Canada’s capital and fourth largest city, Ottawa is situated south of the Ottawa River, at 190 kilometers from Montreal and 400 kilometers from Toronto, two better known cities. Having the highest standard of living in the country, and the lowest unemployment rate, Ottawa has the highest educational level in Canada, being home to important teaching institutions. With a little over 930 thousand inhabitants, the Canadian capital has a temperate climate, with temperatures ranging from -46.1⁰C to 39.5⁰C. While the summers are quite hot and humid, in the autumn and winter the city is covered in ice and snow, being the world’s seventh coldest capital city. But this doesn’t make it less welcoming and attractive to Brazilians.
Make no mistake about the 9.7 million inhabitants registered in Tokyo, about half of Rio de Janeiro’s population. This is because Japan’s capital has the most densely populated urban area on the planet – if we consider the Metropolitan Region – with 37 million people illuminated by the place that also boasts another title: the highest concentration of neon lights in the world, as easy to see as the volume of people in its streets. The glow of neon is reminiscent of fire, and also of a Phoenix that rose from ashes, just like Tokyo, devastated twice and twice rebuilt, each time more imposingly.
A favorite destination for Brazilians, Colonia del Sacramento, in Uruguay, has a privileged location and many attractions, which explains its success in the touristic sector. Situated only an hour away by ferry from Buenos Aires, and two hours away by car from Montevideo, the country’s capital, the lovely city, restored and constantly preserved since 1969, offers beaches, museums, and 12 hectares of historical streets along the margins of the La Plata River, in the Peninsula of San Gabriel.
The African continent holds thousands of charms not described in history books or in popular minds. One proof of this is South Africa, the continent’s second largest economy – second only to Nigeria – and more specifically, Cape Town, the legislative capital of the country. Similar to Rio de Janeiro by allying what is most modern with the preservation of its natural beauties, the geography of Cape Town has a special charm, mainly because it is crossed by Table Mountain and its cableway reminiscent of the Sugar Loaf’s cable cars. Home to the National Parliament, Cape Town is the second most populous city in South Africa, with 3.5 million inhabitants, but it’s outstanding for being an important commercial and industrial center, thanks to its imposing port.
Travelling to Spain goes well beyond visiting Barcelona and Madrid. Proof of this is the charming and historical Granada, a city that is not very popularized, but that is one of Europe’s historical and cultural preserves. One of the Arabian conquests on the Iberian Peninsula, later reconquered by Christians, the beautiful Andalusian city holds these important traces in its architecture and in the formation of its streets, as well as in its gastronomy and cultural activities. So, although it isn’t very trendy, Granada, which is one of UNESCO’s World Heritage sites, has a place guaranteed on the map of the main tourist points in the Old Continent, thanks to its lovely palaces, gardens and temples that preserve traditions, but also hold a high degree of contemporaneity.
