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Santos
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SANTOS
was founded in 1535, a few kilometres east of Sao Vicente, one of Portugal's first New World settlements. The city stands on an island, its port facilities and old town facing landwards with ships approaching by a narrow, but deep, channel. In a dilapidated kind of way, the compact centre retains a certain charm that has not yet been extinguished by the development of an enormous port complex.
Arriving in Santos and getting oriented couldn't be easier. The Rodoviaria , at Praca dos Andradas, is within easy walking distance of everywhere in Centro, on the north side of the island: from it, walk across the square to Rua XV de Novembro, one of the main commercial streets. One block on, turn left at Rua do Comercio , along which are the remains of some of Santos' most distinguished buildings. Sadly, only the facades remain of most of the mid- and late nineteenth-century former merchants' houses that line the street, but the elaborate tiling and wrought-iron balconies offer a hint of their lost grandeur. At the end of Rua do Comercio is the train station , built between 1860 and 1867, and, while the city's claim that the station is an exact replica of London's Victoria is a bit difficult to swallow, it is true that the building wouldn't look too out of place in a British town. Next to the station in Largo Marques de Monte Alegre is the Igreja de Santo Antonio do Valongo (Mon-Sat 8.30-11.30am and 2-7pm, Sun 8am-6pm), built in 1641 in colonial Baroque style but with its interior totally "restored" over the following centuries. Back on Rua XV de Novembro, at no. 95, is the Bolsa de Cafe (Tues-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 10am-5pm), where coffee prices are fixed and the quality assessed. And at the end of the street is another Baroque building, the Convento do Carmo , again sixteenth-century in facade only.
Across town from Centro on the south side of the island, twenty minutes by bus from Praca Maua by Rua do Comercio, are Santos'
beaches
. They're huge, stretching around the Atlantic-facing Baia de Santos, and are attractive in a Copacabana kind of way. The problem, though, is that while the beaches themselves are kept tidy the water is of doubtful cleanliness; stick to the sands. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Brazil,
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