Ceará
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Ceará, in Brazil, has 578km (360 miles) of coast, the capital is Fortaleza, a 2.5 million people city! Usually people come to Ceará because of the famous beaches.
FORTALEZA, THE CAPITAL In the Capital, Fortaleza, the best place to stay is Praia de Iracema, they have some cheap hostels (staring from R$ 20.00 a day) and it is a good located place! Close to the “Dragão do Mar”, the cultural center of the city. At night you can see lots of bars and night clubs there. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are the best days there. And don’t forget to try the “Chopp de Vinho” (you can find it at “Bar do Bexiga”), it is a kind of drink that they mix beer and wine!
“Praia de Iracema” and “Beira Mar” are the places where you should stay, it’s close to the marine, fairs, bars, windsurfing school, IceCream… but it is not a good place to swim because the water isn’t that clean. Every night there is a fair in “Beira Mar” where you can buy souvenirs and taste the best IceCream in the Earth! There is a place called “50 Sabores” they have 50 different flavors of IceCream, the good thing about thet place is that you can taste as many flavors you want before choose your IceCream! They also have some flavor made of brazilian fruits like Açai, Ciriguela, Graviola, Sapoti… But, take care, there is another IceCreamShop at “Beira Mar” called “60 Sabores” it is really small and they sell industrialized IceCream, some people go there just because they get confused and they think that is the right place.
Also in Beira Mar, between the IceCream place and Dragão do Mar there is a place where you can find some vans that take the tourists for rides to close beaches. You should take one of those vans and go to “Praia do Cumbuco”, there are beautiful dunes there, and you can also try some skibunda and sandboard! You must find the vans at night and they usually leave early in the morning and come back at night, in the same day. Its better take someone that speaks Portuguese with you, because they don’t speak any foreign language.
The best beach in the city to swim and surf (it costs R$ 20 an hour of surfing class) is “Praia do Futuro”, from “Beira Mar” you can take a taxi cab and usually they charge something between R$ 15 to R$ 20. “Praia do Futuro” is also the place to go Thursdays night! It’s a tradition in Fortaleza to eat crabs at Thursdays night, all city goes there, they play different kinds of music, samba, axé, pagoda, forró…
In Fortaleza there is a good Portuguese school for foreigners called Instituto Poliglota http://www.institutopoliglota.com.br/ Av. Pontes Vieira, 369, Fortaleza – CE Phone: 55 85 3272.1433
CEARÁ COAST A good place to go is in the East Coast, a beach called “Canoa Quebrada”, it is 2 hours from Fortaleza. There you should stay 2 days, they have an avenue called Broadway where are the bars and night clubs! There are some good hostels in this avenue! During the day you can go to the beach and also go for some buggy rides! It’s good to check in some travel agencies, sometimes they have a good price!
In the West Coast the best beach is “Jericoacoara”, its popular name is “Jeri”, it is 4 hours by car from Fortaleza. That place really worth! You must spend 3 days there! I can’t speak for this place, just google some pictures and you will know what I’m talking about! The most beautiful beach ever!
