24 hours in cute Olinda (aka the little sister of Recife)

Olinda was our very last stop in Brazil, can you believe it? Six weeks had flown by super fast and we were about to leave to Europe for the next phase of our adventure. But, before we left, we had one little gem of a town to see – Olinda, a little town about 7km north of Recife (one of the big cities in northeast Brazil). You can see below the view of Recife, taken from Olinda’s highest hill.

Now, we had originally slotted 3-4 days to stop and see Olinda and Recife, as they are known for their colonial architecture and as Carnaval hotspots. But, we had fallen in such love with Praia da Pipa that we decided to extend our stay there instead. It ended up being the right call because for us, 24 hours was enough to see the little town of Olinda. And we actually ended up skipping Recife, which I have no qualms about, because we hadn’t heard any rave reviews about the city, and the beaches were not supposed to be great.

We left Saturday afternoon from Praia da Pipa (after kayaking with dolphins in the morning!) to make the drive to Olinda. More to come on this in my Brazil recap, but a 253km drive that was supposed to take four hours ended up taking over seven, because of the truck and gas strike in Brazil. We drove into the town right around 10pm on a Saturday night and it was hopping! Every street had people hanging out outside their apartments, the bars were filled with patrons drinking and laughing and it was just a fun, lively atmosphere. We checked into our pousada, Damian went and got us some dinner and then we settled in and called it a night.

The next day was our day to explore! We had a late-night flight (from Recife) on Sunday and spent the entire day walking around. It was a small town but a super cute one. My favorite part (as I’m sure is everyone’s) was the architecture/coloring of the buildings. Why don’t more people do this? It makes things so cheery!

To give you a little more background, Olinda is a city that was settled by the Portuguese in the 1500s. However, in the early-mid 1600s the Dutch invaded and damaged or destroyed most of the city. They thought that Recife would make a better capital for the state of Pernambuco (especially because they were able to invade Olinda so easily). The Portuguese gained back control of the city in the mid-late 1600s, but much of the damage had already been done.

Olinda’s historic town center has been named a World Heritage site by UNESCO, and is often said to have the best preserved colonial architecture in Brazil (even better than Recife). I’m no architecture buff, and to be honest, I am not sure which buildings in Olinda make it qualify for the UNESCO honor, but I thought it was just super cute. I mean, look at these colors and lines! (and don’t pretend like you don’t love my travel-blogger-walking picture, ha!).

I also loved the effort that people put into their units. Specifically, I thought these doors to enter in to a couple different buildings were just splendid. It makes me want to make sure to decorate my house (one day) with such intention, style and beauty.

Olinda is a big, big stop on the Carnaval tour each year. Of course we weren’t there during the right time, but the party in Olinda is considered one of the best in Brazil. I think one big reason that people like it is because you can get “inside the ropes”. In Olinda, even as a tourist you can really be part of the action during Carnaval, which is harder to do in cities like Recife, etc. Since the celebration is so big in Olinda there are a bunch of museums that hold puppets and other artifacts from past years. We went to one, took a few pictures and were out. I get that I don’t get it, but the huge fake people just really freaked me out (I mean, you can barely find Damian in the below picture!).

We really enjoyed our time in Olinda, but for me, 24 hours was long enough there. The town is very little, so it’s easy to walk around in a day, and there’s not much to do (besides drinking). Also, because of its history, it feels quite a bit run down and dirty, which is unfortunate given all of its beauty. However, if you wanted a homebase to explore the Olinda/Recife/broader region and/or if you are in love with architecture I could see it being super attractive!

See you later Olinda and Recife (and Brazil!)

By the time we hit late evening it was time to head to the Recife airport to fly out to Greece to meet my sister and a friend. We were sad to say goodbye to Brazil for now but excited to start on the next phase of our adventure. More to come on those soon!

————————————————————-

Read more about our time in Brazil using the links below:

• Brazil Country Recap – What we loved (and didn’t love) in our six weeks there
• Iguazu Falls
• Exploring São Paulo
• Exploring Bonito
• Touring in Bonito (river snorkeling and waterfall hiking)
• Rio de Janeiro: Our first three days in Rio
• Rio de Janeiro: “Professor-ial” thoughts on attending a game at Maracana
• Rio de Janeiro: Volunteering with Project Favela
• Three days in the beach paradies of Ubatuba!
• Rio de Janeiro: Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain
• The amazing landscape of Lençóis Maranhenses
• Three days in the hippie beach town of Jericoacoara
• Why we had to skip Canoa Quebrada and go to Natal instead
• Six days in Praia da Pipa (my favorite beach town)
• 24 hours in Olinda (you are here!)