Piauí's capital is a pleasant friendly city with abundant woodland, some attractive colonial buildings and the usual gamut of Brazilian concrete apartment blocks. It lies about 350 km from the coast, at the confluence of the Rio Poti and the Rio Parnaíba. It is flat with a grid of streets, some of which are lined with handsome terracotta roofed 19th-century buildings. There are more than 30 urban parks. The city was founded in the 18th century as the Vila do Poti and was renamed in honour of the empress of Brazil and wife of Dom Pedro II, Teresa Cristina, who had supported the idea of moving the capital from Oreias. Teresina has a lively cultural scene and a famously vibrant nightlife. The city itself is reputed to be the hottest after Cuiabá, with temperatures up to 42°C and an annual mean of around 30°C.
Ins and outsThe
Senador Petrônio Portela airport
receives flights from Fortaleza, Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Goiâna and São Luís. Outside the airport, buses run straight into town and to the
. The
is 4 km the centre. There are buses running into the town every few minutes. There are direct bus connections with Fortaleza (a scenic nine-hour journey), Belém, Recife and São Luís.
For tourist information, there are several offices of
. There are also kiosks at the
and the airport. The
Sindicato dos Guiás de Turismo de Piauí
(
), has information booths at the Centro de Artesanato, Praça Dom Pedro II (helpful, friendly), the Encontro das Águas, Poty Velho and on the shores of the Rio Poty. Another office is
. The website www.teresina.pi.gov.br
is also a useful source of information.
lies at the heart of the city and is the hub of Teresina life. There are many bars and restaurants in the surrounding streets, where diners are frequently serenaded by
(Brazil's equivalent of
). Many
also congregate at the
a little
outside the city centre surrounded by mangroves. There is live poetry, a gallery of art and shows at the
, www.oficinadapalavra-pi.com.br.
There's a decent crafts market at the
, which is well-known for its opals, carved wood and hammocks. The
, is in a mansion house dating from 1859 and has been completely refurbished. It preserves a collection of sacred art by local artists from the 19th century, as well as impressive woodcarvings by Mestre Dezinho Nonato de Oliveira and an extensive collection of frowsty fossils. The
, is a grand neoclassical edifice set in pretty gardens landscaped by Roberto Burle Marx, and has been the governor's palace since 1926. Inside is a collection of period furniture and artefacts and a rare set of lithographs of the Middle East in 1839 by the Scottish artist David Roberts, famous for his depictions of unexcavated temples throughout the Middle East and most notably in Egypt. The
, is devoted to the history of the city and to the lives of famous ex-residents such as the journalist Carlos Castelo Branco and the photographer Jose de Medeiros. The reception desk has a programme of cultural events taking place in Teresina.
Every morning along the picturesque river, with washing laid out to dry on its banks, is the
(market), where people buy, sell and swap. Most of the year the rivers are low, leaving sandbanks known as
(crowns). The confluence of the two rivers is at the
,
where there is a statue of the Cabeça de Cuia river demon, Crispim). Canoes are available for hire on the river.
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