Oct 10

Oct 10 São Luís

Most visitors only get to São Luís, the capital of the State of Maranhão, on the way to or from Lençóis Maranhenses, and to be honest so did we: we did not have many expectations, but one of Brazil’s oldest and most unusual cities had plenty of surprises in store.

For starters, million-strong São Luís is properly remote: it is more than 500 km away from any other similarly-sized cities as the crow flies and its location on a cluster of islands at the combined mouth of three rivers gives it an even stronger end-of-the-world feel.

Little wonder that this spot, far away from the major centres of earlier colonisation, was chosen by French colonists to found their own South American paradise, originally known as ‘Equatorial France’. The city quickly became the object of a three-way struggle between French, Dutch and Portuguese colonial forces, only to decisively join the rest of Brazil under the Portuguese crown half a century later. Nowadays, the only struggle is to decide which of the city’s dozens of beaches is the best for a lazy afternoon: we found the sequence of beaches along Avenida Litorânea the most enticing.

São Luís’s diverse history finds an expression in the refined and tasty local cuisine: even though it isn’t entirely clear which of the different elements in the city’s lineage accounts for the presence of hard-boiled eggs in most dishes, they fit surprisingly well with the range of delicately spiced seafood stews. Be sure to try the fresh local oysters as well.

It would be perfectly possible to spend all of your time in São Luís at the city’s laid-back beachfront, but it would be a mistake to skip the city’s slightly run-down but highly atmospheric historic centre, whose ensemble of well-preserved colonial buildings is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here, the Portuguese element takes centre stage with most facades covered in beautiful blue-and-white azulejos. We hired a guide (with an air-conditioned car) for our visit, but it is perfectly possible to explore on your own as long as you keep your wits about you.

On our short visit, we did not have the chance to experience the city’s famous reggae scene, but it is no surprise that a city with such diverse heritage holds further surprises. We’ll be sure to take more time for our next visit!