Arrived safely in São Paulo  after an uneventful British Airways overnight flight. As is custom in Latin America the arrivals process at the airport is efficient and quick, in contrast to most airports back home. The taxi journey to our hotel in Paulista Avenue took 90 minutes, the first indication that São Paulo is truly one of the World Mega Cities.

Our first day was spent in and around Paulista Avenue and the old city centre, an interesting contrast of the commercial dynamism, energy and activity of Paulistas driving the Brazil economy forward on the global development journey and the slightly decayed grandeur of the old colonial centre. In and around the glass tower blocks of Paulista Avenue are a few of the old merchants houses, where the early coffee barons lived, presents a nice reminder of the City’s past.

A particularly delightful old merchant house is the Casa das Rosas, where we had our first beer on our journey in the cafe in fragrant rose gardens, from where the above image was taken which elegantly captures some of the street art that is all around Sao Paulo.

Day two we sampled a couple of São Paulo’s many museums, first the MASP which has to be one of the most unusual Art Museums in the World, essentially there is a single large room where all the art is displayed in glass cabinets at eye level in row upon row of pictures. At the front you do not see who painted the picture so have to walk around the back to see the title of the picture, who the artist was etc. Also you see the back of the frame, which in itself highlights a number of unusual structures. The art contains many pieces by European classic artists including Raphael, Rubens, El Greco, Picasso and many of the prolific Impressionists. However more interestingly are a number of pictures of Brazil at the time of the early settlers.

Following on from the MASP we walked though the Jardin’s District to Ibirapuera Park where we visited the very ernest Museo Afro Brasil with its heavy preponderance of catholic religious artefacts and slightly dated presentation. Notwithstanding this there were some fascinating exhibits of the introduction of slaves into early Brazil and how the country evolved into the multicultural position of today.

Near Ibiraquera Park there was some really quirky stuff in the nearby streets, which whetted our appetite for more of São Paulo’s fantastic street art for the rest of our stay in this surprising city.

Dates: 22/01/2018 to 23/01/2018