Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
EATING AND DRINKING
★
Café da Gente
Av Ivo do Prado 398
T
79 3246 3186.
This stylish café and bar (at the Museu da Gente) offers a
tranquil escape from the city, with a pleasant patio, excellent
espresso, snacks and light meals.
Tues-Sun 10am-8pm.
★
your bill).
Mon-Thurs 11.30am-4pm & 6-11.30pm, Fri
& Sat 11.30am-11.30pm, Sun 11.30am-10pm.
Cumbuca
Rua Pacatuba 113
T
79 3211 9122.
Clean,
compact and modern choice for a hearty buffet lunch
downtown, with rates from around R$29/kg. Usually offers
feijoada
on Fri.
Mon-Fri 11.30am-3.30pm.
Point do Coelho
Praça Olímpio Campos
T
79 9858
1777.
This simple kiosk in the main plaza is the best place
to grab a cold drink or snack in the
centro histórico
. Often
features live music in the evenings, or football on the TV.
Mon-Sat 11am-10.30pm.
República dos Camarões
Av Santos Dumont
T
79 3255 3361,
W
republicadoscamaroesne.com.br.
Seafood specialist with a focus on shrimps served in a
range of tempting combos; try the
camarão a quatro
queijos
(shrimp with four cheeses). Reckon on R$50/head
.
Tues-Fri
Cariri
Av Santos Dumont, Atalaia
T
79 3243 1379,
W
cariri-se.com.br.
The most famous restaurant along the
“Passarela do Caranguejo” (“crab passage”), a sort of
homage to the
sertão
known not just for their Northeastern
cuisine but also boisterous
forró
shows, live music and
dancing that takes place at the back in the
Casa de Forró
(Thurs, Fri & Sun from 10pm).
Daily 10am-5am.
Churrascaria Sal e Brasa
Av Santos Dumont, Atalaia
T
79 3255 1644,
W
salebrasa.com.br.
This steakhouse
chain offers excellent value, with weekday dinner buffets
just R$29.90. Includes salads, hot dishes and sushi, in
addition to the usual mounds of roast meat (everything
from steak to wild boar and pheasant). Sometimes a
pianist entertains customers (R$2 cover will be added to
noon-3pm
&
6-11pm,
Sat
&
Sun
noon-midnight.
DIRECTORY
Internet
Try Centernet at Rua João Pessoa 64 (daily
10am-9pm); minimum R$1/15min; R$2/30min, R$4/hr.
Money and exchange
HSBC has two branches in the city
(Rua Estancia 168 at Pacatuba; and in the Shopping Center
Jardins), while Bradesco and Santander have branches on
Praça Olímpio Campos.
Post o
ce
Rua Apulcro Mota 433 (Tues-Fri 9am-5pm,
Sat 8.30am-noon).
4
Laranjeiras
Dominated by hills crowned with old
engenho
(mill) chapels, the pleasantly decrepit
town of
LARANJEIRAS
is a languid colonial relic on the Rio Cotinguiba, a reminder of
the time when sugar made the
sergipano
coast one of the most strategically valuable
parts of Brazil. Today it's little more than a sleepy backwater some 20km north of
Aracaju, littered with half-ruined mansions and churches, though restoration is gearing
up as tourism develops and it boasts a couple of small but enticing museums. With
little in the way of accommodation, and eating generally restricted to snack stalls, make
this a day-trip from the capital.
Praça Matriz
The heart of town is
Praça Matriz
(aka Praça Dr. Heráclito Diniz Gonçalves), an
elegantly faded square ringed by low-rise o
cial buildings. The grand Baroque
Igreja
Matriz Sagrado Coração de Jesus
dates from 1791 (though most of what you see today
was completed around 1905).
Museu de Arte Sacra
Praça Matriz 39 • Tues-Sun 10am-5pm • R$2 •
T
79 3281 2486
On the main plaza, housed in a mansion built for the Sobral Franco family in the
1890s, the
Museu de Arte Sacra
contains a small collection of religious art, statues and
paintings culled from churches in the area.
Museu Afro-Brasileiro and around
Rua José do Prado Franco 19 • Tues-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat & Sun 1-5pm • R$2 •
T
79 3281 2418
The illuminating
Museu Afro-Brasileiro
chronicles slave life on the sugar plantations in
the region up to emancipation in 1888, as well as highlighting aspects of Candomblé
religion. The Neoclassical building itself was completed in the nineteenth century for
