SEARCHING FOR THE ORIGINS

SATURDAY 16th JULY

  A torrential downpour woke me up about 2.00am - it really hammered down!  By morning there was the odd puddle left but by midday there wasn't a sign that it had rained.  It was predominantly overcast but it reached 30 degrees in the mid afternoon.

  I decided to take Mark's advice and look up places of interest on the Internet.  I decided to go for the Fortress of Nossa Senhora da Assuncao. This fortress is where the History of Fortaleza started.  The name means Fort of Our Lady of the Rising.  The fort was built by Dutch captain Matias Beck in 1649, and called Fort Schoonenborch. It was reclaimed by the Portuguese in 1654, and the name was changed to Fortaleza da Nossa Senhora de Assunção.  The fortress was refurbished many times, and since 1942 it has been the headquarter of the 10a. Military Region of the Brazilian Army.

  A map appeared on the site and I made note of the street where I took the fort to be.  This involved heading westwards along the seafront.  It continued to amaze me that complete ruins stood hand in hand with beautifully refurbished buildings.  You are liable to see a very expensive building one second, and a bloke sleeping in a cardboard box on the pavement outside!  Take for instance this church and the derelict hotel behind:

  Further down the beach there was a half dismantled pier to the right with signs prohibiting entry except to authorised personel, and on the left a much older ramshackle pier full of people.  It didn't have a rail along one side, and I decided not to venture on to it.

  My destination was not far from here.  I had to turn left go to the next crossing, turn left then right and according to my reckoning I'd be there.  My reckoning was seriously awry!  I found myself at the back end of the cultural and art centre!  At least I saw a wall painting that had previously eluded me!

  As I could see the spire of the cathedral I thought I would salvage something by going to have a close look at that edifice.  I went down a main road that seemed to have no left turn in sight, so I retraced my footsteps and took an earlier left turn, then turned right and found myself heading in the right direction.

My pursuit of this culture was rewarded twicefold, for bugger me just round the corner from the cathedral was the Fortress, since 1942 it has been the headquarter of the 10a. Military Region of the Brazilian Army.

The statue below is of Martins Soares Moreno, a hero of Ceará.

 Right opposite the Fort was what I first took to be a stadium, but on closer inspection turned out to be a five level indoor market.  By the time I got there a lot of the stalls were closing, but it will certainly be worth another visit.  Again loads of clothes, but souvenirs, food, drink and I even spotted some CD's in a glass cabinet!

It was a pretty long walk back, so I went straight to the eatery for sustenance.  The waiter was delighted to see me again and asked me my name.  He also asked me where I came from so I told him Poland, but I lived in London.  He thought for a while, and then said, "Papa Wojtyla".  "Ah, yes", I replied, recognising the late Pope's name even with the Brazilian accent.  Before I left, the waiter forewarned me that on a Sunday they closed at 3.00pm and they only did self-service food.  Looks like I'll have to find a new venue for my Sunday evening meals!