Thursday, December 3, 2015

Salvador

Had a very nice drive from Teolandia to Valencia and from there to Gualibim. Gualibim is supposed to be a very desired tourist destination but we did not find it so special, probably in high season it is better. We drove on to Vera Cruz which is the ferry terminal to Salvador where we found  parking right next to the terminal. We use the website of IOverlander where other over landers enter the coordinates and a short description of places you can stay and facilities available. That is very helpful and we also enter places we find. 
Lined up for the ferry next morning, the ride is one hour. What a dumpy terminal, only one toilet for the whole terminal, also it is in disrepair and very dirty. The one redeeming factor is that the people are nice. On the ferry we met Carlos and his daughter Livia, thy were on a Vistrom motorbike and Livia came over to give us pins of their motorbike club. "The Falcones"
I gave her a bandana with the Maple leaf. When we landed in Salvador, it is thanks to Carlos that we found parking. Traffic in this city is crazy and on top of that a lot of road construction.
We visited the historic Pelarinho old town, Norbert remembered it from his sailing years.
We were warned not to carry any valuables and to put our camera in a plain shopping bag as crimes against tourists is very high here. We visited the Convento de San Francisco, it is incredible the amount of gold and silver in that church. I have seen many ornate churches on our travels, but this one floored me and made me angry, for as you step outside and there you see so much poverty. 
We had a hard time getting out of Salvador, one wrong turn and we were on the wrong highway.
Traffic was heavy and drivers crazy, plus it was 38 degrees so you can imagine the stress.
Did find our campground 17 km. north of Salvador and are now parked under palm trees by the beach with a nice breeze. Life is good.
Hugs to all.
Norbert and Greti   












2 comments:

  1. Avontuurlijke reis weer. Ben benieuwd wat jullie van Salvador vinden. Niet het beste land economisch gezien naar wat we in de media lezen, hoop dat het jullie meevalt. Wel oppassen daar😎

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  2. Hi Tini and Walter, yes we were warned to be careful, when we go sightseeing we only take some money for a bite to ear and the camera in a plain bag, also our dress is nothing fancy. We stopped at a hotel to ask the price for one nite and thy would not tell us, thy probably figured we could not afford it. So that gives you an idea what we look like. Hope all went well with Walter. Hugs

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