UWC Day 019 – Recife, Brazil – Historic Olinda and Recife

Bus tour to Olinda, and around Recife. Super early start time and it was so incredibly hot and humid but beautiful spaces. Overall, a pretty fun day and another interesting port.

Early Morning Start

On the excursion ticket, it had the same tour operator as the one in Fortaleza, so I wasn’t entirely sure about the tour, and was thinking about canceling or just no showing since it had a 7:15 AM start time (sigh).

I begrudgingly woke up to multiple alarms this time and headed topside around 6:45 AM. Weather was pretty nice and we were right next to the city line and coast. VERY groggily I went back down and got ready for the excursion.

Took a bus immediately upon debarking to the cruise terminal where we were greeted by some dancers and music.

The Tour

The tour itself went to to a UNESCO Heritage Site of Olinda. It was a great bus tour, but I also saw a lot of stuff along the way that I would’ve loved to get out and wander and take some photos.

Upon getting into the bus, we got a “free gift” of baby wipes since we’ll definitely need to towel off from the heat. I swear, the mouse follows me everywhere 🤣.

I was a little conflicted, cause on one hand, I usually prefer to go off on my own, but also, I have a couple huge giveaways that I’m a tourist. For one, my wardrobe is essentially all running clothes from former races (75% of which are disney races), and then I’m lugging around all my camera equipment.

It didn’t escape my notice that literally everywhere we went, the tour company had the areas contained, and there was police presence with several cars and police there as well. I never really felt unsafe as it was bright and sunny and we were in a crowd anyway, but it definitely gives one pause, and some food for thought.

Churches

Stopped at two churches, really interesting architecture, and the tours had split people up, so we were never actually super congested or crowded. To get to the church, we had to take a separate van to go up the 7ish hills on cobblestone. Apparently, during Carnaval, they have to walk up and down the hills…

I particularly loved having the 70-200mm lens with me to get some of the detailed figures inside the churches.

The Views

As we walked around, there were sweeping views of the city and our ship.

Markets

We stopped at a couple markets (people love their shopping I guess…). At one of them, a common marmoset came out to say hi on a power cable. I’m guessing they’re like squirrels or deer for us back home, and they’re just everywhere. For this American though, it was pretty fun and cute to see and snag some photos.

Beach

Stopped for like 3 minutes at a beach. Pretty, nice sand, and would’ve spent more time, nice and cool from the oppressive sun. I did notice their soccer field, and found it fascinating that there’s sand everywhere on their urban soccer field. Puts our many fields and ballparks in the states into some perspective, when we have to have our crazy stadiums and concessions for little league games.

Cultural Square

Stopped at a cultural square with some figures and a nice fountain. Lots of holiday stuff still up too.

Returning Back to Ship

Finished the tour around 1 PM, and I was exhausted. The combination of the early start (and lack of sleep) and the heat took it out of me. Took some photos real quick around the terminal and then headed back in.

Grabbed some lunch at the Windjammer…I made it 19 days before my first stop at the buffet! Also got some panoramic photos of the city from the shop. More tomorrow when I have some time to merge them.

Then, exhausted went and took a 5 hour “nap” before dinner.

Moonlit Cruising

On the way to dinner, I noticed the moon was pretty low (relatively) on the horizon, so stopped to take some photos and just enjoy the view.

Food

Dinner was….good, but suuuper heavy today. My run was definitely rough tonight 🤣. They really undersold the size of the meatball, so I got that AND the lobster bisque. Then got the special truffle burger and truffle fries which was massive as well. Finished off with sticky toffee pudding (with ice cream).

I did feel the need to digest for a second, so sat with a nice earl gray tea afterward.

Rest of the Night

Finished the night editing photos and listening to Daniel in the pub while keeping an eye on the Thursday Night Football game (and hockey). Then retreated to the room for a bit of food network (Beat Bobby Flay), and finally went for a run around 2 AM. SUUUPER windy, and one point felt like I wasn’t moving at all.

Side note: I’ve never actually gone to the spa on a ship cause I’m usually just on a 5 day and it’s packed, but seeing as how this is home, I needed to figure out how haircuts work. For anyone interested…here’s the menu.

Vibe Check

5 parts joy

(I was gonna jokingly put one part as anger just cause he looks like the sun….but it really was a great day)

Feedback

Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!