Avenue Beira Mar

Fortaleza is a city with beaches that stretch along it’s length — some dirty, some busy, some peaceful, and others amazing. In the midst of all of these is Avenue Biera Mar — a stretch of beach that isn’t particularly amazing, but has an interesting nightlife and plenty of good restaurants. It’s also home to the evening Beira Mar Market.

I’m not sure if this is what locals refer to as the Feirinha Beira-Mar or the Feira de Artesanato da Avenida Beira-Mar (probably both), however, in the evenings at dusk (approx. 5pm) little shops and booths pop up along the beach. Here you will find many Ceará crafts: clothing, woodwork, ceramics, food, and drink.

If you’re game, you can really test out your haggling chops as you negotiate a price for goods without much pressure.

People here are also very nice and willing to let you practice Portuguese or speak in Spanish. In retrospect, I probably had more friendly conversation in the Beira Mar than I did in all of Fortaleza.

Down the street from the art market are two of my favourite restaurants: Coco Bambu and Ancora. Coco Bambu is a well known, high end, seemingly consistent seafood restaurant. All cab drivers and locals that I talked to know how to get there.

Across the street is Ancora, which is a little less pretentious and focuses more on Brazilian delicacies. It was here that I had my first caipirinha com cachaça.