Curitiba – The Return

Mid-July we took a summer (well, winter) break and enjoyed a four night/three day stay in Curitiba, Brazil as the first half of a doubleheader, Brazilian style.

Our apartment was one of the nicest airBNB’s we’ve had the fortune to stay at. It was also conveniently located in the middle of a lot of the places I enjoyed/visited my first trip there for the Bodebrown Beer Train the year before.

Our first morning in, after waiting out some rain we paid a visit to Cafe Lucca for some great coffee (and a coffee-infused beer) as well as some breakfast. We got a little lost walking back, taking in the sites of the centro of the city, passing a few places we’d check out later. Evening closed out with a trip to Barbarium, another placed I had enjoyed. “Chicken from Hell” (truthfully, “From Heck”, though Brazil brings more heat than Paraguay does) and some of Curitiba and Brazil’s finest craft cerveja.

Sunday, after some breakfast we visited the Jardim Botanico/Botanical Garden. The weather was near perfect so strolling the park was extremely enjoyable.

Evening closed out with a visit to the amusingly named Whatafuck Burger. The venue was tiny, only a couple small tables, packed. Burgers are cooked upstairs, than slide down a ramp to the counter, almost like a kids playground. Was 48F out, and yet 200 or so people were strewn over the street, scarfing down burgers or food from Meat Pack next door and enjoying more local craft beer.

Weather continued to be stellar if not particularly warm on Monday and we managed to book a bike tour of the relatively flat and bike-path friendly city. Gustavo, our guide, was extremely knowledgeable on both the routes and the art itself, giving us some great insight into the artists and what they put into their work.

We covered a good amount of ground, including a block of the city with a factory/business/whatever inside and white walls along the outside… an entire block of walls. In 2012 the owners coordinated with artists on Street of Styles where top street artists from Brazil and beyond congregated for two days. Each was given a segment of wall to showcase their/their crew’s abilities. Gustavo was able to explain specifics on the styles of some of the artists as well as explaining collaboration – each had their own piece of the wall, but artists conspired and worked together so thematic elements, largely in the background, would work to tie completely separate images together in one arc.

(For a full gallery of wonderful street art, click here!)

We were so interested and he was so passionate that our tour went at least an hour over. After Street of Styles, we cycled back towards a “cooler” older part of town, took in some mega pieces, including a Shining homage as well as some coffee (after 4pm the temp dipped.)

A great way to spend a day, burn off cerveja calories, enjoy the fresh air, see the city and learn something. Oh, beer calories? Yeah. I too Katie back to Hop & Roll a last evening out and to enjoy a flight before Tuesday’s flight to Florianopolis aka Floripa.

(For beer fanatics, best three beers of this leg: Whatafucking F#%*ing Beer Pale Ale, Tormenta IPA, Hop Arabica coffee-infused Blonde Ale)