Olinda, the jewel of the northeast

Olinda is a UNESCO world heritage site. It has over 500 years of history and was voted the first capital of culture in Brazil. Olinda was occupied by the Dutch for 24 years. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour of this beautiful city. It felt like being transformed in time. The old town on Olinda has kept that charm in my eyes. Recife may have taken over commercially but the real charm lies in Olinda. Olinda is located about five miles from Recife. Olinda is known for its intellectual community as well as its cultural charm.

View from the Convent

Our first stop was Brazil's first convent, San Francisco. San Francisco was originally built in 1585. However the convent was burned down by the Dutch during the successful invasion. The church was rebuilt in 1631. The church was designed in the Baroque style which was popular in Europe at the time. The tilework is certainly a notable feature that impressed me greatly. The church and complex is still used by Franciscan friars today. The church is suffering from being so close to the ocean. The saltwater is causing the stones to break apart along with the high humidity of the area. There is also landslides that the San Francisco Convent must deal with.

Courtyard with amazing tiles all

Doric Column

The second church we visited is called Igreja da Se. Church of Saint Savior of the World. This is the second oldest chruch in Olinda, 1547. All the other churches face this one. The view from this church was spectacular. Notice Recife in the distance.

San Francisco in the distance

Recife in the background

My dance partner

The last church we visited was even more amazing than the first two. The altar is the richest in Olinda. The name of the church and complex is Mosteiro de Sao Bento. The Monastery of Saint Benedict.

This church was built by the Benedictins in the 16th century. This church is also unique for it contains mezzanines. The only church to have mezzanines in Olinda. The rich would watch the service up in the mezzanines while the others would watch below. This church also is the site of the first Law school in 1828.

Later we saw the differences in other parts of Olinda. We went to a shopping mall for lunch. I ended up buying a Sport jersey. It was cheaper than the Santa Cruz jersey. As soon as we got to Bruno in the Mall Chris blurted out how I bought the rival teams jersey. I felt bad and promised Bruno I would get a Santa Cruz shirt at the game we would attend. While buying the jersey Mike noticed a pair of Nike Shocks that had a price tag of S569.90 real. This would equal about $325 American dollars. That is one expensive pair of shoes.

Seriously, or just do the payment plan for ten months.

At night we have been getting ready for our presentation. We will be presenting about the farm we were asked to investigate and survey in Triunfo. We are not sure how many people will be there for our presentation but we want to make sure we are prepared.