Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
line of old walls to what's left of the Portuguese fortress, now nothing more than a
ruined shell with a few rusty cannons amid the palms. The walls along the way have
been restored, however, and the rest of the fort may receive the same treatment in the
future - it dates back to the 1630s, though what you see today was mostly constructed
in the 1750s. Just beyond the fort are the natural saltwater pools of the
Praia da Pedra
do Facho
, a great place to swim at high tide and rarely busy.
Praça Nossa Senhora da Luz and around
Tiroleza • Daily 10am-5.30pm • R$35 •
T
75 8183 9874,
W
tiroleza.com.br
At the top of the hill from the ferry dock is tiny
Praça Nossa Senhora da Luz
, where you
can carry on to the centre of town or turn left for the
Farol do Morro de São Paulo
(lighthouse). The plaza itself is dominated by the Neoclassical
Igreja
Nossa Senhora da Luz
,
built around 1845 over an earlier structure, with a simple but pretty interior of gold gilt
and a Chinese-style roof. The path up to the lighthouse is a short but steep climb through
the jungle, and the main reason for the hike is the viewpoint behind the 89m-high tower
(built in 1855 on the site of another old fort, but still in use and off limits). From here, the
whole of the beach strip is visible, often obscured however by the mobs of eager zipliners
lining up for the 70m-high
Tiroleza do Morro
that shoots 340m down to the beach.
3
Praça Aureliano Lima and Fonte Grande
The heart of Morro is pretty
Praça Aureliano Lima
, lined with restaurants and the
seventeenth-century
Casarão
(“big house”), once the home of the Portuguese captain of
the guard and where Dom Pedro II spent the night in 1859 - it's now the Pousada O
Casarão (see opposite). A
craft market
is held in the plaza every night (6pm-midnight).
Turn left for Rua Caminho da Praia, the main road to the beaches, which is also
crammed with shops and restaurants, or right for the
Fonte Grande
, the town's old
water source in a much quieter part of the town. The current Baroque fountain and its
domed cistern date from 1746.
The beaches
Five main beaches line the coast southeast of Praça Aureliano Lima and the town centre.
he
Primeira Praia
(aka Prainha), at the lower end of Rua Caminho da Praia, has a few
beach bars and cheapish accommodation, but isn't the nicest of the beaches and it's
worth heading five minutes further south to
Segunda Praia
(or Praia da Poca), popular
with the in-crowd from all over Brazil and boasting the island's best beach bars,
swimming and snorkelling. The boardwalk finally peters out at
Terceira Praia
(Praia da
Caeira), much narrower but pleasant and more laidback than Segunda Praia, with the
ocean lapping the edge of wooden beach bars when the tide is in. The long (and quite
glorious)
Quarta Praia
- divided into several sections around the headland from Terceira
Praia - is the least developed stretch of sand.
Praia do Encanto
is little more than an
extension of Quarta Praia, but has deeper natural pools. In the other direction,
southwest of the centre, lies a series of less busy beaches leading up to the village of
Gamboa
- you can walk here via the Fonte Grande or take a ferry from the main dock.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE MORRO DE SÃO PAULO
All ferries to Morro arrive at the main dock, just below the town centre. Just inside the grand eighteenth century Portaló
(sea gate) lies a ticket o
ce; you must pay the R$15 “
Taxa de Preservação Ambiental
” to enter the village. When you
leave by ferry, you must pass through the Cais do Porto on the pier itself to pay the R$0.81 “
Taxa de Embarque
” (don't
pay this coming in).
BY PLANE
It's possible to fly between Salvador airport and Morro, but by
chartered air taxi only; try Aerostar (
T
71 3377 1763,
W
aero
star.com.br) or Addey (
T
71 3204 1393,
W
addey.com.br).
BY BOAT
From Valença
Passenger ferries (call
T
75 3641 3011 for
information) chug between Valença and Morro every hour
(usually on the half hour) via Gamboa (R$3), costing R$8 and
