Walking through the middle of Curitiba’s historic centre, there’s no chance of missing the city’s cathedral, Basilica Minor of Our Lady of Light, which dominates Praça Tiradentes. Built in 1876 in the Neo-Gothic style, the church features several stained-glass windows and paintings by artists such as Italian brothers Carlos and Anacleto Garbaccio. The structure was designed by a French architect who is said to have been inspired by Barcelona’s Metropolitan Cathedral, another large, Gothic place of worship.

Just to the left of the Cathedral is an example of Curitiba’s Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system.  The city has had an urban master plan since 1968, the first city in Brazil to have dedicated bus lanes.
– The BRT is cheaper to run than a tube system. Some employers subsidise their employees who use it.
– 80 per cent of travellers use the BRT.
– The bus rapid transit system uses triple section bendy buses. It carries 2 million passengers a day, including wheelchair.
– The bus fare is the same wherever you go.
– No one lives more than 400 metres from a bus stop.
– Urban growth is restricted to corridors of growth – along key transport routes. Tall buildings are allowed only along bus routes.  A transport gunzel’s dream, is Curitiba!!

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho — known as Oscar Niemeyer — was a Brazilian architect who is considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture, giving modernism a little samba flair!  His swirling forms and his curving lines replaced European

modernism’s harshness with softness and ease, as smooth as Brazilian jazz. His work is sensuous, almost hedonistic. He designed numerous houses, with a magical combination of lushness and spareness, and some spectacular high-rise housing and museums. Niemeyer’s architecture of exuberance was all the more striking because his politics were so far away from the lush, indulgent world that his buildings suggest. He was a lifelong communist, with a serious commitment to left-wing politics. I love his museum in Curitiba…”The Eye”.   There are 10 exhibitions on view….some of my favourites:

–  One that brings artworks from 21 artists who have blood ties with Japan. 
– David Feingold’s paintings, a floating mesh of colours and geometry 
– Photos of Valdir Cru

– Violeta Franca’s rich flora and fauna pics 

– my fave pencil etching by Francisco Faria!