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    Porto Alegre: The Essential Travel Guide
    Porto Alegre: The Essential Travel Guide
    Porto Alegre: The Essential Travel Guide
    Ebook98 pages1 hour

    Porto Alegre: The Essential Travel Guide

    By Camila Santos Simmons

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    About this ebook

    Welcome to (probably) the first guide ebook of the city of Porto Alegre in English!

    My name is Camila, and I was born and bred in the South of Brazil. My love for travel and my nationality make me think I have a few things worth sharing with anyone wanting to visit Porto Alegre.

    Who is this book for?

    - If you are stopping through Porto Alegre as part of your trek through South America and want to quickly locate the best attractions the city has to offer.

    - Maybe you heard of the wonders of Rio or the Amazon, but bummer... you ended up having to come to Porto Alegre for whatever reason. I will show you that my city has more to offer than what you will find on the internet.

    - If you are moving to Porto Alegre and your pockets are not deep so you would rather use your play money wisely.

    - If you are a rental house owner or hotel person and want to offer your guests some advice.

    - If you are a gaúcho going overseas and want to take a souvenir to your host family or friends. I will speak for myself on this one. I’ve gone through many established travel guides but never found anything worthwhile about Porto Alegre in English to show them. People know about Rio, Bahia... but Porto Alegre? What do they know? If you have special friends living elsewhere, surely they will want to know more about your birthplace. So instead of taking yet another trinket, this time you can give them a virtual tour of Porto Alegre!

    In summary, whether your visit has been planned or merely coincidental, this guide is designed for you to (rightly) look forward to visiting my city.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCamila Santos Simmons
    Release dateSep 1, 2014
    ISBN9781310591648
    Porto Alegre: The Essential Travel Guide
    Author

    Camila Santos Simmons

    I'm an eternal foreigner, passionate in the same measures for my country and for the road. I had to leave my city for strange lands to be able to appreciate Porto Alegre’s finest points. Living overseas for a decade also helped me gain some perspective in relation to its imperfections to the extent that I now feel a reverse cultural shock. Now living in POA again, I feel I have been exposed to different cultures and have an eye for things which other travellers may also enjoy. By profession I am a Travel Consultant, Sales Manager, Teacher, Translator, Writer. I'm a little bit hyperactive and normally act in all these fronts at the same time.

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      Só tem livro em inglês...oxi que horrível ...queria em português

    Book preview

    Porto Alegre - Camila Santos Simmons

    Porto Alegre – The Essential Travel Guide

    By

    Camila Santos Simmons

    Copyright 2014 Camila Santos Simmons

    Smashwords Edition

    License Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. While using the content of the book for any academic or research work, due reference to this book and author should be made. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    Table of Contents

    Camila Santos Simmons

    Disclaimer

    What Is Porto Alegre?

    History And Stuff

    To Learn More

    Why Coming To Porto Alegre?

    Weather

    Currency

    Costs

    What To Expect To Pay For

    Tipping And Donations

    Getting Around

    Safety Tips

    How To Make Friends

    Wellbeing

    Neighbourhoods

    Tours (Diy And Group)

    Museum & Arts

    What To Take Home

    Shopping

    Drinker’s Manual

    Eating (Small And Big)

    Parks And Outdoor Areas

    Sports & Hobbies

    What Locals Do

    Cultural Immersion

    Gaucho Speak

    Trips Nearby

    Charity Opportunities

    Thank You

    About The Author

    DISCLAIMER

    Choices: All reports are my own opinion and may be treated as such. I am not a connoisseur and may not be able to tell you the difference between a baroque and a damn old building. I have two definitions for food: good or bad. What I do know well is how to hunt for hidden places, creative people and sensorial experiences that go beyond the product sold. I have deliberately left out many traditional tourist spots that, in my opinion, are not worth your money.

    Language: Throughout the book, you will find suggestions to check out websites for venues and general information. Bear in mind that most sites are in Portuguese only. I still recommend that you visit them and intuitively try to locate some necessary extra information, such as photos, which may help you decide if you want to make that visit.

    Prices: All items are listed in Reais, or R$, which is the local currency. The price research was made between February and March 2014. At the moment, R$2.50 is the equivalent of USD$1. For up to date rates, please refer to xe.com (link) or your preferred bank.

    Bars, Restaurants, Nightclubs: they have not paid to be part of this guide. I like 5-star places almost as much as I like greasy spoons, so don’t assume a place is either cheap or fancy. I recommend attractions from R$5 to $200 throughout the book. For a place to ‘make it’ into the guide it is all about its soul. If in doubt, feel free to email me your questions about any place.

    WHAT IS PORTO ALEGRE?

    Some cities have towers, rivers, statues that define its name and reputation. It is impossible to think of Paris and not think of the Eiffel tower.

    What have we got? A Hygiene Challenged lake with personality issues due to it being erroneously labelled as a river (Rio Guaíba). The state’s icon in the form of a statue (Laçador), located on the side of a busy highway near the airport. A beautiful staircase covered in graffiti and showing its age (Av. Borges de Medeiros). It sounds negative, but I do love all these symbols. However, it’s probably at the backyard barbecues, sharing a chimarrão (shimma-how-oe) tea at the park or partying before/during/after a football match that you will see the real us.

    I’ve seen other cities with no ‘respectful’ drawcard, but who actually enchant tourists from around the world. Maybe we (the gauchos) have been a bit busy all this time enchanting ourselves! We speak highly about our city and region; some truly think it is the best city in Brazil to live. We love this place in a weird way, we like to brag but we don’t think we have worldly standards. It’s almost as if the gaucho would prefer not to share Porto Alegre with anyone.

    You will even hear visitors saying that Rio can be much more beautiful, that São Paulo has more culture, but that POA has the small town feel, despite it housing over 4 million residents including the metropolitan area. The city is big enough to have world-class shows and art exhibits, but it’s small enough that you can walk to places.

    You can visit Porto because of its friendly atmosphere, cafes, people and culture that are simply great. That is not saying that there isn’t prettiness in it. The streets are leafy and the parks are enjoyable in all seasons. The city has a vocation for outdoor events and impromptu parties. In the pages to come, I will speak about many of these places and show you where to hunt for a street roda de samba (samba jam).

    HISTORY AND STUFF

    I will leave the expansive explanation for respected sources such as history books (and Wikipedia), but in summary:

    •In 1752, as a consequence of the Treaty of Madrid, 60 Portuguese couples from the Açores were sent to what one day would become our capital. Porto de Viamão, as it was then called, should have simply been a point of entrance, as these families were meant to inhabit the Missões (in the Northeast of the state). Due to delays in the land sharing process, the years went by and the village became a striving community, and 20 years later, Porto Alegre (Happy Port) was officially founded.

    •It became a prosperous Southern capital in the 1800’s, largely due to the hard work of immigrants coming from several parts of the world, especially Germans, Italians, Spanish, Polish, Jewish and Lebanese. These international influences are still strongly felt these days, with entire communities keeping traditions and even speaking their mother tongues right here in our state. This also explains the highest percentage of white Brazilians living in the South.

    •The unfortunate part of the European influence was the exploitation of African people which took huge proportions in Brazil. It was thanks to the arduous work of slaves that the South became a top producer of pork meat. With this sad start, it is not surprising that there is a higher percentage of black people in the lower economical classes in Porto Alegre. With huge efforts though, it is noticeable that things have started to change, with more and more afro descendants having access to education and better pay checks. What is left

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