Saturday, March 1, 2014

March 05: Armação dos Búzios


Armação dos Búzios, often referred to as just Búzios, is a resort town and a municipality located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 2012, its population consisted of 23,463 inhabitants and its area of 69 km. Today, Búzios is a popular getaway from the city and a worldwide tourist site, especially among Brazilians and Argentinians.

In the early 1900s Búzios was popular with the Carioca’s high society, who wanted to escape from the chaotic city life of Rio de Janeiro and enjoy over 23 beaches that the peninsula offers. But it wasn’t until 1964, when the famous French actress Brigitte Bardot visited Búzios that it grew to be a popular tourist destination.

Today, the peninsula is a traveling site that offers calmness, direct contact with nature and breathtaking views. The west coast beaches offer calm, clear waters while the east coast ones, facing the open sea, are wilder and draw surfers and water sports enthusiasts. Azeda, Ferradura, João Fernandes, Armação, and Geribá, popular for surfing are amongst the most popular beaches in town. At night, Rua das Pedras, Buzios' main street, offers its visitors an active nightlife and a great variety of shopping and restaurants.   
[source: Wikipedia]
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The ship had to anchor in the bay, so we rode (not to be confused with “rowed”) ashore in a launch.  Having opted not to take an organized tour, we wandered around on our own.  It was a nice, upscale, touristy community, but we were glad we had not paid someone to show us.  To put it in perspective, in one day in Rio I took over 1,000 pictures.  In Buzios, I took 43.  Of those, 25 have subsequently been deleted for being just plain boring. 
We came across several interesting statues, including men fishing, Brigitte Bardot and Woody Allen.
After spending about two hours ashore, we returned to the ship.  All aboard was 1:30 PM with the ship hoisting anchor a half-hour later, setting a course for Salvador de Bahia.

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