Nice places to visit in Brazil - part 5. Florianópolis

From the website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florian%C3%B3polis
Images: Amandy Gibbons

Florianópolis (Portuguese pronunciation: [floɾi.aˈnɔpolis] is the capital city and second largest city of Santa Catarina state in the Southern region of Brazil. It is composed of one main island, the Island of Santa Catarina (Ilha de Santa Catarina), a continental part and the surrounding small islands. It has a population of 421,203, according to the 2001 Brazilian census, the second most populous city in the state (after Joinville), and the 47th in Brazil. Themetropolitan area has an estimated population of 1,096,476, the 21st largest in the country. The city is known for having a very high quality of life, being the Brazilian capital city with the highest Human Development Indexscore (0.905).

Climate

Florianópolis experiences a warm humid subtropical climate, falling just short of a true tropical climate. The seasons of the year are distinct, with a well-defined summer and winter, and characteristic weather for autumn and spring. Frost is infrequent, but occurs occasionally in the winter. Due to the proximity of the sea, the relative humidity of the atmosphere is 80% on average.

The maximum temperatures of the hottest month varies from 25 °C (77 °F) to 38.8 °C (101.8 °F) and the minimum temperatures are from 6 °C (43 °F) to 11 °C (52 °F). The lowest temperature ever recorded was 0.7 °C (33.3 °F) in September 1980 while the highest temperature ever recorded was 38.8 °C (101.8 °F) in February 1973.

Tourism and recreation

The island is connected to the Continent by three bridges. The Hercílio Luz Bridge was built over 70 years ago and is now closed to traffic; it is a symbol of the island and often appears on postcard images. The Colombo Sales Bridge and Pedro Ivo Bridge are the ones open to traffic.

Santo Amaro da Imperatriz was the first thermal water facility in Brazil. Hotels withthermal bath facilities are located in the district of Caldas da Imperatriz and in thecity of Águas Mornas. The Fonte Caldas da Imperatriz city baths are an additional source of thermal waters, which can reach the temperature of 39 °C (102 °F), where there are immersion baths and hydromassage. It is located on the Estrada Geral Highway, km 4, Caldas da Imperatriz district.

Florianópolis is one of the locations for the ASP World Tour of the Association of Surfing Professionals, which classifies 50 competitors, among professionals and amateurs. The state of Santa Caterina is the only location in South America for thissurfing event.

Santa Catarina Art Museum is located in the city.

The Holy Spirit Feast (Festa do Divino) is a festival that takes place 40 days after Easter. The celebration dates to the colonial era and includes a parade, music, andstreet food.

One of the most famous beaches is Praia Mole, noted for its rolling green hills and rock formations on either side.

Barra da Lagoa This is the world famous "Bunny Slope" of Surfing. It is home to world champion Jacqueline Silva and 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from Praia Mole which usually hosts the WCT Surfing Championships. Barra da Lagoa is a quaint fisherman's village but the physical characteristics of the beach make it the perfect place to learn to surf. It is a cove on the Eastern part of the island and stretches into Moçambique beach for 15 kilometres (9.3 mi). It is in a natural setting as there are no huge hotels on the beach and the Southern headquarters of Projeto TAMAR(Save the Turtles) is located here. Penguins routinely swim into the canal and near the beach of Barra da Lagoa during the colder winter months of June, July and August. The canal at Barra da Lagoa connects the Lagoa da Conceição with the open sea. It is not uncommon to view pescadores (fishermen) during the night tossing their nets in the lagoa to catch shrimp they sell to the fresh fish restaurants in this community.

Ingleses Beach (Praia dos Ingleses) Even though it is a beach preferred bytourists, Ingleses still keeps to the traditions of the Azorian colonizers. In thesummer, it is one of the top beach destinations of Argentine tourists, second only to Canasvieras. In the winter, mullet fishing, religious celebrations and regional festivities are beautiful demonstrations of the local culture. The dunes separating the Ingleses Beach (English Beach) from the Santinho Beach are natural attractions not to be missed. The practice of sand board is quite common there, a sport created in Florianópolis, which consists of sliding down the dunes on a board, engaging or not in radical manoeuvres. To practice it, one must have a lot of balance and rent a board. Those looking for a different outing can go on a trek of 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) over the dunes.

Armação Beach (Praia da Armação) The Sant'Anna Church, built by the Armação fishing company, is part of the beach's history. It was from there that whale harpooners and crewmen confessed and attended the mass before going fishing. Next, the priest would go down to the beach to bless the boats that would sail out to sea. Today, the boats leave there for Ilha do Campeche, one of the most visited islands around Florianópolis. It is also in Armação that one finds one of the most important archaeological sites of the State of Santa Catarina. In the winter of 2010 a significant portion of the beach disappeared due to erosion. With financial aid from the Brazilian federal government, tons of large rocks were dumped on the beach to prevent houses from destruction.

