FORTALEZA
The furthest destinations are most of the time the ones we lust after, the exotic ones and Fortaleza is one of them: capital of the State of Ceará, located on the northeast coast of Brazil, it may be far from the dynamic of Rio de Janeiro but still it would delight you with wonderful deserts of sand and palm trees everywhere.
DAY « 0 »
I call it “day zero” as we spend our day travelling and landed in Fortaleza at the end of the day.
We flew from Paris to Fortaleza with JOON, one of Air France’ sister companies: our flight took off at 1:10pm and landed at 10:35pm (UTC+1) which corresponds at 5:35pm in Fortaleza (UTC-3), moment of the day when it is already getting dark. We took advantage of being at the airport to change our money (1 € ≈ 4,20 BRL), then we took a taxi to the city centre for about 40 BRL (less than 10€ for a 15 minute-ride).
We stayed at the Maredomus hotel for five nights. It has a good value for money: it is close to the beach and to pretty much everything to see in Fortaleza, with a full breakfast included, a tour desk, a nice and helpful staff and standard bedrooms.
However, you should know that everything you consume (snacks and drinks) are of charge at the end of your stay, plus, there is a pool on the rooftop but it is way too small, I believe only 5 or 6 persons can get into it at the same time, luckily the beach is right in front of the hotel.
Around 7:30pm we decided to go out for dinner. We went along the beach and its numerous restaurants but after a 9 hour-flight we basically entered in the first restaurant we found, the Veleiro Piatã and had two mixed salads, quite basic but it was okay.
Then we headed back to our hotel for the night looking forward a very long sleep.
DAY 1
The sun rises around 5:45am in Fortaleza and so did I at 6:00am, with a warm ray of sun on my face.
On Sundays we chill in and/or out, so we went downstairs for our breakfast and then would basically improvise the rest of our day. The breakfast at the Maredomus hotel is a full buffet with hot and cold drinks, juices, cereals, breads, vegetables, cooked meats, cheeses, fruits and yogurts; there also is a cook to serve you if you want some eggs in any possible forms (sunny eggs, omelette, scrambled eggs).
We decided to visit the least nooks of Fortaleza and we made our first stop at the Centro Dragão do mar de arte e cultura (the Dragão do mar centre of art and culture) where, as it name indicates it, you can find different artistic and cultural structures for exhibitions and shows, a planetarium and a cinema. This place is noticeable with its geometric planetarium dome, its red bridge linking two buildings of the site and its numerous street artworks.
Then, we headed back to the beach near our hotel to enjoy a football game on a big screen, outdoors; indeed, if you remember, the FIFA World Cup was going on this summer 2018 and the Brazilians are very involved in football to the extent that all shops are closed for 90 minutes, time freezes in Fortaleza.
We were given for free (thank you sponsors) green and yellow inflatable accessories, there were some street vendors providing fresh drinks (particularly coconut water) and snacks for the spectators. On July 2nd, the Brazilians defeated the Mexicans; I let you imagine the high energy and joy that came out of the results.
The beach I have kept mentioning is Praia de Iracema (Iracema beach). It is bordered by a large and nice pedestrian area, palm trees and then the road and the buildings. As we walked along the pedestrian area, we found the wonderful made of bronze Estátua de Iracema (the Statue of the Guardian of Iracema), looking after Iracema beach since 1996.
There was a supermarket in front of our hotel, the Mercadinho São Luiz. When we stepped into it for the first time, we were totally amazed by the size and quality of the products (fruits and vegetables). As my mom and I are Europeans, we are used to small avocados, petty passion fruits, if you find edible mangos then you are lucky, fruits and veggies more or less ripe, not very enticing; but what we had in front of our eyes in this supermarket was unbelievable (the pictures talk for themselves)! We managed to bring back in our suitcases a couple avocados and maracujás (massive passion fruits).
At the end of the day, we went to the tour desk of our hotel, booked two days of activities and went to a restaurant based on our hotel staff recommendations, the Restaurante O Brazão, where we will have all our dinners (and sometimes lunches) for the rest of our stay. The staff was welcoming, the food was amazing and affordable. I noticed that meals, in most of the restaurants, are sharing platters. So for two persons, we had rice and beans (the most common ingredients in Brazil out of which is made the famous feijoada) and either fish or meat. I also had their well-known drink made of cachaça (liquor), lime and sugar: the Caipirinha. It tastes almost like the Mojito but I prefer by far the Caipirinha. I totally recommend O Brazão Restaurant!
DAY 2
This is our first day out of Fortaleza, one of the tours we booked the day before.
After we had our breakfast, a bus came to pick us up at our hotel, with already some tourists on board. We were welcomed by a lovely tourist guide (who will be our guide for the rest of our tours). She could speak neither French nor English, but we managed to discuss in Spanish. She would first give her speech in Portuguese and then come to us and translate the main things.
Today’s destination: Morro Branco
After 2 hours spent on the road, we arrived at Morro Branco where we had two options: either we could do the pedestrian visit and then go straight to the beach or we could do the pedestrian visit, have a tour in a buggy in the desert (for an extra charge) and then join the beach. Obviously, we went for the second option.
Morro Branco’s landscape is all about red cliffs that are breathtaking, a pure work of art from Mother Nature. It made me feel like I was into that movie called 127 hours where a mountain climber got trapped in a canyon; definitely a must-see (both the red cliffs and the movie).
