What do you get when you create a new capital city, starting in 1960, where there was nothing before? Brasilia is beautiful, filled with wonderful white buildings in harmony with each other. Brasilia is bleak, with huge stretches of dead grass between destinations, people-less plazas, and impossible overpasses to accommodate traffic. All in all, a fascinating but less than completely successful place.
During our visit there in 2007, Jim and I also left Brasilia and spent some time in a small town nearby and explored a National Park. These photos, mostly of natural settings and our small dusty and pretty town, are also listed below.
Brasilia Photo List (Total 236 Photos)
Click bolded headers below to view, or click "just the best" for quick tour
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Brasilia Buildings (165 photos) - The main feature! A whopping 165 photos featuring exterior and interior photos of Brasilia's delightful architecture. These photos are arranged roughly along the main official thoroughfare - the Eixo Monumental, with buildings that are off the Eixo appearing at the end. Legislatures, palaces, churches, office buildings, I hope these photos capture both the beauty and bleakness that is Brasilia.
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Brasilia views (19 photos) - Photos of Brasilia from the plane, from the TV Tower, or on the ground, showing the overall city rather than any particular building.
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Brasilia parks (26 photos) - Photos of the City Park, the Brasilia National Park near the city, and a cemetery (because I didn't know where else to put it).
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Transit shots (20 photos) - A few photos of Brasilia's curlicue streets, some pics of the odd little subway they have, and quite a few photos of the beautiful, open, airy airport.
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Grubby city (6 photos) - People cope with an overplanned city by improvising commercial nodes, and by sprinkling graffiti around. These six photos show some of the ways that parts of Brasilia are being transformed into a real Brazilian city.
Sao Jorge and Chapada dos Veadeiros Photo List (Total 124 Photos)
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Sao Jorge and area (45 photos) - These photos show our drive out of Brasilia and into Goiás state, to the town of Sao Jorge, which borders Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park. Dusty streets and pretty flowers, and our charming pousada.
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Hike in Chapada dos Veadeiros (79 photos) - Our long walk in the National Park, showing lots of flowers and vegetation, some cliffs and hills, a few waterfalls, rock formations, and frolicking travellers.
