From a Sleepy Tiny Island to a Big City

 After visiting Ilhabela, Santos seemed gigantic.  I beleive I heard that it is the biggest port in South America.  There were skyscrapers everywhere.

Our ticket said to meet in the Celebrity teater at 7:45.  Our group was escorted off the ship a few minutes later.  You are not allowed to walk on the pier.  All passengers must take a shuttle bus to the terminal.  When we arrived at the terminal our bus was waiting.

We've been on a lot of buses in our world travels but I've never seen a bus like this.  You enter the bus in the center and climb up a spiral staircase.  The knee space was unbelieveable--about 2 feet of floor space.  There was a pull down piece that reclined your legs.  Bill mentioned to me that there was a bus beneath us.  Sure enough when we got off I looked and there were seats below.  This is nothing like a English bus.

Our first stop was at a cable car.  There were a lot steps to climb up to the cable car.  I believe she said it was built in the 1920's.  Our guide, named Dummy, told us the history of the area and the Portugeuse influence.  The cable car took us up to the highest point of the city.  This is where they posted look outs.  Dummy also told us that the city is mostly flat.  Of course there was a church at the top.  

Unlike the trolley tour we took, our guide told us all about the history.  She never stopped giving us any information.

We stopped at the Coffee Museum.  This is where I realized that we were not the only ship in port.  It was so nice at the other ports that were not crowded.  The coffee museum was built in the 1920's and it took only two years to build.

No one can come to Brazil without visiting a "football" stadium and musuem.  I now realize why Pele was so famous. 

Following our tour of the stadium and museum, we went to the more exclusive section of Santos.  The beaches of Santos are in the Guiness Book of Records for having the longest stretch of gardens in the world.

Our tour guide did an excellent job of telling us about Santos.  You could tell she loved her city!

We returned about 1 and had lunch and then went down to our cabin to change into our bathing suits.  The weather has been perfect for dipping in the pools or reading on deck.  

Turtle Safely.....