Today was a day of concrete, crowds and claustrophobia. I had decided that I would head to the old town of São Paulo in the anticipation that it would different from all I had seen yesterday. First though, I would get to the tourist information office I had failed to find yesterday.
I left after breakfast and followed the same route as yesterday: the same cracked and scruffy pavements; the same busy roads past the same characterless buildings; and the same noisy, crowded six lane highway following the raised metro line.
I arrived at a metro station, another brutal, square concrete structure and headed in; somewhere in the back of here was the tourist office. Inside it was vast. Two dim and massive levels of transport hub - coaches and taxis, trains and metro - plus all the associated ticket and travel agents with crowds of people filling the floors and stairs and escalators and heading purposely in all directions. It was as bad as any London station on its worst day. It took a while - signage does not appear to be a Brazilian strong point - but eventually I found the tiny tourist office hidden away at the back on the ground floor and was provided with maps and suggestions for the day.
The map from the tourist office showed a roughly triangular city centre with a route around it that took in the old buildings of the town. The centre of the triangle was green, crossed by the occasional path, and I had the impression of a park surrounded by the original buildings of the city. I was to be disappointed. The centre was mostly high-rise buildings with anything older lost among them. I headed for an old bank that I heard had a rooftop restaurant, thinking would suit me for lunch. I had not expected to pay to get inside the building (there were a number of displays on the upper levels) or to queue to get in and out.
The view from the restaurant did little to change my view of the city with high-rise buildings to every horizon. I left to find the cathedral and then headed to a shopping centre by metro to buy a couple of items requested by Nigel. I had hoped to visit a nearby park but weariness got the better of me and instead I headed back for dinner and bed in readiness for tomorrow’s departure.
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