We initially use Curitiba as a halfway point to break up our journey, but find out that it is a vibrant, diverse and modern city, very much worth visiting.
Curitiba is a city about halfway between Sao Paolo and Iguazu Falls, and that’s really why we chose to visit it. Our flight was into Sao Paolo and we wanted to see the falls, but we needed to break up the journey somewhere. When we arrived in Curitiba off the 6-hour bus ride from Sao Paolo it was noticeably cooler, and the rain jacket got its first outing on day 2 of our trip.
Once we’d checked into our hotel, we looked at the skies and the weather forecast and concluded that it was going to be a rainy few days in Curitiba, but the weather looked better at the coast. So we decided to spend one night in Curitiba, then head off to Ilha do Mel for a couple of days, then return to Curitiba afterwards. But we were there for the night, so we walked from our hotel into the pedestranised city centre and instantly liked the feel of the main street. Lots of shops (but not so many bars and restaurants) and lots of characters. We also liked the shady parks dotted around, which – although they weren’t coming in very useful right now – we could see how crucial they’d be on a hot sunny day.
After a burger appetiser (don’t ask) and a couple of beers, we wandered around looking for a traditional Brazilian restaurant for dinner. But it felt like Curitiba (or the centre at least) had a real international feel to it. After some underwhelming tapas, we headed for bed, aware that the mini jetlag was probably kicking in.
On our return to Curitiba, we felt instantly better – returning somewhere we knew, less dazed, and more chilled after our mini holiday at the beach. After a few days of eating fish we decided it was time to hit a Brazilian steakhouse, and ended up at Madero. Delicious picanha for only 10 euros! We knew it was a chain restaurant but it worked for us.
The next morning we knew we just had one day to explore the city. We’d already worked out that this place was big. Very big. And there was no way we’d be able to see it all by walking (especially not in 35 degree heat). Then we spotted the linha turismo open-top bus. Wait, open-top bus? We’ve never done one of these before (generally they’re overpriced in our opinion) but we added up what it would cost to take a taxi to each of the places, or the time it would take to navigate the local bus system (you have to enter tubes to get on a bus!), and decided that it was worth the 10 euros/person for a 3-hour circular trip of the city where you could hop on and off in 4 locations. And we really enjoyed it. Given the heat, this was the best way to see more of Curitiba. Our first stop was the botanical gardens. But it was at this point that Kim noticed that my forehead and right eye had swollen up. We made a beeline to get back on the bus and head to the next stop which was the Oscar Niemayer museum, where they had free wifi and we were able to Doctor Google what might be happening to me. Turns out it was classic sunburn. Remedy was basically keeping cool which I hadn’t been doing very well at so far that day. After applying a chilled can of coke to my eye and trying our first coxinha to prevent hunger from making matters worse, we were now pretty far away from our hotel, so we decided to complete the rest of the bus circuit then get a cold damp cloth on my face asap. Kim went to the pharmacy to pick up Ibuprofin, and I spent the rest of the day not really being able to see much.
A few hours later and after having gone through a stage looking like an Avatar creature (fat nose, not blue…) we ventured out for some dinner. On the bus we’d gone through the oldest part of Curitiba and thought it looked worth investigating further. But when we got there it was full of teenagers with glitter on their face, so we assumed it was some kind of street festival. Given my need for a chilled evening we decided not to join in.
So, not our finest day, but we’d definitely recommend the bus tour, and stopping at the opera house and some of the parks as these looked the nicest. The fake Italian district would have been skipped regardless…
Some other practical info:
• We were staying at an airport hotel in Guaralhos (Sao Paolo). We’d asked the reception staff if we could get a local bus to the Tietê bus station (where buses to Curitiba go from) but she advised against it because Guaralhos is apparently not that safe to walk around, even for her, and certainly not for 2 pasty freshies. So she quoted us 60 reais for a taxi. The next morning it became 70, and then when we actually paid the driver at the end it turned into 52. He didn’t have change so rounded down with a smile and wished us a good journey.
• We travelled the 6 hour journey from Sao Paolo to Curitiba with Cometa and stayed a short walk from the main bus station in Curitiba.
I have a question and may be it`s me but how do you work out where you actually are today . Is there a timeline, map or plan to your trip somewhere?