We left Florianopolis by bus, as we decided to spend 2 days in Porto Alegre to get to know the city before heading to Uruguay. I am happy we did. We used the company called TTL four our 8 hour bus ride due to traffic. We heard so many stories regarding how dangerous the bus station in Porto Alegre can be, even the taxi driver was telling us about all of the pick pocketing that happens around the area. I might say we were lucky or they were just exaggerating. Not sure. We did stay alert at all times and we did see a lot of police officers around the town but we didn’t see anything bad happening on the 3 days we spent there.
Okay, now to say a little more about Porto Alegre. We got to visit the most beautiful street in the world, called Rua Goncalo de Carvalho located at the Independencia neighborhood with its 100 trees. It was extremely beautiful in my opinion. It has gotten its tittle due to the fact that all the trees were planted by the residents and over several decades it became this green beautiful tunnel full of Jacaranda trees. The residents had to fight to keep the trees there as in 2005 the project of a shopping mall in the area would need to have the trees taken down. I am happy that the residents won and now the street is a historical patrimony.
Pretty isn’t it? I kept coming back. Every time we were walking I made sure we would have to go through that street. hahaha.
I am not sure if the city was “empty” because of the time we were there (holidays), but every restaurant/bar were opening around 5pm, so to get some food before that was just at the mall. We stayed at the Bom Fim hostel. http://www.bomfimhostel.com.br/ and they were all very friendly and knowledgeable of the area. The hostel was clean, family friendly and in a good location. I totally recommend.
We woke up early and decided to go on a walk around the city. Porto Alegre is a huge city so we had to choose a neighborhood. We opt on walking to the Moinhos de Vento neighborhood, starting at the Moinhos de vento park. 
Back on the Rua Goncalo de Carvalho: Told you I love this street 
A cute random cat on the sidewalk
We then decided to check it out “Cidade baixa”
And then, all the restaurants and bars were closed, besides this one coffee/bakery/place where you could get a beer at 85ºF weather…Awesome!
We then started to walk towards “Redencao park or Parque Farroupilha”
Such a peaceful, pretty place with lots of trees and people just chilling.
Beautiful park, we finished our walk having some pineapple on a stick…sweet deliciousness
Back to the hostel to relax a little after going out again. View from the top floor
Mercado Municipal
Cool restaurant called: Cafe do Cofre. That place used to be a safe at the Santader Bank, make sure to have a cold Kaiser Gold beer
A photo from the museum of history of medicine of Rio grande do sul
On our last day there we decided to check around Moinhos de vento neighborhood again but this time for some drinks. We started at this Irish bar called Mulligan http://www.mulligan.com.br/sitepoa/
Expensive beers, delicious meals and a great vibe, you are definitely paying for the whole Irish experience in South America, but that goes with every Irish place down in South America, still I recommend, we skipped the beers and instead we had a kiwi caipiroska and husband had a mojito.
Time to head out to another Irish pub: http://www.dublinpub.com.br/xindex.htm
Definitely this is the neighborhood where all the college kids comes to hangout. We then decided to go for a last drink before having to pack out and leave to Montevideo – uruguay and the only place opened was “applebee’s”, actually the drinks were amazing, we had a blast talking to the waiters (Vitoria, Mayara) and the manager (Thiago).
Porto Alegre residents can be a little intimidating at first, they actually reminded us of Seattleites but once you approach them, they are friendly and loving people.
We stopped by the mall “shopping total” and I had to introduce to Dan our amazing tapioca, he had a doce de leite, he absolutely love it!
Next post will be about Montevideo – Uruguay
