Discover Belém, the seductive market town in northern Brazil

Belém, a Belle Epoque open-air architecture museum

The first Portuguese settlement on the Amazon, the city of Belém offers a rare architectural insight to the 17th century. Through the old buildings, you will experience a retrospective history before your very eyes.

Its old colonial neighborhoods around Forte do Presepio are home to beautiful polychrome houses and a cathedral with an abundance of Baroque decor. They contrast with the Belle Époque elegance of a large part of the city, including the neoclassical façade of the Teatro da Paz and the Art Deco furnishings of the Avenue Vargas stores.

Along the river, you can also admire the huge Victorian-inspired wrought iron market that hosts the “Ver-O-Peso” and discover all the flavors and exoticism of the culinary Amazon.

Enjoy a bowl of Açaí (an energy palm fruit purée) with slices of fried fish, accompanied by a “Guarana Antartica” (a guarana soda), the local popular meal, tasty, healthy and good value.

But food is not the only delight coming directly from the Amazon! You will also find all kinds of traditional kitchen utensils such as “Cuias” – containers decorated with indigenous motifs. These bowls are made from a type of local calabash and are a tradition straight from the Indians of the region. Visitors are destined to eat another famous dish, the soup of shrimp and cassava “Tacacà.” Among all this hustle and bustle hide some practitioners of the “pharmacy of the forest”, cures for every ailment are offered in the form of dozens of bottles, dried plants and mysterious powders. Do not miss out on these medicines, remedies and other “magical” potions with evocative names.

A tour of Belém with omnipresent nature

Culinary and historical capital of the Amazon basin, Belém stands out for its luxuriant and exuberant vegetation, even in the city center. Thanks to thousands of mango trees and other giant plants growing throughout the city, the streets are shaded at all hours, an irresistible invitation for a pleasant walk!

There are many green areas, perfect for walking, like the zoological and botanical garden or the “Bosque Rodriguez Alves“.

In this parcel of equatorial forest located in the heart of the city, you can have your first contact with the exuberance of local nature without having to leave town.

In the bay, parrot island allows you to admire the flight of thousands of birds at sunrise, while only an hour away by boat the charming rivers Guama and Acara offer you a taste of the Amazon. The Palafitas are houses on stilts where the Ribeirinhos and Caboclos live. These descendants of the natives will welcome you, as you pass jungle and houses alternating all along the mouth of the river.

“Círio”, the biggest celebration in the “The Mango city”

Organized on the second Sunday of October, the “Círio de nossa Senhora de Nazaré” is a highlight event in Belém. The largest annual Catholic event in the world, with more than 2.8 million participants in 2015, this procession dedicated to the Virgin Mary is also a celebration in honor of the city.

For several days, the sacred icon of the city and a large rope over 400 m long and weighing nearly 700 kg are carried during processions along the streets.

However, if you want to participate in this event, you must book a year in advance because the city is crammed with visitors from all around the world!