| | Posted by Cathy

Dear readers, I invite you all to join me on a tour around old São Paulo. As this big and cosmopolitan city has turned 453 years old on Janurary 25th, why not visit where it was born?

So, as I am sure most of you know, the Portuguese were the founders of the city, as they ‘’owned'’ Brazil at that time. Specifically, Portuguese priests, who came here to convert the Indians to Catholicism. Therefore, the first building in the whole city was a church and a school, that we call “Pátio do Colégio”, which translated means school’s yard, or something like that (unfortunately I don’t have pictures taken by myself, but you may open this link and see an official picture, found in the city hall’s website).

Of course, this is not the original building from 1554, it has been rebuilt in the past, but there you can still see some old walls preserved. Something curious about this place is that in the past you were able to see the sea, as it is located in a very high place (the city is over a mountain and therefore kind of far from the beach itself). Nowadays, unfortunately, that isn’t possible anymore, due to several reasons that you may guess (stuff built in front of it, pollution, etc etc).
Now that you know a little bit of the history (I’m not sure if you all already know this, but I’m a bit of a history geek, so I’m stopping here because otherwise I’d get very happy writing and this would turn into a monography ).

Shall we see some of the beautiful old buildings then?

So, I got the subway in the station near my house, and got down right in front of the Mosteiro de São Bento, after around 15 minutes. This church and monastery was built in 1598 and it’s one of the oldest in the city. Its interior is VERY beautiful, too bad we aren’t allowed to take any pictures. Nowadays the monastery still works and they also have a university in which they offer theology courses.

Now, a block ahead we have an important place in the city. The very beginning of Avenida São Jõao (avenue).

This is Edifício Martinelli. By the time it was built (1922 to 1930), it was the biggest in the city. Nowadays this is not true, of course. A curiosity: the person who built it (the Martinelli guy, a rich italian), had a house on the top of it (a mansion, actually). No, not as a penthouse, but literally, a big house built over the “edificio'’. He did that so that he could prove it was safe.

New Yorkers, can you guess what the inspiration to this ‘’edificio'’ was?? Anyway, it’s not as big as the ‘’original‘’, but it also used to be one of the tallest of the city (it has 38 floors). A bank works there.

Looking at the opposite side of the same avenue, this pic shows the Post office. This building has just been restored. You can also see some old fashioned street lamps.

If we walk some more blocks… we end up in the very famous “Vale do Anhangabaú” , or “Anhangabau Valley”. See the thing with the green roof resembling a little bit L’opera de Paris?
Let’s take a closer look.

My favorite spot in the city! The THEATRO MUNICIPAL. Or, translated, Municipal Theater. Guess you can figure now why it’s my favorite!
And, if we take a walk inside of it… look who has been here!

Hey, Paloma! Too bad I was very young when it happened, it was in 1996.

Anyway let’s go back to the ‘’valley'’.

Here we are on the top of “Viaduto do Chá“, a bridge. Translating: “Bridge of tea”. And why is that? Well, back in the past, there used to be a plantation under it. And yeah, it was a tea one.
Now let’s look at the other side, opposite to the theater’s one:

That white short building is the city hall.

Wingers, our trip is over. I hope you have enjoyed it. This is just a small part, because I haven’t shown the cathedral yet, for example. But this will be some other time, another part of the ‘’tour”!