Historic Centre of São Luís

Maranhão is one of the least known and most surprising states of Brazil. It has jewels such as its capital São Luís, declared a World Heritage Site in 1997. It's the only Brazilian state capital which was not founded by the Portuguese. It was founded by the French in 1612. When the French were expelled by the Portuguese, the Portuguese created the tiled colonial architecture that characterizes the city. One of the reasons is the high humidity of the area, only 2° south of the equator. In Sao Luis everything has the old taste, odor and color, such as wrought iron balconies and cobblestone streets.

St. Louis is a city which was founded by French settlers, and then was taken by the Portuguese. The old city is of Portuguese architecture from the sixteenth century, but it's most interesting feature is the Lencois Park which is three hours drive from the capital of the state of Maranhao. This is an area of150 thousand hectares of sand dunes with fresh water and a blue lagoon.

Unfortunately, not very well cared and a little bit dangerous. On weekends, it's usually full of people and has lots of life.

Security improved there over the last few years, but it's still good to be careful!