Sao Paulo (City)
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Introduction
São Paulo is the capital of the state of Sao Paulo and Brazil's largest city with a population of over 10 million people. It is also the most populous city in South America and the southern hemisphere. Locals go by paulistanos and the stunning architecture, with many skyscrapers, can awe anyone.
São Paulo officially became a city in 1711 and the economy of the area grew fast. The city dealt with many economic changes during its life and continued to thrive, such as the dropping of coffee prices in the beginning of the 20th century. During the early 20th century, countless immigrants from Europe, the Middle East and Japan came to the city in order to find their riches. Today, São Paulo is considered the richest city in Brazil.
Subprefeituras
The city is divided into 31 subprefeituras, also known as boroughs. Each of these subprefeituras are further divided into two or three districts. The main districts are:
- Se
- Historical Downtown
- Butanta
Sights and Activities
Sala São Paulo
Sala São Paulo is a beautiful concert hall located in Julio Prestes Station. The station was constructed between 1926 and 1938 and served as a train station for several decades. Then in the 1990s the grand hall of the train station was turned into the current day concert hall. In order to honor the original design of the station even the sand imported in the restoration effort was brought in from the original source when the building was built in 1926. Today the amazing concert hall has amazing acoustics and can seat 1498 people making it a great place to check out a classical symphony or opera.
Ibirapuera Park
Ibirapuera Park is an amazing park located in the city center. The park is home to many stunning sights including The Obelisk, a lake and many museums.
- Grande Marquise is home to the modern art museum.
- Cicillo Matarazzo Pavilion is home to the Contemporary Art Museum.
- Manoel da Nóbrega Pavilion was the location of the city hall until 1992
- Lucas Nogueira Garcez Pavilion is the home to the Air Force Museum and the Folklore Museum.
- Planetarium and Municipal Astrophysics School was the first planetarium built in the southern hemisphere and has a dome with a 20 m diameter.
- Ibirapuera Auditorium is a modern building that is quite controversial because of its space age design.
Other Sights and Activities
- The Municipal Theater. Check out this old theater.
- School Yard (Páteo do Collégio) is the place where São Paulo was founded.
- Paulista Avenue (Avenida Paulista)
- Se Cathedral (Catedral da Sé)
- Copan Biulding (Edifício Copan)
- Luz Station (Estação da Luz)
- Municipal Market (Mercado Municipal)
- Ipiranga Museum (Museu do Ipiranga)
- Museum of the Portuguese Language is an interesting museum located in the Luz Station.
Events and Festivals
- Anima Mundi. An animation film festival held in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro every July since 1993.
- Formula One´s Brazilian Grand Prix. October 31st, November 1st and 2nd at Interlagos race track.
- São Paulo Art Biennial. Founded in 1951 by Ciccilio Matarazzo, one important Brazilian industrial of Italian background. Held at Ibirapuera Park since 1957 on a pavilion projected by Oscar Niemayer and Hélio Uchôa.
- São Paulo Fashion Week –
- São Paulo Gay Pride Parade. One of the biggest parades in the world. More than 2 million people participates every year. It is an almost out seasoned carnival.
- São Paulo International Film Festival or "Mostra Internacional de Cinema de São Paulo" has been held since 1977, in October and November.
- São Silvestre International Race or Corrida Internacional de São Silvestre. Every December 31, Paulista Avenue is full of people to celebrate the new´s year eve running at the streets of São Paulo. Since 1924 until 1990, the athletes used to run at night.
Weather
Technically São Paulo is a humid subtropical climate. Temperatures rarely climb to 30 °C during the summer and frost is quite rare in the winter because of the urban heat island. Sometimes August will be unseasonably warm with 28º C days that are very dry. This is known as the little summer.
Getting There
By Plane
São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) is the busiest airport in Brazil and located about 25 km from the city centre. This airport is a major hub for South America making it possible to fly anywhere in South America from here and Brazil. The passenger traffic is split between two terminals and has over 260 check in counters. Over 39 domestic and international airlines from this airport serving 28 different countries and over 100 cities in Brazil and the world.
By Train
- Luz Station is one of the main train stations in the city.
By Car
By Bus
By Boat
Getting Around
By Car
By Public Transport
The city has 61.3 km of underground and light rail systems. With 4 lines operating and 55 stations it is possible to get to many tourist locations in the city by the public metro.
By Foot
By Bike
Eat
Drink
Work
Learn
Keep Connected
Internet
Internet access can be found everywhere and is quite cheap.
Phone
Phones are not easy to find.
Post
This is version 11. Last edited at 1:49 on Jul 17, 08 by dr.pepper (-8). 4 articles link to this page.
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