Lemon's mix: Curitiba, Brazil

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Curitiba, Brazil

A while ago, I had the pleasure to spent a few months in Curitiba. And since Curitiba is also a host city for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, I decided to write about my favorite sights and activities in this quite interesting city.

But first I should mention, that Curitiba is a very modern city and the best example of excellent urban planning. Furthermore the city also scores with cultural attractions, lots of green space, shopping opportunities and with a wide variety of restaurants. But during the winter months (June–September), the temperatures can go pretty far down so it's probably a good idea to bring warm clothes with you while visting at this specific time.

One of my favorite places in Curitiba is the historical center with the colorful charming buildings and the "Largo da Ordem" street fair. This outdoor market is held every Sunday in the historical center and has a bit of everything: Local products, food, paintings, all kinds of crafts and of course things, where you have to think twice if they are worth buying or just useless :-).

Historical center of Curitiba © Lemon's mix
Historical center of Curitiba © Lemon's mix

And then there are the Churrascarias where I loved to spent my time after work. A Churrascaria is a brazilian steakhouse with indescribably delicious meat and side dishes as a buffet. The concept of the Churrascaria is as much as you can eat while waiters (passadors) constantly move around and offer you various kinds of meat. The best one is "Picanha" and "Filé argentino" and once you've tried it, you never want anything else! My favorite Churrascarias were Tropilha Grill at Rua Emiliano Perneta and Jardins Grill at Rua Lamenha Lins.

Churrasco © Lemon's mix

As I mentioned earlier, there are also plenty of green space in Curitiba. One of them is the Botanical Garden which opened in 1991. This park is filled with walking paths, beautiful flowers and ponds. So lovely!!!

Botanical Garden © Lemon's mix

But there are also three more parks I liked a lot: The "Tingui" park with the Ukrainian Memorial, the "Barigui" park which is perfect for just hanging out and the "Tangua" park with the beautiful fountains and great spots for watching the sunset.

And of course there was also another activity I did frequently: Shopping! Curitiba has quite a few nice shopping malls like the Shopping Estação, Crystal Plaza or the Patio Batel which just opened recently. So as you can see, there are a lot of options regarding shopping in Curitiba. So enjoy your time and don't leave without at least one pair of Havaianas!