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Sobral is the main city of north-western Ceará, on the Rio Acaraú about 235 km from Fortaleza, known as the Princesinha do Norte for its wealth and culture. Its listed historic centre, the Theatro São João and the cathedral recall the days when it was a rich trading town of the sertão.
The town grew from the Fazenda Caiçara, founded in the early 18th century, and became a vila in 1773. On 29 May 1919 a British expedition photographed a total solar eclipse here, and the results helped confirm Einstein's general theory of relativity, a story told at the Museu do Eclipse.
Visitors walk the old streets and squares, see the sacred art and Ice Age fossils of the Museu Dom José and stroll the riverside park on the Margem Esquerda. Nearby rise the green Serra da Meruoca and, further west, the cliffs, caves and waterfalls of the Parque Nacional de Ubajara.
The Sobral Historic Centre is the old heart of Sobral in Ceará, listed by IPHAN in 1999 as national heritage. Its streets and squares keep colonial churches, mansions and townhouses from the days when the town grew rich as a trading centre for the farm produce of the nearby serras.
Sobral Cathedral, the Igreja da Sé of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, is the seat of the Diocese of Sobral in Ceará. Its foundation stone was laid on 5 November 1778, when Sobral was already a prosperous vila, and it grew from the old Matriz da Caiçara around which the town was settled.
Theatro São João is the most important cultural venue in Sobral, built by the Sociedade Cultural União Sobralense, founded in 1875 to promote culture in the town. It opened on 26 September 1880 with a comedy played by local amateurs, and after its 2004 restoration it reopened with Waiting for Godot.
The Arco de Nossa Senhora de Fátima is a triumphal arch in Sobral, built in 1953 on the site of an old cross to mark the visit of the pilgrim image of Our Lady of Fátima to Brazil. Designed by the architect Falb Rangel, it was restored in 2004, when its surroundings became the Boulevard do Arco.
The Museu do Eclipse in Sobral opened on 29 May 1999, eighty years after the solar eclipse of 1919 whose photographs, taken here, helped confirm Einstein's general theory of relativity. It shows the original telescope and photographs of the expedition, with models, simulators and an observatory.
Museu Dom José is the diocesan museum of Sobral, considered the fifth most important museum of sacred art in Brazil, with more than 30,000 pieces. It is also the second largest palaeontology museum in Ceará, with more than 5,000 pieces, including fossils of mastodons and giant ground sloths.
The Casa de Cultura de Sobral is a cultural centre in one of the grand old townhouses of Sobral's historic centre, part of the urban ensemble listed by IPHAN in 1999. The restored casarão hosts exhibitions and cultural events, and its rooms look out over the palacetes of the old town.
The Margem Esquerda do Rio Acaraú is the landscaped riverside park on the left bank of the Acaraú in Sobral, beside the listed historic centre. Its promenade looks out over the river, and the Biblioteca Municipal Lustosa da Costa, built where a cotton mill once stood, sits on the same bank.
The Serra da Meruoca is a granite massif just north of Sobral, whose humid upland forest stands out like an island in the dry sertão of Ceará. Known for its giant cashew trees, it has streams, springs, waterfalls and trails, and has been protected as an environmental protection area since 2008.
Parque Nacional de Ubajara is a national park of 6,299 hectares on the edge of the Serra da Ibiapaba, west of Sobral, run by ICMBio. It protects caves, humid forest, streams and waterfalls such as the Cafundó, and its trails and the visit to the cave are made with guides from the park.
The Gruta de Ubajara is a limestone cave inside the Parque Nacional de Ubajara in Ceará, with chambers full of striking formations. It is reached only on foot with an accredited guide along the Trilha dos Cafundós, a 12 km round trip through the forest of the serra that takes about seven hours.
The Cachoeira do Cafundó is a waterfall in Ubajara, Ceará, and the most visited fall in the Parque Nacional de Ubajara. Part of the park's Circuito de Cachoeiras, it tumbles into a natural pool reached by the Trilha da Samambaia, a cool place to swim after a hot walk through the forest.
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Photo: GLandovsky, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: GLandovsky, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: GLandovsky, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: GLandovsky, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: GLandovsky, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: GLandovsky, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: GLandovsky, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Photo: Otávio Nogueira from Fortaleza, BR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Otávio Nogueira from Fortaleza, BR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Otávio Nogueira from Fortaleza, BR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Otávio Nogueira from Fortaleza, BR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Otávio Nogueira from Fortaleza, BR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Otávio Nogueira from Fortaleza, BR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Otávio Nogueira from Fortaleza, BR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Otávio Nogueira from Fortaleza, BR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Nickolas Souza Silva, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Nickolas Souza Silva, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
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