Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Trancoso and around
About five buses a day run from Arraial d'Ajuda to
TRANCOSO
, a more relaxed, chilled-
out backpacker resort. On foot it's a beautiful walk - 12km down the beach from Arraial
- but you have to ford a couple of rivers so be prepared to get wet. Some 25km south of
Trancoso,
Praia do Espelho
is another jaw-dropping strip of sand and offshore reef.
ACCOMMODATION
TRANCOSO AND AROUND
Mata N'ativa Pousada
Estrada do Arraial
T
73 3668
1830,
W
matanativapousada.com.br.
Offers lovely
accommodation in tropical gardens by a river; English,
Italian and French are spoken,
and th
ere are four rooms
with a/c and private bathrooms.
R$240
Pousada Enseada do Espelho
Praia do Espelho
T
73 3668 5091,
W
enseadadoespelho.com.br.
Luxury
accommodation, with drape-lined b
eds a
nd elegant
furnishings, cable TV, free wi-fi and a/c.
R$550
The Bahian sertão
he
BAHIAN SERTÃO
is immense: an area considerably larger than any European country
and constituting most of the land area of Bahia state. Much of it is semi-desert, with
endless expanses of rock and cactus broiling in the sun. But it can be spectacular, with
ranges of hills to the north and broken highlands to the west, rearing up into the
tableland of the great
Planalto Central
, the plateau extending over most of the state of
Goiás and parts of Minas Gerais. No part of the Bahian
sertão
is thickly populated, and
most of it is positively hostile to human habitation; in some places, no rain falls for years
at a stretch. By far the most popular route into the region is westwards along the BR-242,
which eventually hits the Belém-Brasília highway in Goiás: en route you'll pass the old
mining town of
Lençóis
, gateway to the staggering natural wonders of the
Chapada
Diamantina
- one of Brazil's best and most accessible trekking areas.
3
Lençóis
Some 425km west of Salvador,
LENÇÓIS
is an ex-mining town and the main tourist
centre in the Chapada Diamantina region. The name of the town, meaning “sheets”,
derives from the camp that grew up around a diamond strike in 1844. The miners,
too poor to afford tents, made do with sheets draped over branches. Lençóis is a
pretty little town, set in the midst of the spectacular Parque Nacional da Chapada
Diamantina (see p.244). Most of its fine old buildings date back to the second half of
the nineteenth century, when the town was a prosperous mining community, attracting
diamond buyers from as far afield as Europe.
The centre of the town, between two lovely squares, Praça Otaviano Alves and
Praça Horácio de Matos, is made up of cobbled streets, lined with well-proportioned
two-storey nineteenth-century houses with high, arched windows. On Praça Horácio,
the
Subconsulado Francês
, once the French consulate, was built with the money of the
European diamond-buyers, who wanted an of
ce to take care of export certificates.
Mercado Cultural
Praça Aureliano Sá • Mon-Sat 8am-6pm • Free
he
Mercado Cultural
, next to the bridge over the Rio Lençóis that runs through the
centre, is where most of the diamonds were sold and now houses craft stalls - it has
Italian- and French-style trimmings tacked on to make the buyers feel at home.
Salão das Areias
Local
artesanato
is very good, particularly the bottles filled with coloured sand arranged
into intricate patterns; get a guide to take you to the
Salão das Areias
on the outskirts of
town, where you can see the sand being gathered and put into bottles by local artisans.
