| Founded in 1554, Sao Paulo now is the 3rd largest city in the world with
over 20,000,000. Surprisingly it really did not begin to grow until 1890 based
on the coffee business. It is the business and finance center of Brazil. A true
melting pot it numbers over 1 million Japanese, 3 million Italians, 1 million
Arabians, 1 million Portuguese, and 1 million Eastern Europeans. It has a wide
variety of restaurants that range from Brazilian to Malaysian food (and
everything in between). The Gardens district is the center of the dining scene,
and thus the center of the Sao Paulo social scene. Paulistanos eat late, many
restaurants don't even start serving until 9 PM, and it is common for them to
stay open until 3 AM. Like New York, Sao Paulo never sleeps. There you can find
anything from gyms to bookstores opened 24 hrs a day, hundreds of movie
theaters, thousands of restaurants, stores, bars, and pubs. For nightlife its
nightclubs have attracted some of the best performers in the world. There are 32
malls, countless department stores, and designer boutiques (such as Versace,
Forum, Daslu, H.Stern, Chanel, Rauph Lauren, Armani, etc.). There are also
several street fairs, and art exhibits throughout the city. Its museums are
among the finest in South America. For the sun worshipper, its surrounding
coastline is graced with many lovely beaches. Transportation befits a city of
this size with a well developed road system, numerous and inexpensive taxis.
Although we do not recommend that a foreign traveler use a rented car to get
around the city, it suffers traffic problems like any big city and parking is a
real challenge. It has 2 airports. One, in the city, provides domestic service
with the international airport at some distance from the city center providing
direct service to cities throughout the world. In addition it boasts one of the
best subway systems to be found anywhere. Sao Paulo is be often called a
concrete jungle, but actually this is one of the greatest cities in the world,
come take advantage of what it has to offer! |
