Salvador

About Salvador

Drums echoing off pastel facades, the smell of acarajé frying in palm oil and a sunset over the Bay of All Saints: Salvador is the soul of Afro-Brazilian culture. Founded by the Portuguese in 1549, it was Brazil's first capital until 1763 and the great port of the colonial sugar trade, built in large part by enslaved Africans whose music, faith and cooking still define the city.

The old upper town, the Pelourinho, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site of cobbled slopes, baroque churches and colourful colonial houses, linked to the lower town and the Mercado Modelo by the Art Deco Elevador Lacerda. Capoeira circles, candomblé traditions and the drum troupes of the Pelourinho give the streets their rhythm, and Carnival here is one of the largest street parties on earth.

Along the Atlantic shore, Barra's lighthouse fort, the calm waters of Porto da Barra and the beaches of Itapuã invite slow days, while Rio Vermelho comes alive at night. Ferries cross the bay to the island of Itaparica and beyond.