São Paulo
We usually recommend flying in to São Paulo, international connections tend to be better and the airport is on the right side of town for Picinguaba.
São Paulo, 16 million inhabitants, is one of the biggest cities in the world. It is a bustling megalopolis with its special energy, a sort of Southern New York City, a vibrant testimony of the expanding modern Brazilian culture.
When you explore São Paulo, you amazingly stumble into districts which are villages with their own atmosphere, engrained with the culture and the smells of the country of origin: Italy, the Mediterranean, Japan, Lebanon, Germany, beautifully mixed with flavours from regions of the North of Brazil, from where the megalopolis receive many immigrants.
" J'adore cette ville
São Paulo est selon mon coeur
Ici nulle tradition
Aucun préjugé
Ni ancien ni moderne
Seuls comptent cet appétit furieux cette confiance absolue cet optimisme cette audace ce travail ce labeur cette spéculation qui font
construire ces maisons dans tous les styles ridicules grotesques beau grands petits nord-sud égyptien-yankee-cubiste (…)
Tous les pays
Tous les peuples
J’aime ça
Les deux trois vielles maisons portugaises qui restent sont de faïence bleues
Azulejos ".
Blaise Cendrars, Poème à la gloire de Saint Paul, in Brésil, des hommes sont venus, 1951.