patriciawatt

Salvador de Bahia was founded in 1549 and was the first Portuguese America’s capital. Today there are still many of those old colonial buildings standing, but most are crumbling and in need of repair and many are beyond being saved. It struck me as a poor city now and it is not one of the safest places to visit, so be vigilant. The city is built on two levels and there is an elevator to get you to the top level where you will find several beautiful churches. You can be sure they are not crumbling and in two of the churches you will find an embarrassment of gold and silver and gold leaf covering almost every part of the inside of the church. Still is it a vibrant colourful city. Brazil was the recipient of more slaves coming to the Americas from Africa than anywhere else in the world so there is a very strong Afro-Brazilian culture found here and 80% of the people identify as black. It has the largest black population after Africa and the state of Bahia is known as “Little Africa”.