Walking the big city

For a small hotel the Calstar put on an awesome breakfast with hot and cold options, including plenty of fruit and different juices and shakes.  We timed ourselves well to get into the small breakfast room without waiting.

We have a free walking tour to join at 1130 but reviewing the information last night, I noticed they suggested a visit to Copan Building nearby to get a view of this massive city.  It turned out to be about a minute’s walk from our hotel.

Information suggested that the visit to the top of Copan Building was 1030 and recommended time to get there was 1000.  We got there at 0945 and were told to return at 1010.  With that much time we went for a walk to the nearby church of Our Lady of Consolation which had beautifully painted walls inside.

Back at the Copan Building at 1010, the queue was long.  But they had already started taking people up so it didn’t take too long before it was our turn.

There were lots of staff required to manage the activity: registration, guiding to the lifts, guiding visitors to the rooftop two floors above the top floor reachable by the lift and finally keeping an eye on visitors on the roof.  I’m surprised the visit is actually free and there were other buildings giving similar access.

We got an very good view of Sao Paulo from the roof of the Copan Building.  Skyscrapers seemed to stretch out in all directions.  It has metropolitan population of 21 million people and is only dwarfed by Tokyo and Jakarta; it is about the same size as Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai or Mexico City. (Wikipedia; population by metropolitan area).

Despite the outward appearance of a faceless concrete jungle, we discover a few gems and a lot of homeless people later during the walking tour.  It is a very cosmopolitan city with more Levantine Arabs than in Lebanon, more Japanese than any other country outside Japan.

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We got to Praca Republica before the 1130 start and wandered briefly.  There were lots of homeless people.  Underneath a banyan tree a homeless woman was shaving her male companion.

The tour started with the guide pointing out Italia Building and then Copan Building.  Both were completed in the mid-1960s.  Most of the iconic buildings in the city are of a similar age.

The guide pointed out a few night spots to us and then took us past the library, the opera house and the town hall building with a garden on the rooftop.

At the metropolitan cathedral, there were many more homeless in the square where the zero point marker was located.  The cathedral was rather stark inside though.

We broke for a 20min break at the Santa Terezia cafe.  We continued past a “tax meter” which shows the tax collected starting from calendar year and looked down at some street markets where people come from afar to buy “stuff” (non-perishables) to bring back to their towns to sell.

That took us to the former financial centre of the country.  A few iconic buildings were there but no longer house their original occupants.  Much of the banking industry is now centred in Paulista Avenue.

We finished at Sao Bento Monastery and square.  After saying our goodbyes and handing over our tip, we wandered inside the church.  It was jaw-droppingly beautiful but without being over-the-top.  Rather than gold and ornate carvings, the beauty was in the orthodox style painted decoration.  Unfortunately photos weren’t permitted and everyone seemed to be adhering to the rules for a change.

We wandered to the Municipal Market through some very busy streets crowded with pedestrians.  Not hungry, we settled for just a drink in the beautiful but crowded atmosphere.

It was meant to be a 30min walk home but we had a few detours due to the quirks of offline navigation on Google Maps.  It was close to 1700 by the time we reached our room.

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We settled for dinner at the same place as last night, very near the hotel.  Instead of the milanesa (which was more of a steak than a schnitzel in thickness), we opted for the parmagiana.  Well, that was essentially a milanesa with a ton of mozzarella cheese and drenched with a delicious sauce.  We ate all the meat and left a large part of the cheese behind.

Considering that I hadn’t really wanted to visit Sao Paulo, and we apprehensive about exploring the place by ourselves, we had a really fruitful day.  The free walking tour took us to a good chunk of the city’s sights and gave us a good feel for the city.

There’s plenty more to the city that we didn’t go to.  Paulista Ave is top of the list for some.  We didn’t have time but I don’t regret not going.  Commercial buildings, galleries and museums aren’t really my thing.  Next time, perhaps.