Less than 24 hours in Olinda

From New York to Dulles, VA to Sao Paolo to Rio to Recife. We got there.

Man, I love airplanes. What we do in order to use up airline miles.

"Olinda is the Greenwich Village for Recife." Hmm, Lonely Planet you have intrigued us.

Recife is a city in the northeastern Brazil (pp 2 million) and within it is a town called Olinda (pp 400K).

It really was a go between city before we could get to Fernando de Noronha because we. were. not. going. on an airplane again. For another day.

While we were really only there less than 24 hours, we did get some meals in and observe some sights.

Just in time for dinner on a Saturday night (Mr. Broad totally planned that one) we found a restaurant from his savvy internet research-- Oficina do Sabor. Ooh atmosphere.

PS- Thank you Google for your translator.

We ordered the pumpkin stew with shrimp and lobster for two. Presentation was Top Chef quality. There was a cheese melted on top too. Sounds interesting but it really worked. Or we were just hungry and lethargic.

Note: Pumpkin and Brazil. We noticed it a lot throughout Brazil; thoughts anyone??

Another note: Agreeing on a dish with Mr. Broad is harder than you would think.

Next up we walked the cobblestone streets. Plenty of history in this colonial town dating back to the 1500, it's now a UNESCO site. Oh and there's a huge Carnival there to rival Rio's in February.

However, we found to the street food section. It was as if Mr. Broad's name was being called...

First up a stop at an Afoxe club/bar. Man, we're so cultured.

Then as if it was late night 3am pizza (or 11pm in our case), Mr. Broad found what he was looking for.

Street meat.

Presenting... Acaraje. Something about a stuffed bean pate, shrimp, and lots of spices. And fried. This $2 dish below was easily Mr. Broad's favorite item he ate all 2 weeks.

Sorry for the spoiler.

The next morning we tried the ever popular Tapioca. Not exactly the pudding variety familiar in the dairy aisles in the supermarket.

It is a stark white pancake that Brazilians use and put either sweet or salty toppings on them. Eaten like a taco or crepe. This was a dried beef one with cheese.

Others not photographed included Chocolate and cheese; and Dulche de Leche with Coconut

Not bad, just a bit flavorless.

And sights.

You can see Recife in the distance. Pretty cool...

A church

Take a picture of a random Brazilian and you feel ohso National Geographic...

And again.

But seriously, I loved Olinda but it did not remind us of Greenwich.

People we met who spoke English: 0

Languages the church tour guide spoke: Spanish or Portuguese

Languages Mrs. Broad speaks: English

Worst tour of a church if you do not speak Spanish or Portuguese: Olinda

Number of times Mrs. Broad tush was pinched in the Afoxe bar: 2

Where the kids like to drink on a Saturday night: On the streets as if they tailgating

Number of times Mrs. Broad tripped walking up the cobblestone trips: infinite