Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
INTO THE SERTÃO
In contrast to the gentle scenery of the coastal routes out of Recife, heading
inland
brings you
abruptly into a completely different landscape, spectacular and forbidding. The people, too,
look and speak differently; the typical
sertanejo
is short and wiry, with the high cheekbones
and thin nose of an Indian ancestor. They converse in heavily accented Portuguese, one of the
loveliest Brazilian inflections. If you rent a car you can make a fascinating
loop through
interior Pernambuco and Paraíba
between Recife and João Pessoa - and although you
can also take buses, it will take you much longer.
PERNAMBUCO
•
Bezerros
(105km west of Recife). Home of renowned
cordel
artist and printer,
Jota Borges
,
who has a small museum and showroom, Memorial J. Borges & Museu da Xilogravura on
BR-232 Km 106 (Mon-Fri 8am-5.30pm & Sat 8am-noon; free;
T
81 9214 0410).
•
Caruaru
(30km west of Bezerros). Home of the largest market in the Northeast (Feira de
Caruaru; daily 6am-5pm), the largest
forró
festival (Festa de São João, held in June), and the
Museu do Barro e do Forró (Tues-Sat 8am-5pm, Sun 9am-1pm; R$2), a homage to local
ceramic arts and Luiz Gonzaga, the godfather of
forró
.
•
Alto do Moura
(7km from Caruaru). Every other house on the only street, Rua Mestre
Vitalino, is a potter's workshop, with kilns resembling large beehives in the yards behind. The
home of the master of the craft, Mestre Vitalino (1909-63), is now the Museu Casa do Mestre
Vitalino (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 9am-noon; free), housing tools, personal effects and some
of his works (his son Severino looks after the place). Bode Assado do Luciano at Rua Mestre
Vitalino 511 (Mon-Fri 11am-4pm, Sat & Sun 11am-6pm) is the best place to try the regional
specialities, roasted goat and
buchada
, goat casserole.
•
Nova Jerusalém
(at Brejo da Madre de Deus, 90km northwest of Caruaru). Truly bizarre: a
granite replica of the old city of Jerusalem (a third of the size), built in the 1960s by a local
entrepreneur to host an annual Passion of Christ performance. Thousands come to watch five
hundred costumed actors re-create the Passion on twelve stages, each representing a Station
of the Cross. The play is performed daily from the Tuesday before Easter to Easter Sunday.
•
Parque Nacional do Catimbau
(170km west of Nova Jerusalém). Exotic sandstone
formations including the Sítio de Alcobaça, hundreds of 2,000-year-old cave paintings, and
the wild landscapes of the
caatinga
. Arco Verde is the nearest town.
•
Serra Talhada
(163km northwest of Catimbau): Visit the town where Lampião, the king of
cangaço
(bandits), was born in 1897, taking in the Museu do Cangaço in the old train station
(Mon-Fri 8.30am-noon & 2-5.30pm, Sat 8am-noon; free).
CEARÁ
•
Juazeiro da Norte
(200km northwest of Serra Talhada). The main centre of the deep
sertão
,
famed for being the home of a young priest, Padre Cícero Romão Batista, who is said to have
performed miracles in the 1890s and came to be seen as a living saint: thousands come on a
massive pilgrimage on July 20 each year to his tomb in Nossa Senhora do Perpétuo Socorro,
his statue on the hill that looks down on the town (topped with a chapel and a museum of
ex votos), and his house, signposted from the church where he is buried.
PARAÍBA
•
Sousa
(190km northeast of Juazeiro). Home to one of the Northeast's more unusual sights,
the Vale dos Dinosauras (
W
valedosdinossauros.com.br). “Dinosaur Valley” was formed by the
sedimentary basin of the Rio Peixe where various prehistoric reptiles left their footprints,
preserved in stone, at 32 sites in the area around the town.
•
Lajedo da Pai Mateus
(300km southeast of Sousa). Area with some of the most enigmatic
rock formations anywhere, including the “
feijao da caatinga
”, giant granite boulders, but also
the pyramid-like slabs of Sacas de Lá.
•
Campina Grande
(70m east of Pai Mateus). Best known for its market, held every
Wednesday and Saturday, the Museu de Arte Assis Chateaubriand (Tues-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat &
Sun 2-6pm; free), crammed with Brazilian modern art, and its festivals (the Fest São João in
June and its out-of-season Carnaval, the Micarande, held in late April).
•
Pedra do Ingá
(Ingá, 40km east of Campina and 110km west of João Pessoa). Huge rock
(15m by 3m) smothered in beautiful petroglyphs, a mind-bending 6000 years old.
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