premaasi

Sunset views from the ship last night. About a half hour or so after the sailaway from Buenos Aires 

Bridgett Bardot's arrival to the small fishing and whaling village of Armaco dos Buzios in 1964 changed it forever. It is now a coveted holiday destination for the well-heeled of Rio. It is pretty and idyllic. The lush vegetation is both tropical and desert like with cacti coexisting with hibusicus and bougenvillea. We tried to beay the heat and humidity with cooling and yummy caipirhinias! Some photos below. all from the included walking tour. Bridgette has left her mark here! 

We were in Salvador da Bahia the day before yesterday. Salvador da Bahia is an old city, a UNESCO Heritage site and was the capital of Brazil for 200 years. Today it is the capital of Brazilian state of Bahia and is situated on the beautiful Bay of All Saints (Bahia de Todos os Santos), the 2^nd largest in the world after Hudson Bay according to our local guide (Viking included tour).  It is fun, colorful, laid-back, musical and happy! Musicians are everywhere in the center of town, and the colonial buildings are still resplendent with colonial architectural styles, most notably the opulent and ornate baroque style of the Sao Francisco da Assisi church. Beautiful carvings adorn the outside and the ticket-hall is lined with paintings and large blue-and-white tiles (azuelos) imported from Lisbon .  A beautiful painting adorns the ceiling. We didn't go inside but the intricate carvings inside are covered in goldleaf! We'd visited a similar church in Porto, Portugal a year or so ago, so skipped this one. 

The city itself is a lot like Lisbon with its upper city (you ride up a large elevator to get up there) hilly cobblestoned streets and pastel-colored buildings. It is the only region in Brazil with an Afro-Brazilian culture.

It was hot and humid the day we were there, and the 2-3 hour walk was exhausting! But quite enjoyable. Here are some scenes from the tour. 

1 hour ago, SantaFe1 said:

Grenada is indeed a fabulous, exotic island.  We did a trip to the Grand Etang rain forest whose lake is a volcano crater.  Also visited a cocoa plantation, sugar mill, and rum distillery. The national flower is the bougainvillea, which is everywhere!

Beautiful! Sounds like a fun trip

Thanks for sharing!

Went on a pnaoramic drive on St. Georges's island Grenada. It's a lovely, small island country with 110,000 people and the second largest producer of nutmeg after Indonesia. It's the island of spice where everything's nice! Our guide was funny. He took us to the "dead center" of town where there was - ready for this? - a cemetery. Haha.

It is really a nice little island with lush vegetation, pastel-colored buildings and a world-famous medical school. 

Some pictures below. That's the Sun I believe in the distance in the third image. The picture was taken from a lookout point on the island. The second one is from the campus of St. George's University med school. The first image is from Deck 7 of the Sun while in port just before we left the island.

Did anyone go on the walking tour? Would love to see pics of you have them.

36 minutes ago, vnb2003 said:

According to our guide this was First Lady’s decorations for the Christmas festivities that last this year from Nov 1st to 3rd weekend of January. 

Good to know. Thanks for the info! Here's one more - scenes of the Old City. 

Came across this colorful art installation as I wandered about after the walking tour of Old San Juan. On the street leading to the Governor's mansion. He is apparently a patron of the arts.

Hello, 

This is the inaugural post for the Viking Sun World Cruise 2019!!! Less than 2 weeks to go. Looking forward to seeing everyone on January 3rd. 

Please post and comment here. 

Woot Woot!!!