Campeche Beach (Praia do Campeche) With 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) of white sands and a turbulent waters, Campeche is considered the Jeffreys Bay of the Santa Catarina Island for the quality of its waves. For those who are not interested insurfing, the beach offers other attractions. The paradisaical beauty of Ilha do Campeche, for instance, located across from the beach, a football game on the Saint-Exupéry aviation field, or even fishing, are some of the leisure alternatives. At night, Campeche is also an excellent attraction. The huge reflector that illuminates part of the large sand strip in front of the bars only contributes to the partying that extends far into the night. The illumination favours both those who enjoy the merrymaking as well as the fishermen, who use the time to drag their nets in from the sea.

Joaquina Beach (Praia da Joaquina) Won fame as of the 1970s, when surfers from around the world discovered its waves. Many surf cups began to emerge, and great Catarinense surfing personalities. It is one of the beaches that offers the besttourist facilities, receiving a large number of tourists from around Brazil and the world on the warm days in spring and summer. The rock complex situated to the left of the beach, the night lighting and the public showers are some of the trademarks at Joaquina. There is a big paid parking lot, toilets, tourist coach parking lot, lifeguards, police station, handicraft shop, bars, restaurant and hotels. In addition to the beach, it is possible to enjoy the most famous dunes in the South of the country as well as to sand board. The boards used in this sport can be rented on the spot.

Santinho Beach (Praia do Santinho) is mainly sought by tourists who look for nature, the location's paradisaical beauty and tranquillity. Surfers are the main visitors and consider Santinho to be the best beach in the North of the Santa Catarina Island. It is in the left hand corner, where bathers do not venture, that surfers practice their sport, sharing the space withfishermen. 40 kilometres (25 mi) away from the centre of Florianópolis, another great attraction of this beach are the primitive inscriptions made by hunters, fishermen and collectors inhabiting the Island five thousand years ago. The name Santinho comes from a human figure engraved on an isolated block of rock.

Outdoor sports, including diving, hang gliding, rowing, paragliding, and mountain biking, as well as surfing, are popular on the island

Areas of the city

The centre of Florianópolis, with its alleys, rows of typical houses, churches andmuseums, contains many examples of colonial architecture. Amongst these are the former government palace, nowadays the Cruz e Souza Museum (which took its name from the famous poet from Santa Catarina who formed the symbolist movement) and the Public Market built in 1898 which sells food and local handicraftsunder the shade of a one hundred year old fig tree. Close to the centre is the house where Victor Meirelles was born, one of the authors who devised the first mass spoken in Brazil. The building is registered by the Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage and houses the Victor Meirelles Museum.

Roughly saying, the island can be divided in two sectors: in the north is the most visited side by tourists and because of that, the busiest and with the best services infrastructure. In some quarters notice a strong influence in the population architecture and customs. The most ancient livers of Florianópolis still have in the way they speak, in the craftwork activities and in the popular parties, the heritage left by immigrants from Portuguese islandsfrom Azores. The south of the island preserved intensely Azorean customs that arrived there from the 18th century.

Transportation:

International airport

Florianópolis is served by Hercílio Luz International Airport for both domestic and international flights.^[17] The traffic has grown significantly at the airport and therefore the city will shortly receive a new airport able to serve 2.7 million passengers a year. The architectural design of the new airport was chosen by a public competition held by Infraero in partnership with the Brazilian Architects Institute (IAB). Among the over 150 original entries, the proposal of São Paulo architect Mário Bizelli was chosen. Normally the projects for expansion and modernization of the 66 airports administered by Infraero are done by public tender based on the needs, criteria and conditions presented by the company's engineering area. On days when one of the two the local football (soccer) teams plays at home in a stadium near the airport, traffic comes to a complete standstill, often preventing vehicles from departing the airport itself. People with departing flights are well advised to check the local football schedule to ensure they arrive at the airport on time.

Highways

Florianópolis is connected to the main cities of Brazil:

• From the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro: BR-116/ BR-376/ BR-101/ BR-282;
• From Curitiba: BR-376/ BR-101/ BR-282;
• From Porto Alegre: BR-290/ BR-101/ BR-282.

Bus terminal (connecting to other cities)

Rita Maria is the city's main bus terminal, located by the Pedro Ivo Campos Bridge, on the island, serving ten thousand people daily, which can reach up to fifteen thousand during the summer season. The bus terminal connects Florianópolis to the majority of the cities, towns and villages of Santa Catarina, and to the main cities in the South, Southeast and Central-West regions of Brazil. As an international bus terminal, Florianopolitanos and tourists alike use Rita Maria also to reachArgentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile.