Presépio

This will atone for the fact that I failed to tour the Fortaleza dos Reis Magos in Natal, although that may have been closed during the World Cup because of the nearby FIFA Fan Fest.

Looks like a military ship, likely decommissioned

The grounds of the fort were nice to walk.

Looking at the warship from the fort 

Big guns at the fort

Guns 'n rivers 

Two young brasileiros who wandering the fort grounds continually snapping selfies at all the viewpoints

Looking toward Ver-O-Peso from the fort

More big guns

From the roof of the fort

I was getting hungry.  Back to the Estação Das Ducas for some upscale dining for upscale mim.

The closest thing to an ADA compliant ramp that I've seen in all of Brazil

I love upscale dining in a mall food court atmosphere, so the restaurants of the Estação Das Ducas would be perfect pra mim.  I thought I had chosen Restaurante Lá em Casa, which is the #1 ranked restaurant in Belém according to TripAdvisor.com and I am an absolute slave to TripAdvisor rankings.  Turns out, I chose the restaurant right next to it, the Capone, an Italian restaurant.  All the restaurants in the Estação Das Ducas were having a lunch buffet and it was all so confusing.

My filhete grelhado, grilled fish, in a shrimp sauce, was incredible.  It might have been a buffet, but I had seconds of that.  The "risotto" was not really a risotto, as the rice was not a porridge consistency, but was dry, but the banana addition was delicious.

Grilled fish and a "risotto" made with bananas, along with a shrimp in cream sauce

I snapped the picture after I ate my Caesar Salad which, as you would expect from a fish-eating town, was HEAVY on the anchovies, which I had forgotten were a traditional part of the Caesar Salad.

But the greatest thing about eating inside the Estação Das Ducas?

Look up above the chafing dishes of the Capone buffet

Look again. It's getting closer.

It's right above me!

A band.  In a box.  On rails.  Moving overhead.

There is a band box on rails that rolls down the length of the building.  In the box was a live bossa nova combo, playing bossa nova songs such as "Pois é".  The box moved slowly, about one song each above each of the restaurants.  This is without any doubt one of the most awesome things I have ever seen in all my years.