The Full Portrait of Salvador — A Whole Day of History

The day begins at Farol da Barra and continues to Dique do Tororó, where monumental sculptures of orixás emerge from the waters in one of the most photographed scenes in the city. From there, we followed Enseada dos Tainheiros — a deep creek that, since colonial times, served as a repair port for boats and that to this day keeps the name of the mullet fishermen in the memory of the Ribeira neighborhood — to the mansion of Master Prentice, a self-taught craftsman who, at 85 years old, still hand-paints each tile in his studio open to the street. We headed to the Ribeira Ice Cream Parlor — founded in 1931 and recognized by TasteAtlas as one of the 100 best ice cream parlors in the world (74th place) — where you can try a scoop of the house's most iconic flavor, tapioca, in the shadow of Praça General Osório, with the sea breeze on your face. We continue along the edge of Praia da Penha to Igreja do Senhor do Bonfim, one of Bahia's greatest symbols of faith, and from there to Forte de Monte Serrat, where you drink cold coconut water with Baía de Todos os Santos opening in front of you.

We then go up to the Historic Center, where you sit down for a lunch that is, in itself, a Bahia class: a buffet of forty typical Afro-Bahian dishes — palm oil, pepper, coconut — served while still hot, with a separate dessert table to finish off with sweetness. After lunch, we walked through Museu da Gastronomia Baiana, Igreja do Rosário dos Pretos and the streets where Casa do Olodum is located, we arrived at Igreja de São Francisco de Assis — known as "Igreja do Ouro" for its interior covered in gilded carving — and continued to Catedral Basílica, in Praça da Sé, where the monument to Zumbi dos Palmares pays homage to the black resistance that also wrote the history of Brazil's first capital. We end the day at Elevador Lacerda, with Baía de Todos os Santos opening up before you, and a last stop at Mercado Modelo, to take some Bahian crafts with you.