Then came the time when our group split between those who wanted to join the beach and those who wanted to have a tour in buggy. In a buggy, you have four seats inside the car and a “bench” on the back, for three persons, with no seatbelts (you have to hold on tight to anything you can) to enjoy the ride without a roof, hair in the wind. And so it began, one of the coolest rides I have ever had. We went along the beach, through the deserts and the drivers often stopped so we could get down the cars and take some pictures of this wonderful environment.
We joined the rest of the group, went back in our bus and headed to our second and last destination of the day: Canoa Quebrada.
In the same spirit as Morro Branco, the beach of Canoa Quebrada is bordered with red cliffs and at some point there is a white sign on it representing a moon and a star. This is where we spent the rest of the afternoon. First, we had lunch, a sharing platter with a whole fish, fries and vegetables. Then we finally went to the beach.
At the end of the day, the bus drove us back to our respective hotels. We had dinner in our favourite place, O Brazão. This time we chose grilled meat as the protein source of our shared platter.
DAY 3
As we had no tour scheduled, we decided to explore areas of Fortaleza we haven’t visited yet.
We went through the western part of the city and then we made a couple stops on our way back; our first one was the mythical Teatro José de Alencar (Jose de Alencar Theatre). It carries the name of a famous Brazilian writer, José Martiniano de Alencar (1829-1877).
It is noticeable with its wonderful colourful stained-glasses, the white letters and its metallic structure.
This incredible building hosts ballets, plays, music shows, etc.
You have the possibility to have a guided tour, but we did not feel like it was necessary.
When we were going to the theatre, we walked by long shopping streets where we decided to stop now, on our way back. There were young men who were unloading a truck by throwing the packages to one another. There were numerous sellers of football shirts and various shops such as apparel, household devices, shoes... Surprisingly there were plenty dentist cabinets...
As we left the shopping streets, we walked by a little public garden called Square Martires, then we reached the Alberto Nepomuceno avenue were we find the military base, the Metropolitan Cathedral of Fortaleza and the Mercado central de Fortaleza. When my mom and I read “Mercado central”, we were expecting to find shops like we know them: a sign at the entrance, rows of clothes, fitting rooms... but this is what I love about travelling in foreign countries, you never know what you will discover. There were mostly “souvenirs”, handicraft, local products shops and restaurants. It was organised in a spiral, with stairs and lifts. It was different and yet still fantastic and pretty interesting!
As the most common ingredient in Brazil is rice, we decided to go back to some good European food and had pasta for lunch in an Italian bar-restaurant nearby our hotel called La Habanera.
In the afternoon, we had a walk by the eastern borders of the coast and found, in the middle of this half beach – half buildings environment, a little Japanese inspired garden (Jardim Japonês) with typical red Japanese toris, lamps, bridges and plants.
Out of the garden, we met an adorable woman, in her white outfit, cooking typical Brazilian food in large pots. We believe she was getting the food ready for an event later that day. She was so smiling and warm... this is what Brazilian people are all about: their happiness comes from simple things and that is what makes them such nice people; they share and interact a lot between them and with everyone else around them.
We had read on some websites that Fortaleza is a dangerous city with a certain criminal rate... well, I have never felt threatened at any time during this trip; on the contrary, I met some adorable persons: the man in our hotel who recommended us places and restaurants, always willing to help; our tourist guide with whom we are still in touch; the man we met at a supermarket who gave a piece of advice to my mom so that she could better take care of her skin that was burnt and peeling because of the sun; our waiter at the O Brazão restaurant who always took care of us...
Then we spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach and my mom enjoyed one of those coconuts.
As you may know by now, we had dinner at the O Brazão restaurant.
DAY 4
This is our last entire day in Fortaleza and our last tour day. After our breakfast, the bus came to pick us up and drive us to Cumbuco.
Cumbuco has wide deserts of white sand with fine grains where we were riding on our buggys. Just like the first time in Morro Branco, the buggy drivers stopped at different times. The first was up on a “sand hill” where we could enjoy a natural and sandy toboggan (charged).
The second stop was probably the greatest one: we arrived to a yodel station, above the water with a bar/restaurant. There was as well a street vendor of grilled cheese: he was walking around carrying his handy-portable barbecue and a bucket of cheese on sticks. We gave it a try and it was one of the tastiest grilled cheeses I have ever had!
Last but not least, we stopped by a little “pool” with deck chairs. Then they drove us back to the “main place” where we had lunch: we had a shared platter mixed salad with some fish croquettes.
For the rest of the afternoon, we enjoyed a massage and the beach.
When we arrived back at our hotel it was already pretty late so we went to have our last dinner in Fortaleza, in our dear O Brazão restaurant where we decided to take a picture with our favourite waiter (Elly) and some of the customers decided to join in as well (I told you they are such warm people)!
DAY 5
All good things come to an end... and after our breakfast began a long packing morning...
When we were finally done, we decided to go for our last lunch in Fortaleza, in a restaurant we haven’t tried yet: The Florida Bar (I believe it was this one... *sorry if I am mistaken*).
On this day, there were two football games going on: the French team against the Uruguayans and a following one involving Brazil versus Belgium! So we enjoyed the first game in the restaurant with a shared platter of rice, grilled pork ribs and fries, then when we left, we went to the beach and enjoyed the Brazilian game on a big screen.
At the end, it was time for us to reach the airport and fly back home (our seats were by chance upgraded to the business class!).
MAREDOMUS HOTEL: 282€, 5 nights, 2 persons
TOP RESTAURANT: O Brazão
TOP PLACES:
1. Theatro José de Alencar
2. Morro Branco and Cumbuco Beaches
Commentaires