Before all those tourists descend on Rio for the 2016 Olympics, Lonely Planet guidebooks in hand,…read moreI'm putting this out there: Despite what the Rio book says, Feira de São Cristóvão is NOT "not to be missed".
First things first: Lonely Planet refers to this place as "Feira Nordestina" but this listing, the outside of the structure which houses it, and their web site make clear that Feira de São Cristóvão is the actual name. Still, if you ask your cab driver to take you to "Feira Nordestina" you'll be taken here so perhaps the monikers are interchangeable. Essentially, you're asking to be taken to that giant swap meet with food, drink, music, and tchotchkes; the one that's open non-stop from Friday morning until Sunday evening plus a lot of additional hours Tuesday thru Thursday.
There's a small per person fee to enter and just inside is your first cachaca tasting booth. Not a bad way to begin. After that, there's row after row after row - over 600 stalls in all - of shops, bars, restaurants, and music. The fair, apparently, showcases Brazil's Northeast, meaning that the food and live and canned music are largely Bahian.
As a tourist, I have these observations:
* The stuff for sale here is not, by and large, the stuff you want to bring home with you. There's a lot of everyday, utilitarian products (e.g. children's backpacks) that hold no tourist appeal.
* At one place, in the center, people sit on benches watching televised bullfighting. Okay then...
* Come hungry and find a restaurant near to the live music on the perimeters. Interesting people-watching.
* Walk the interior rows and spy some couples dancing in poorly lit bars or friends doing the karaoke thing (in Portuguese).
* You're definitely in a different part of Rio here (Zona Norte), more gritty and not catering to tourists. I didn't feel uncomfortable here but I also didn't feel like I fit in. I took a cab here and back (available just outside the gates) and felt glad to get back to the part of Rio that was a better fit for me.
If you want to see an authentic slice of Zona Norte and maybe get a taste of Brazil's Bahian culture you might enjoy this. To me, it was just a giant swap meet and I beg to differ with Lonely Planet. I could've missed it without regret.
