Religious Focal Point

It’s walking distance from Liberdade to the Cathedral da Se. The great thing about Cathedrals is they make great landmarks. Sao Paulo is a city full of high rises, and it’s difficult to get your bearings, but a spire is easy to spot – and when there’s two talls ones to head for, it makes it even easier.

All in all, this neo-gothic cathedral has 14 towers, and despite being in the middle of South America, I suddenly felt like I’d stepped back into Europe.You can tour the Cathedral, but instead I continued past and strolled around the pubic area in front of it in order to take some profile pictures of this beauty.

I only took a couple, because this area was filled with small groups of homeless, huddled on and under blankets, and I didn’t feel comfortable brandishing a camera.

As well as the homeless, this area appeared to be Sao Paulo’s version of London’s “Speakers Corner”, with a noisy collection of locals on their soap boxes, shouting about goodness knows what.  In addition, there were a couple of small groups of locals on fold-away chairs being preached to by enthusiastic ministers.

For such a religious focal point, I felt very uneasy, so I stowed my camera and high-tailed it out of there in search of the Mercado Municipal Market. I was a lone female, and the only white face in the crowd, so I stood out. Ordinarily I’m full of confidence when I travel, but this area made me feel ill at ease. I’m just thankful it was daytime. Definitely not a place to visit at night.