Northern soul alive in land of Carnival

Brazil by Steve Jones

Coastal regions deserve wider audience

Northern soul alive in land of Carnival

The word Brazil conjures up a host of exotic images. Though not a mainstream UK destination, it is a country that, in all probability, would feature on many people’s wish list.

For that, the celebrated landmarks of Rio de Janeiro are largely responsible – together with its Carnival and the Brazilian obsession with football.

Yet ask someone to name three Brazilian cities and after Rio, and possibly Sïo Paulo, most would struggle. So Brazil is almost unique in being a country that we’d all love to go to, yet most of us know nothing about.

Unijet is attempting to change all that with its dedicated programme to the destination. And while Rio and the Amazon are obviously featured, the operator is also focusing on two lesser-known regions on Brazil’s north coast, Recife and Natal.

Recife City, the second largest in the north, is not much to look at with an almost industrial feel. However, there are some excellent beaches – Boa Viagem being the pick of them – but generally there’s not an awful lot to see.

Which is why four of Unijet’s sevenfeatured hotels are located in Porto de Galinhas, a small though bustling fishing village 41 miles south of Recife.

With a plethora of bars and restaurants and a glorious bay littered with wooden rafts known as jangadas – all of which perform minor miracles by staying afloat – Porto de Galinhas has the rare atmosphere of being both lively yet laid back.

One of the most appealing features is that Porto de Galinhas has a distinctly local ambience. Despite being a holiday resort, there is no pandering to overseas tourists, for the simple reason that 90% of its visitors are Brazilian.

English is rarely spoken, so unless you have a grasp of Portuguese it’s not too easy making yourself understood. But isn’t that half the fun when you think you’ve ordered a beer only to get some brightly coloured, exotic cocktail?

Closer to Recife, about four miles to the north, is Olinda, widely reckoned to be one of the most beautiful complexes of colonial architecture in Brazil. Although it is only down the road from Recife, its cobbled streets, churches and pastel-coloured houses could be a million miles away.

The city of Natal, an hour’s flying time north of Recife, is altogether more appealing. Yet it’s the outlying areas which again provide the greatest attractions for visitors. Not least are the huge sand dunes at Genipabu, to the north of the city.

This is the land of the bugeiros – buggy drivers who do nothing more than tear around beaches in their converted VW Beetles with a bunch of terrified passengers hanging on for dear life.

The dunes are spectacular. And so are the buggy rides – the equivalent of a mini roller-coaster ride. It’s fantastic, exhilarating fun as you bounce around the dunes and zip along the beach.

Elsewhere in the Natal region is Ponte Negra, which like Porto de Galinhas, is a lively village frequented predominantly by locals. It is just one of a host of beaches along this stretch of coast, many of them remote and unspoilt, and some accessible only by four-wheel drive.

One of the most noticeable aspects of this region, and probably throughout Brazil, is its football pitches. There are simply hundreds of them.

On every spare piece of land, be it sun-scorched grass, dirt, concrete or just wasteland, there are makeshift goalposts with a group of kids usually knocking a ball about.

Setting sail: Recife is worth a visit for its stunning beaches alone