This week we took a bus up the coast to Recife. The busses here are very comfortable. The seats almost fully recline, each passenger is given a bag of food for the trip, along with a blanket and pillow and movies are shown. It almost has the feel of being on a plane. The nice busses make these long bus journeys throughout the country very easy.
We arrived in Recife on Sunday and spent the day walking through the big city park and then explored the beach. Recife is a big city and we were only there for a day, so I don’t have much to say about it.
On Tuesday we went to a local travel agency and booked a four day trip to the island of Fernando do Noronha to start later in the week. Afterwards we headed for the suburban town of Olinda, where we have been for the past 3 nights.
Olinda is an old colonial town about 30 km outside of Recife. Our guidebook describes this city as one of the best remaining colonial towns in Brazil. Evidence of its European influence can be seen in the numerous churches and cobblestone streets. The temperature here as been really hot. We have not been able to spend more than an hour each day exploring the old city because of the fierce sun. We spent most of the daytime reading in the pousada. During the night we explored the city a bit.
Today we leave for Fernando do Neronha. This is a volcanic island that lies a few hundred miles off the coast of Brasil.