March 17, 2025 – Maceiou, Brazil – Partly Cloudy – 80s

Today, Splendor is in Maceiou, Brazil.  I took a panoramic shot of the city on approach.

It’s another nice day along the Eastern Coast of Brazil. I was up at La Veranda a little before it opened officially at 7:30 AM.  I got my cold cereal starter (Frosted Mini Wheats and Corn Flakes) and a seat at Table 62 on the back deck.  Today, the special is strawberry and chocolate chip pancakes.  I had an order of that along with two eggs over medium.  

Delicious breakfast. 

Maceiou is a beach town with a population around 300,000. We are on tour today – “Panoramic Maceiou” which meets on the pier at 1:30 PM. There are two guides on this tour. Estuvio got his information in Portuguese from his co-guide and then tried to translate it into English. It was awkward but worked as well as expected. 

This is mostly a bus tour.  I should mention that all the busses we have seen so far in Brazil are identical and very comfortable. We may be the only people wearing seat belt – designated survivors.  The city of Maceiou is comprised of very different neighborhoods – the bus took us through areas that are run down and we were told that the beaches in some of these areas are unfit for swimming (biohazard maybe). There were no people on those beaches.  

Our first stop was the Catedral Metropolitana de Maceiou.  

The bus stopped across the street from the cathedral at a park whose main attraction was a really old and interesting tree.

We went into the cathedral for a few minutes  – I personally don’t like going into cathedrals and churches because people are in there for the right reason and we are on tour. I always take off my cap but some of the folks on our tour did not.  We went back to the park, took a few pictures, and then back into the bus.

The bus then went into a better section of the city to an overlook where I was able to get both great pictures of the town but also the obligatory city sign. 

Our final part of the tour took us through the upscale part of town, which was night and day different from what we had seen earlier.  In this area, we saw new condos, fancy restaurants, and beaches you could swim at.  The bus stopped across the street from a really nice beach and in front of a shopping mall.  We opted for the beach. 

The beach was teeming with locals – 

all crowded into the nice sand alongside the water.  Ellen is braver than me and put her feet into the water – 

she was expecting warm water but it was very cold – it was a short dip.  We found some shade at a little restaurant closer to the street and I ordered a local beer – Itaipava – based on the owner’s recommendation. 

We didn’t buy any Reals and relied on credit cards for purchases – I checked later and the 20 oz beer cost $2.45, a bargain for sure.  The beer was OK but I couldn’t finish such a large beer especially when it wasn’t that hot. Near this very rustic restaurant (I was afraid that the seat couldn’t take my weight) was a little plant “installation” consisting of coconuts and plants – had to get a picture.

The bus took us back to the pier – not a bad tour when you consider that we did get a look at all parts of this town.

At dinner in Compass Rose, Ellen continued her streak of Dover Sole and I had the salmon and fixings.  I had the Lyonnaise Potatoes and Spinach.  We also had dessert and coffee.

We caught the end of Rhyme and Reason's second set in the Splendor Lounge - all decked out in St Patrick balloons.

Time to call it a day.