Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SANTOS'S TOURIST TRAIN
Running right through Santos's historical centre, the
tourist tram
(Tues-Sun 11am-5pm;
weekdays half-hourly, weekends every 20min; R$5) is a slightly twee but popular way to see
the sights. The restored tram (
bonde
), originally brought over from Scotland in 1910, departs
regularly from Praça Mauá by Rua do Comércio and takes 15 minutes to do the 1.7km trip.
Santos
SANTOS
, one of Portugal's first New World settlements, was founded in 1535. Today it's
home to Latin America's largest port, through which passes a large proportion of the
world's coffee, sugar and oranges. The city stands partly on São Vicente island, its docking
facilities and old town facing landwards, with ships approaching by a narrow, but deep,
channel. In a dilapidated kind of way, the compact centre retains a certain charm that the
development of the enormous port complex has not yet extinguished. It's massively
popular with local tourists, and, although you may want to skip the rather murky
beaches, there is a good deal of historical and maritime interest around the city.
Rua do Comércio and around
In the centre you'll find the ruins of some of Santos's most distinguished buildings along
Rua do Comércio
. Although sometimes only the facades remain, some of the nineteenth-
century former
merchants' houses
that line the street are gradually being restored, the
elaborate tiling and wrought-iron balconies offering a hint of the old town's lost grandeur.
At the end of Rua do Comércio, in Rua São Bento, you'll find the old
train station
,
built between 1860 and 1867, and while the claim that it is a replica of London's
Victoria station is a bit di
cult to swallow, it is true the building wouldn't look too out
of place in a British town. Opposite, some of the old houses are being restored to house
a new
Pelé Museum
.
8
Igreja de Santo Antônio do Valongo
Rua Såo Bento 13 • Tues-Sat 8am-7pm • Free
Next to the old train station, the
Igreja de Santo Antônio do Valongo
was built in 1641
in colonial Baroque style, but with its interior greatly altered over the following
centuries; few of its original features remain. Another seventeenth-century church, the
Convento do Carmo
on Rua 15 de Novembro, likewise retains its Baroque facade, but
no original features inside.
Museu de Café
Rua XV de Novembro 95 • Tues-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 10am-5pm • R$7 •
W
museudocafe.org.br
he
Museu de Café
, charting the history of the coffee trade, is housed in the former
Bolsa de Café
(
coffee exchange), where coffee prices were once fixed, and the quality of
the beans assessed. The 1922 building still preserves its original fixtures.
Monte Serrat funicular railway
Praça Correia de Mello 33 • Daily 8am-8pm • R$23
To get a great view over the whole of Santos, head three blocks south from Rua do
Comércio to Praça Correia de Mello, where a very steep funicular railway pulls you
150m up
Monte Serrat
. You could save your cash and climb the steps, but that would
be missing half the fun.
Vila Belmiro Stadium
Rua Princesa Isabel 77 • Tues-Sun 9am-7pm • R$6, guided tour R$10 •
W
santosfc.com.br
The local
Santos Futebol Clube
is best known as the club for which the great Pelé
played for most of his professional life (from 1956 to 1974); their stadium, the
