NORTHEAST BRAZIL - Brazil - page 230

View of the small chapel in the central courtyard of the Forte dos Reis Magos
Natal 5
Rio Grande do Norte. * 710,000.
k @ n Centro de Turismo, (084)
3211 6149. _ Carnatal (Dec).

gifts. The Dutch occupied the
fort in 1633, upgrading it into
its current five-pointed
formation before turning it
back over to the Portuguese
in 1654. Access to the fort is
via a narrow pedestrian
walkway. At high tide, the
fort is cut off from land by
the waves. Visitors have
the full run of the fort,
from garrisons and mess
hall to the high ramparts,
which offer terrific views
of the city skyline.
Natal was never a large
trading center, and there
are few historic
buildings. The city's 19th
century penitentiary has
been converted into the
Centro de Turismo , a show-
case for regional arts and
crafts. Each of the dozens
of prison cells along four
corridors has been
transformed into a shop
selling leatherwork,

hammocks, lace, and figurines
from northeastern folk
festivals. A restaurant and a
cafeteria offer some regional
dishes. On Thursday evenings,
the courtyard of the old
prison becomes an outdoor
dance hall, as the center
plays host to forró com o
turista , an evening of
forró dancing, with live
music and instructors on
hand to help shy and
left-footed foreigners
with the dance steps.
Most visitors to Natal
stay in Ponta Negra , a
waterfront neighborhood
in a modern part of
the city featuring a lovely
long beach with good waves
for surfing. At the far end of
the beach the Morro do
Careca, a towering 390-ft
(120-m) sand dune, is now
off-limits to climbers because
of the danger of erosion.
On the coast between
the old downtown and the
modern parts of Natal there
stands the Parque das Dunas ,
a 12-sq mile (6-sq km) reserve
of coastal dunes. The park
has several trails, but can
only be visited with a guide.
( Centro de Turismo
Rua Aderbal de Figueiredo 980.
Tel [phone]. # 9am-7pm
daily. 7
P Forte dos Reis Magos
Praia do Forte. Tel [phone].
# 8am-4:30pm daily. &
Y Parque das Dunas
Av Alexadrino de Alencar s/n.
Tel [phone]. # 8am-6pm
Tue-Sun. & 8

Natal is a pleasant, modern,
and safe city, increasingly
sought out as a sunshine
destination for winter-weary
Europeans. Natal has several
attractions, including beautiful
beaches, dune buggy rides,
unusual sand art, and an
incredible nightlife.The city
and its most famous land-
mark, Forte dos Reis Magos ,
date back to December 25,
1598, when the Portuguese
established a fort and
settlement at the mouth of the
Rio Potengi. In honor of the
season, the city was named
Natal, the Portuguese word
for Christmas. The fort was
named after the three wise
kings of the east who had
traveled to Bethlehem bearing

Sand art in
bottle

FORRÓ
According to local legend, the
musical style known as forró is
said to have been inspired by
visiting foreigners. In the early
days of World War II, the
Americans created a massive air
base near the city. Locals invited
the American airmen to their
parties, and to make sure they felt
welcome they put up signs
proclaiming that simplified dances
with a two-step rhythm, were “for
all.” The label stuck to the musical
style, though in common speech
“for all” became forró .

Couples dancing to the
lively music of forró

For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp379-81 and pp405-406