Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Niterói and around
Across the strait from Rio, at the mouth of Guanabara Bay, lies
NITERÓI
, founded in
1573, and until 1975 the capital of the old state of Guanabara. Though lacking the
splendour of the city of Rio, Niterói, with a population of half a million, has a busy
commercial centre, an important museum and lively nightlife.
Cariocas
sometimes
sneer that the only good thing about Niterói is its views back across Guanabara Bay
to Rio, and it's true that the vistas are gorgeous on a clear day, but Niterói has a lot
more to offer, not least for admirers of the work of Brazilian modernist architect
Oscar Niemeyer
.
Teatro Popular
Caminho Niemayer • Daily 9am-5pm; guided tours (in Portuguese or English) every 30min • Free •
W
teatropopularoscarniemeyer.art.br
Just north of Niterói's ferry terminal, and right by the bus station, a small group of
Oscar Niemayer's buildings includes his 2007
Teatro Popular
, with jolly tiled murals,
and flowing lines that echo the shape of Sugar Loaf Mountain. Close by is Niemayer's
low-domed memorial to the popular state governor
Roberto Silveira
, who died in a
helicopter crash in 1961, and the higher dome of the
Fundação Oscar Niemayer
, which,
seen from above (or on Google Maps), takes the form of an eye.
Ilha da Boa Viagem
A couple of kilometres south of central Niterói, the
Ilha da Boa Viagem
, connected to
the mainland by a causeway leading from Vermelha and Boa Viagem beaches, is open
to the public only on irregular occasions. When accessible, it offers excellent views
across to Rio, as well as the ruins of a 1663 fort guarding the entrance to the bay and
a small seventeenth-century chapel.
Museu de Arte Contemporânea
Av Almirante Benjamin Sodré • Tues-Sun10am-6pm (closing at 7pm on weekends in summer) • R$4, free on Wed •
W
macniteroi.com.br
Oscar Niemeyer's
Museu de Arte Contemporânea
, more commonly just MAC, opened
in 1996 on a promontory south of central Niterói by the Praia da Boa Viagem. The
flying-saucer-shaped building offers a 360-degree perspective of Niterói and across the
bay to Rio and hosts a worthy, though not very exciting, exhibition of late twentieth-
century Brazilian art, as well as temporary exhibitions, which are rarely of much
interest. Instead, the real work of art is the building itself, whose curved lines are
simply beautiful. The views of the headland, nearby beaches and Guanabara Bay as
you walk around inside are breathtaking.
The beaches
Niteroí's beaches, reached from the centre along the beautiful bayside road by bus
#33, are every bit as good as those of Rio's Zona Sul. The first you come to after
the Museu de Arte Contemporânea is
Icaraí
, with the last at
Jurujuba
, where the
bus terminates.
São Francisco Xavier
Between Icaraí and Jurujuba beaches, just 600m from the Charitas ferry terminal,
is a pretty, seventeenth-century colonial church,
São Francisco Xavier
. It opens rather
irregularly, but the priest lives next door and will usually open it up on request.
