Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
So we arrived back in Campo Grande and booked our 18 hour bus to Brasilia for later that day. Little did we know that we had booked with a really annoying company that would take a really long time to get there (more than 18 hours) and take a really ROUNDABOUT route too? (Rakhee found this out whilst we were sat in an internet café, where the owner laughed at her when she said the name of the bus company we were travelling with!).
After more than 19 hours sat on the bus, we soon started to understand that the bus company LIED, because, you see, we finally reached Brasilia 25 HOURS after boarding ? YES, that's more than a day sat vegetating on a bus!!! Needless to say we were NOT happy, we were tired from the lack of mental stimulation and downright bored! We trundled off the bus like two old women, checked into a really nice little hostel that night, and headed out the next morning to see the city.
Brasilia is not a very conventional city, especially given that it's the capital of Brazil. It is like stepping out into a different world. The city is laid out in the shape of an aeroplane or eagle, and all the buildings have modern architecture and are very different to other cities in Brazil. It does have a lot to do with the influence of an architect named Oscar Niemeyer, who had a really great futuristic vision for the city and designed a lot of the ?outta this world? type buildings. Another observation is that NOBODY walks in Brasilia as the distances are so great - we were actually the only people walking along the streets!
The day was spent walking around the main hub of the city. It was a really hot day and it became obvious why people don't really walk around! We went up the TV tower to get the full view of the city and its apparent eagle shape, and then had lunch in the market below. Later, we headed down to see the Niemeyer Cathedral, a pomegranate-shaped white building, which was next to the new spiral-shaped Niemeyer building, which showed pictures and scale models of all his major works from around the world. One of the most impressive buildings was the National Congress building, which had two domes, one concave and one convex, on top of the roof. We were lucky enough to get a guided tour of the building from the inside as it was the weekend, and we even tried to sneak a in a sit on Lula's (the president) chair!! It was great to see such an impressive building where so many of the country's decisions are made.
On reflection, the city is impressive, different, and definitely worth seeing if you are passing through or close-by, however the place seems very impersonal and lacks the charm that most other capital cities and Brazilian cities have.
After having seen all the important stuff in just a day, we decided enough was enough, and clearly not quite scarred enough from our 25 hour journey, we opted to leave that night, catching a bus to the small, colonial town of Diamantina?
- comments