RIO STATE
would you believe? We found a budget Italian café for a reasonable tea and then retired for an evening with the Yahtzee dice in our room.
The next day was our only full day in Petropolis and we were up for a full day of sightseeing. First though we had to reserve our hostel for the next destination, Teresopolis. It’s funny how the place names in this part of Brasil sound rather Greek! Anyway this was our first attempt at speaking on the phone in our phrasebook Portuguese!! Actually is wasn’t so bad, Hel was first up and did brilliantly, managing to make herself understood and understand what was being said to her. Unfortunately what was being said to her was that the hostel was full for the next 3 nights, over the weekend. Argh! Rapid change of plan needed!! A quick trip to the local internet café and we had an alternative plan. Itaipava was our chosen destination, a little village in
The next day was our only full day in Petropolis and we were up for a full day of sightseeing. First though we had to reserve our hostel for the next destination, Teresopolis. It’s funny how the place names in this part of Brasil sound rather Greek! Anyway this was our first attempt at speaking on the phone in our phrasebook Portuguese!! Actually is wasn’t so bad, Hel was first up and did brilliantly, managing to make herself understood and understand what was being said to her. Unfortunately what was being said to her was that the hostel was full for the next 3 nights, over the weekend. Argh! Rapid change of plan needed!! A quick trip to the local internet café and we had an alternative plan. Itaipava was our chosen destination, a little village in
between Petropolis and Teresopolis. This time it was my turn to speak Portuguese and I came off the phone with the impression that we were probably booked into a chalet type thing for the weekend. So now it was time to turn our attention to sightseeing!!
First up was the history museum, a fascinating place which used to be the home of some Portuguese dignitaries. It was filled with colonial furniture and paintings - perhaps not how we’d decorate our house, but very grand nevertheless. The Cathedral was equally impressive, and a short walk brought us to the Crystal Palace would you believe? This looked strikingly similar to pictures of it’s namesake in London, and had some exhibits which were all in Portuguese. We also visited the home of Santos Dumont, a Brasilian flight pioneer who had a statue of his plane in one of the squares!! At the end of the day we stopped in a pleasant beer garden for
First up was the history museum, a fascinating place which used to be the home of some Portuguese dignitaries. It was filled with colonial furniture and paintings - perhaps not how we’d decorate our house, but very grand nevertheless. The Cathedral was equally impressive, and a short walk brought us to the Crystal Palace would you believe? This looked strikingly similar to pictures of it’s namesake in London, and had some exhibits which were all in Portuguese. We also visited the home of Santos Dumont, a Brasilian flight pioneer who had a statue of his plane in one of the squares!! At the end of the day we stopped in a pleasant beer garden for