Salvador, Bahia (Brazil) Travelogue
April 21, 2026
I’m on here as much for myself as for you, the one reading this. So much happens in a day when you’re out in the world. I don’t want to wait until I have a polished travel guide to share it with you. I want to log it now. In the moment. While it’s fresh. While the feelings that go with the experiences are there for me to share.
I’ve been in Salvador for nearly five days now, but it was yesterday I moved from Barra to Pelourinho, two very different Salvador neighborhoods. Barra is the classicly “safe” neighborhood, the one where you can let your guard down a bit more. Pelourinho is the one where you really do need to stay on the indicated streets, and not stray. It’s one where the military police stand on corners for your protection. But it’s also where, in my opinion, the beating heart of Salvador lives, the root of its history.
I’m in Pelourinho now. I feel the risks, and I don’t really love them, but I’m willing to accept them for what my days here so far have gifted me with. Today, for example, I hopped from 18th century church to 17th century church, asked if I could peek inside a historic hotel with a secret Jewish mikveh inside, built during the days when the Inquisition was a real threat, and was waved over to a group playing the berimbau on the street. Drumming followed me everywhere, afoxé drifted from balconies, and the Candomblé orixas kept popping up on store shelves, street art, and in conversation.
The Bahian / Afro-Brazilian culture is loud here, as loud as it gets. It’s like that in Barra too, but here in Pelourinho it’s proudly weighted with the African influence. It’s where you can see it, feel it, taste it, and dive deeper into it in endless ways. Order an acarajé from the Baiana in the turban and fluffy skirt, bob to the bloco passing by beating their drums, visit MAFRO, MUNCAB, and the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black People.
Pelourinho is a place where you just step outside and see what you find, because find you will. Find I did. I’m ending this day feeling so satisfied with all of the ways my contact with this place grew today, the number of times I entered a church or a shop or a cafe with zero expectations and found myself fully engaged with each one, struck by its beauty, texture, history, humanity, or new nugget of information. These weren’t checklist items. These were truly destinations worth visiting. And I never planned to visit a single one.
