Salvador da Bahia Part 2

It was curious to us that we spent the evening in port, because on other cruises we have sailed at night. But for whatever reason, we sailed from port at 8:00 this morning. So now, a continuation of yesterday’s story. The Pelourinho, the oldest district in the city, was once a wealthy neighbourhood. Over time, it gradually deteriorated into tenements and brothels until its restoration, just recently.

As our tour continued along streets lined with rows of pastel-coloured houses, the sun set and the lights came on giving the area a magical aura.

By the time we reached the centre of the Pelourinho, this was our view. It was riveting!

There were many shops along the way selling what were essentially African-style goods, like this drum shop.

I’m pretty sure that this area is fairly new to tourism, since we seemed to attract a lot of attention as we walked about. This is not always a comfortable feeling, especially as darkness descends. But then, we are the interlopers and our appearance certainly differed substantially from the locals. As we stepped back on our tour bus, it was dark and although the tour continued, we saw very little along the remainder of the route.

Dinner last night was once again in the Grand Dining Room. Dawn has been very good about having the Canyon Spa Menu, which as it suggests is the healthy alternative. Me, not so much! In my defense however, the regular portions are small and we’ve been fairly active. So…back to today.

This morning as we sailed away from Salvador, I was greeted with a Birthday card from the Captain – nice touch. This is a birthday I’ll likely not forget. We had breakfast in the Terrace Café, lunch in the Grand Dining Room and dinner in Polo and other than a workout on the track and in the fitness centre, that was pretty much the day.

There was a meeting of Canadians in Horizons before dinner that we did attend. We’ve met some nice people, among them Carol & Walter Donaldson from Windsor, with whom we dined at Polo.

During the course of the evening, we discovered that at least two others had birthdays today, but I was the only one to successfully keep my mouth shut about it. Sing along with me now. That’s the way uh uh uh uh, I like it uh uh uh uh!