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.

The Elegant Decay of Belém (Part Um)

A boat plies the waters of Rio Guajará

Belém is a port city in an elegant state of decay.  How could it not to be?  It is very wet and rainy city with high humidity.  Its golden age was more than 100 years ago, during the rubber boom, but the city is over 400 years old.  It is the Atlantic port of the Amazon River. It is located on an estuary of the Amazon, rather than the Amazon itself, but the rivers are huge in these parts.

Why come to Belém?  Two reasons.  Even in its state of decay, it is still a beautiful city with a great history and the famous Ver-O-Peso ("see the weight") market.  And it is the center for Amazonian-Brazilian cuisine, where the flavors of the Amazonian rain forest are brought forth to the rest of the world.  And sometimes these great rain forest flavors are turned into ice cream.  But more on that later.

This is my walking tour of the reclaimed port area, the Ver-O-Peso market, and the Cidade Velha of Belém.  Apparently there's a modern city here, too, but who cares about that?

First, the area around the guesthouse where I am staying, the Residencia Karimbo Amazonia.

The view down Travessa Piedade

It is B&B.  The owner, who is French (note the partially hidden tri-color being flown out front), rents a few rooms in his residence.  I would highly recommend the place to you the next time you are in Belém.

The Residencia Karimbo Amazonia 

From there it is a short walk to the river:

I think this is a banyan tree, but I'm no arborist

Lots of statuary and beautiful old colonial style buildings:

Meet Pedro Teixeira

That man is Pedro Teixeira, the first European to travel the length of the Amazon.  That's an impressive feat.

Alongside the Rio Guajará, or Guajará Bay which, technically, count as the waters of the Amazon (system)

The area alongside the river here has been beautifully developed.  The old port buildings have been re-purposed into Estação Das Docas, a complex of shops and upscale restaurants.  Normally, I'm not one for "upscale" restaurants, but when it comes to Amazonian-Brazilian cuisine, I'm guessing I'm going to prefer the more "upscale version"

Outside the Estação Das Docas

 They even kept the old port cranes for atmosphere.

Still outside the Estação Das Docas

Selfie along the waters of Rio Guajará

They even have a brew pub in the Estação Das Docas, for Amazon Beer, that's how upscale it is:

Amazon Beer brew pub

Amazon Beer brew pub, note the copper vats

From there, it was onto the more traditional, more historic, Ver-O-Peso, translated alternately as "See The Weight," or "Check The Weight".

This is where you get tour boats to explore the river:

Touring boat docked

I'm guessing this small little boat is for day-trippers, but I'm not sure.

The dining section of the tent section next to Ver-O-Peso

This is where real Belém eats, not in the upscale Estação Das Docas.  There looked to be a lot of grilled chicken (frango) being eaten in there, which I could handle, but I wimped out and opted for the upscale buffet dining in air-conditioned comfort (a lifesaver given the humidity levels in this city). Note that the Ver-O-Peso has grown so huge that the old building can't contain all the market stalls.  There is a tented section between the Ver-O-Peso and the upscale Estação Das Docas.

My favorite part of the Ver-O-Peso was the fruit section.  Some of the fruits were familiar-looking.  After all, Belém is known as the "Mango City" and I know what a mango looks like.

Fruit market

But the fruit market smelled great.

And, finally, the blue spires of Ver-O-Peso:

Various views of the Ver-O-Peso

This a real working market and not a tourist attraction.  Tourist souvenirs are sold in tents between this and the Estação Das Docas.

From here I walked to the Cidade Velha.  But my battery is getting low (actually and metaphorically), so I will stop here and post Part Dois later.

Say good-bye to Natal

Dune buggy and the Ponte Newton Navarro, the signatures of Natal

Natal was the perfect place to watch a few World Cup group stage games.  Sure, it rained a lot in the City of the Sun, but it's the winter and what little rain they get in Natal they get in the winter.  The people were incredibly friendly and absolutely thrilled to host the world.  (Well, hosting Mexico, the USA, Ghana, Italy, Japan, Cameroon, Uruguay and Greece.)

Watching the games was exhausting as each game trip was a seven or eight hour ordeal, fighting traffic to get to the stadium three hours in advance.  Fighting traffic for two or more hours to get home.  Between that and the rain, it did not leave much time for typical tourism, such as a dune buggy ride (which is supposed to be THE thing to do in Natal), or walking the nature trails of the Parque das Dunas (walking to the stadium and back four times was enough of a walking tour), or, and this last option I found out about way too late, a camel ride through the dunes.

These are not the camels you can ride, although, perhaps, the fire extinguisher might come in handy

My flight was scheduled to leave at 5:00PM.  Or so I thought.  This left only enough time for two trips to the airport.  Had I known a trip to the airport would be such an adventure, I'd have gone once.  But the airport was 30 miles away.  Google maps said it was an hour to get there.  It took us two.  Google maps directed us onto some amazingly small, crowded streets in towns outside of Natal.  I got Steve to the airport well in advance of his 11:50AM flight back to the USA via Fortaleza, Rio and Miami.  I headed back to the hotel and got lost in the Alecrim neighborhood.

I got back to the hotel, showered, packed and checked out.  I was on my way at 1:15PM for the one-hour 30-mile trip to Natal airport.

