July 2015
* SAO PAULO
By Mariana Hamilton
I am originally from the northeast of Brazil, but I moved to São Paulo when I was only two, so I consider myself a ‘paulistana’ (a term used for those born in São Paulo city).
I have to admit that I have a love/hate relationship with my hometown. With a population of almost 12 million people, São Paulo is the most populous city in South America. Its enormous population includes the biggest Japanese community outside Japan, as well as descendants of immigrants from the Lebanon, Italy, Bolivia and many other countries. São Paulo has also long been considered a city of opportunities for people from other parts of Brazil, especially for those from the northeast of the country. This mixture of different cultures transformed São Paulo into a very unique, interesting and rather chaotic place, which has something to offer people of all tastes and styles 24/7.
For foodies
The city has more than 15,000 restaurants which serve food from 52 different countries. Thirty per cent of São Paulo’s restaurants are pizzerias. I am sorry Italians, but in my opinion São Paulo’s pizzas are the best in the world.
The variety of pizza flavours is incredible and there is no shortage of toppings. Even if you order a very basic margherita, expect an awful lot of cheese on it. But if you ever go to São Paulo, please don’t order a margherita! Be more adventurous and go to a ‘rodizio de pizza’. This is an all-you-can-eat pizzeria where you can even try sweet pizzas with toppings such as chocolate and strawberries. Sweet pizzas aren’t to everybody’s taste, but are worth trying at least once.
For art lovers
Every two years São Paulo hosts Brazil’s most important art event, the Art Biennial, which has exhibited 67,000 works of contemporary art from 160 countries since it started in 1951. The exhibition is held in the Biennal Pavillion, a three-storey building designed by Oscar Niemeyer – one of the most influential Brazilian architects. Niemeyer, who was famous around the world, also designed Brasilia, the capital of Brazil.
The São Paulo Arts Museum (Masp) and Pinacoteca are the city’s two other big art galleries, where you can find work by renowned Brazilian artists, such as Anita Malfatti and Cândido Portinari, and foreign artists, such as Monet, Cézanne, Picasso, Diego Rivera, Modigliani and others.
MASP
For party animals
‘Paulistanos’ know how to party. Last year São Paulo came fourth in CNN’s ranking of cities with the best nightlife. Parties start late (around midnight) and don’t finish before 6 am, and there are good nightclubs open every day of the week, so it is not uncommon to arrive at work knackered on a Tuesday after a night-out on Monday.
If electronic music is your thing and you don’t mind spending quite a lot of money, the Vila Olimpia neighbourhood is the place for you. It offers a huge variety of nightclubs which are popular with young, attractive and, in most cases, wealthy people. In these clubs, you normally pay (a lot) to get in and then receive a card which the bar staff mark every time you order a drink. You only settle your tab when you leave the club. Be careful: if you lose your card, you will be (over)charged and will have to pay a fee – which will be expensive enough to ruin the whole experience – before you can leave.
For the cool, gay, alternative, arty crowds, Rua Augusta offers a good selection of bars, nightclubs, art cinemas and so on. It is like a rougher version of Soho with a bit of Amsterdam’s red light district (including strip clubs and small sex shops) mixed in. It is a fun, interesting place to spend the night.
Last but not least, my favourite place to go out in São Paulo is Vila Madalena. This is a pleasant bohemian neighbourhood packed with lovely little bars, restaurants and nightclubs spread along charming, narrow streets and alleys. It is the perfect place to sit outside on a warm summer night to have a good drink with friends. When Brazil hosted the World Cup last year, the district was invaded by millions of foreign supporters who agreed it was the best place to celebrate and mix with the locals.
Vila Madalena
For those with deep pockets
If you are used to complaining about the traffic in London, I invite you to try driving during rush hour in my hometown. The traffic is so bad that it is not uncommon to spend two hours (or more) travelling to or from work. However, if you a rich enough, you can arrive at work in great style by helicopter. Yes, helicopter. Waking up to the sound of these flying machines above your home might sound quite disturbing, but if you live in São Paulo, you get used to it, as the city has the biggest fleet of privately-owned helicopters in the world.
This is a little less surprising when you consider that there are more billionaires in São Paulo than Paris, Los Angeles or Geneva. In fact, São Paulo is the city with the sixth largest population of billionaires in the world. For this reason, the city offers great pleasures for the wealthy. At the Cidade Jardim Shopping Centre, for example, an assistant will carry your bags and follow you around as you do your shopping. But of course, if the rich don’t want to go shopping, the shops come to them, as some brands have a special service which involves sending a selection of their products for customers to try in the comfort of their own home.
Welcome to São Paulo
Despite being a very interesting place, my hometown is often overshadowed by its popular neighbour Rio de Janeiro. However, I invite you to give São Paulo a chance and explore the many interesting things the city has to offer. Three days are enough to start with, but if you have time on your hands, I would say five days would be ideal for experiencing a bit of what a paulistano’s life is like. You won’t regret it.
The Insightful People 