Port Information. Since we had never been here, I did some on line research on this port. Recife is a large metropolitan area in the Northeastern Brazil. It is the capitol of the State of Pernambuco and home to over 3.8 million people, making it the fourth largest population center in Brazil. Recife is an old city founded in 1537 and was home to a thriving sugar cane industry. Recife is home to several small islands linked by 50 bridges - it has been called the "Venice of Brazil". Recife does have a history of gun violence as do other State capitols in Brazil and some sites do not recommend visiting some monuments at night. Recife is one of the rainiest areas of this part of Brazil and is actually home to 1300 Jewish people. The name "Recife" comes from the Portuguese word for "reef".
It's another beautiful day along the coast of Brazil.
At my usual wonderful breakfast today (at Table 62 on the La Veranda veranda), I was able to see the approach to Recife
as well as the Pilot Boat (that guided us is).
We had an afternoon tour today but we are toured out for now so we cancelled and are going to take the complimentary ship shuttle to the handicraft mart. This gave us the morning off - I took advantage of this by have another delicious Mocha at Coffee Connections.
Around 10 AM, we scanned out and caught the shuttle, which was right next to the ship. It was just a short ride to the handicraft mall. We walked through all the shops but did not buy anything. Besides the shops, there wasn’t much to see in the handicraft mart except for an old jail cell –
I have to assume that this building at one time was a jail or part of a jail. I did get an interesting picture of what looked like "The Three Amigos". What made this picture unique were the Jewish stars of the hats of the men in the picture.
After going through the whole place, we caught the shuttle back to the ship. This turned out to be the most interesting part of the bus ride.
On the way back to the port, we drove by Monumento a Restauração Pernambucana, which commemorates the actions of colonial era inhabitants (mid 16th Century) who fought off the Dutch alone - Portugal did not help in the defense of the city. The Dutch invaded Recife to gain control of the lucrative sugar cane industry to help boost their economy.
We also saw the Palacio do Campo das Princesas, which is the administrative headquarters of the State of Pernambuco Executive Branch. The building dates back 1841.
We also saw the Ponte do Recife, which spans the Capibaribe River. This was the first iron bridge in Recife.
Modern buildings - perhaps condos - can be seen on the far side of the river. As we drove on, more modern structures of the city could be seen.
Since Recife is an interesting city, we probably missed out by not going on tour but we were pretty tired so maybe next time. Besides, the tour description did not include many of the highlights of the city.
We had lunch in
the La Veranda Restaurant – in addition to the menu items, there are
other goodies on the buffet. I did ask
the chef to make me the Rigatoni with cheese sauce and spinach
but without the prosciutto – he did and it was very tasty. We ate out on the veranda out of the sun.
After lunch, we simply stayed out on the veranda – sipping Diet Coke and Ice Tea. We were the only people out there (in a corner covered area) and it was quiet, warm, and comfortable. While we were enjoying the view and ambience, the crew was tidying up the restaurant for dinner.
Dinner was in Compass
Rose – Ellen is continuing her Dover Sole streak and I thought I would try
the Mediterranean Crusted Cod. I did not
like the Cod – salty and kind of watery.
I will know for next time. I
swapped it our for the Salmon, which is always good. The rest of the meal was fine – I am still
getting the San Marzano Tomato Soup. We
had some strange dessert but the coffee and tea were fine.
We are looking forward to tonight’s “Showtime”, simply titled “Broadway” and consisting of another Broadway Review put on by the Regent Singers and Dancers.
They started off with “On Broadway”
and I was a little concerned that the song list would be the same as we get on Celebrity. It wasn’t. Songs included: “Magic to Do”,
“Suddenly Seymour”,
“Memory”,
“Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”,
“I Don’t Know How to Love Him”,
and a mashup of the three previous songs (which didn't sound like noise but blended perfectly)
“I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You”,
and a finale featuring songs from “Wicked” (they didn’t do “For
Good”, which would have been perfect for Laura and the Abby) which was done very well. While on most ships, the
dancers and singers move around the stage by rapidly walking, this group sways
around the stage like they were in the middle of a waltz.
Again, it was late and we headed to the room. I did take a picture of the room number plaque on our suite - pretty classy.
Clocks move forward one hour tonight putting up on somewhere in the Atlantic Time Zone.
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