Along the Via Costeira

I took the beach road, the Via Costeira, because it was supposed to be the best way.  I got to the airport at 3:15PM, which is still no problem because my flight to Belém was leaving at 5:00PM, right?  Two problems.  First, Natal's airport is brand new.  It only opened three weeks ago.  There are no signs as to where to return rental cars.  I must parked in the regular parking lot.  Second problem, when I got my luggage out of the rental car, I rechecked my itinerary.  My flight was leaving at 4:00PM.

There was a huge line at the Avis/Budget rental counter.   Mostly Uruguayos, from what I could tell. coming in town early for the Italy/Uruguay game that will conclude the Natal portion of the World Cup.  I waited about one minute, remembered that check-in took about 30 minutes per person, and barged to the front.  The guy trying to pick up a car very politely allowed me to go ahead when I said I was running very late because my flight was leaving in 45 minutes.  He was the only one at the whole counter who spoke English.

I got the car returned in 10 minutes.  Then it was off to ticketing.  Another huge line.  But there was another part of the line with no line.  First class?  Frequent flyers?  I don't care.  I barged to the front.  A couple from Japan also were in panic right behind me, but relaxed when they found out they weren't the only ones with the two-hour 30-mile trek to the airport.

The plane was running a little late, so I had time for a cold beverage (Guaraná Antarctica) and was soon on the flight to Belém via Fortaleza and São Luís.  Yes, it was like taking a Greyhound bus through the sky.  But the layovers were short.

Good-bye Natal.

Natal skyline

Japan v. Greece: Why people who hate soccer hate soccer

Japan's Samurai Blue blew it

Quinta-feira, Thursday, was the last of the World Cup games for this World Cup trip.  And it was the perfect game on which to end the soccer viewing part of this trip:  Japão contra Grécia nas Arenas das Dunas in beautiful downtown Natal (actually, south of downtown).

We had been lucky so far with the games we saw.  Mexico 1, Cameroon 0, featured far more action and excitement than you would expect from a one-goal game.  Ivory Coast 2, Japan 1, in Recife was fantastic if for no other reason than to see the bolt of electricity shoot through Ivory Coast when they scored two quick goals immediately upon substituting their talisman-star Didier Drogba. And USA 2, Ghana 1, was an absolute classic, made even better by knowing the eyes of America were finally on USA international soccer.

This game would have none of that.

Pregame practice

Arenas Das Dunas once again was looking great.  And the opening ceremonies are always well done.

Japan and Greece come out onto the pitch

Then the game started.

Getting ready for the opening kick

The crowd was largely made up of two groups.  Japaneses.  And Japan-o-philic Americans who stayed over after Monday's Ghana to cheer on Japan.  The Japanese had completely taken over Natal by game day.  Which meant no seats at the upscale shrimp restaurants.   More on that later.

Japan, known as the Samurai Blue, were in fact wearing blue.  The Greeks were in Corinthian Column White.  Which is fitting because Greece plays like Corinthian Columns.  They are these giants, towering over the Japanese, who play an almost immobile, impenetrable defense in front of their own goal and rarely (if ever) play offense.  Not only is not exciting soccer.  Greece is then precise reason that people who hate soccer hate soccer.

Well look at that! A shot on goal!

Occasionally Japan would maneuver through the tight defense.  And the crowd would go wild:

The crowd.  Going wild.

In the second half, down to 10 men and desperate to get a win in this game to keep their World Cup hopes alive, Greece even went on offense.

Greece on offense

And the crowd went wild.

The crowd. Still wild.

The game was coming down to the wire, with both teams desperately needing the win:

Japan tries to play Greek-style defense

And the crowd went wild:

Still wild. After all these minutes.

Actually, I'm being unfair.  The Japanese crowd was wildly enthusiastic throughout the game.  It's just a shame that they traveled all this way for a nil-nil tie.  Mexico and Brazil had played a 0-0 draw a few days earlier that was absolutely as exciting as sports gets. Sometimes 0-0 doesn't mean "no action," sometimes it means out-of-this-world defense.  Japan-Greece?  It meant boring soccer.

It looked like a father-son game with Japan the sons.  They were so much smaller than the Greeks, and yet they tried to score with headers off set pieces when their advantage was maneuverability close to the ground.  I'm guessing both of these teams go home after group play.

And with the closing whistle the World Cup soccer portion of this trip has ended.  Four games were great, but a fifth would've been too much.  If I do this in 2018, I will set a three-game limit.  And with the closing whistle, it meant it was time to walk back to the car, parked at Shopping Natal.  And of course the walk would be in the rain.  But the rain was brief and not at all hard.  It ended well before we got to Shopping Natal.

One of the great things about Shopping Natal is that it has an upscale fine dining restaurant right in the mall food court:  Camarões.

Camarões Shopping Natal location

Tripadvisor.com rated Camarões the first and second best restaurants in Natal (two locations).  Since the shrimp-loving Japanese were in town, we could not get a seat at the location closest to our hotel.  Then I remembered Camarões had a location at Shopping Natal.  I thought it would be a regular restaurant.  No.  You order at the counter and, 10 or 15 minutes later your beeper goes off telling you you can pick up your food.  On china.  With silverware.  In a mall food court.  It was AWESOME.  Without a doubt, it was the finest meal I ever ate in a mall food court.

And with the World Cup portion of the trip coming to a conclusion, the Natal part of the trip has come to a conclusion.  Friday will be a travel day.  Off to Belém.