Cities and landscapes in Santa Catarina
Cities and landscapes in Santa Catarina provide an orientation, what to expect where in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina and where you can get more detailed information in Wikipedia.
Santa Catarina is a subtropical state. The densely populated coastal region is mountainous with remnants of the original jungle. Behind it, in the hilly highlands, are the settlement areas of German and other emigrants with farmland and industry, mainly for clothing. The southern part of the country is so high that snow regularly falls in winter. The hill country far from the coast in the west is purely agricultural.
The coast of Santa Catarina
The northern coastal region
The 500 km long green coast begins in the north at the quiet, deeply indented bay Baía da Babitonga . The third oldest city in Brazil, which was founded by the French as the first city of Santa Catarina in 1504 , is located on the island of São Francisco do Sul . Protected colonial houses still stand in the historic center. In the Museu Nacional do Mar there are 72 boats and 350 models of very different designs. In the small town of Saí , a utopian anarchist community was founded by the French in 1842 .
The industrial city of Joinville is the largest city in the state. Hardly anything can be seen of the German-Norwegian origins. The Bolshoi Ballet has a branch here. In July, the dancers can compete in the competitions of the international dance festival. An unusual attraction is the bicycle museum with 15,000 artifacts.
Azoreans shaped Penha , the most attractive places of which are on the Cape, but most tourists come for a 14 km² amusement park.
Navegantes is home to Itajaí airport in the former Carijó settlement area . Itajaí is an important fishing port and therefore not so interesting for beach holidaymakers. They go to the nearby Balneário Camboriú , which is no longer a tranquil seaside resort, but the most visited tourist city in Brazil with a skyline that does not need to fear comparison with major North American cities. In addition to the Brazilian, hundreds of thousands of sun-hungry Argentine and Uruguayan vacationers come. The next town, Itapema , is a little smaller, albeit hardly quieter .
At Bombinhas and Porto Belo there is a very rugged coast with many places that can only be reached on foot. The original Mata Atlântica is still preserved in many places and accessed via small paths. The coast, especially the islands in the Reserva Biológica Marinha do Arvoredo, are paradise for divers and some of them are protected. Governador Celso Ramos is on a similar coast on the next peninsula to the south .
Ilha de Santa Catarina
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After Rio, Florianópolis has the most beautiful location of the Brazilian capitals on the inside of the island of Santa Catarina . The city has a modern but pleasant appearance and is for many a stopover point to the beaches on the east side of the island. The lonelier ones can be found in the south, but only two cannot be reached on one street. Lagoons and hills covered in jungle are other attractions. On the Ilha do Campeche prehistoric wall drawings found.
The southern coastal region
The first thermal bath in Brazil, Santo Amaro da Imperatriz, is located on the northern edge of the Serra do Tabuleiro within the forests of the Mata Atlântica . In the area there is the possibility for rafting and paragliding.
Garopaba is a beach town that is particularly popular with young people. There you can, as in other coastal towns from June to October whale watching.
Praia do Rosa is well developed for tourism, but it has retained its original charm, sandy paths, no street lighting and no taller buildings.
The port city of Imbituba lives from crabs and tourists.
Laguna , known for its carnival, is a seaside resort with waves suitable for surfers. There are still some colonial buildings in the center. The revolutionary Anita Garibaldi comes from the city and is honored accordingly.
The South
From Tubarão you can reach the baths of Termas da Guarda on a cobblestone street. Not far from there is the famous Gravatal thermal bath with many spa hotels. A German-influenced suburb is São Martinho within an area with waterfalls and other natural attractions.
The industrial city of Criciúma is located a little inland, where the largest Brazilian coal mining area is located.
Araranguá is an Italian town with vineyards.
The interior of Santa Catarina
The northern plateau
The area on the border with Paraná is very wooded, partly primeval forests, partly reforested forests. A large part of Brazil's wood processing industry is concentrated here.
Jaraguá do Sul is the third largest industrial city (textiles) in the state with a rifle festival in October.
Schroeder offers a lot of untouched nature and a lot of water, made famous by the film Schroeder is in Brazil .
Corupá is a town of bananas and orchids, the many waterfalls are attractive, and Campo Alegre is similar . São Bento do Sul is a furniture city with a lot of industry . Furniture and ceramics production, an almost 100-year-old train station and the cultivation of customs in many music groups - these are the characteristics of Rio Negrinho .
The first residents of Mafra came from Trier in 1829.
Três Barras has a paper industry, but also a forest reserve. Canoinhas is the capital of Maté. There are also slaughterhouses and sawmills. The immigrants come from Poland, Germany and the Ukraine. It is similar in Porto União .
The Itajaí Valley
The valley and its surroundings are the center of German emigration, characterized by half-timbered houses, German gastronomy and the textile industry.
Blumenau is considered a German figurehead, but it is a Brazilian industrial city that has the largest Oktoberfest after Munich. That is just as big a crowd puller as the German model.
Pomerode is often referred to as the most German city in Brazil, and the German language is also used in public. You can see more "German" here than anywhere else in the world, but always in an ancient form. Due to the distance to "home" sometimes not that pure, a South Tyrolean brass band at the Pommernfest is one of them.
The hinterland of Timbó in the Vale do Itajaí is famous for many waterfalls in impressive nature ( Floresta Nacional Ibirama ) and the possibilities for rafting , cascading , paragliding and similar adventure sports.
Indaial still has some original German buildings. German customs are cultivated in some clubs.
Many waves of immigration came through Gaspar : Azoreans, Germans, Italians. In addition to industry, tourism is now the main line of business with many "water parks".
Brusque is one of the cities with large production of clothing populated by Germans, Italians and Poles. The pilgrimage site of Nossa Senhora do Carvaggio is located in the Azambuja Valley. Botuverá is known for its stalactite caves and the Reserva Biológica Estadual da Canela Preta nature reserve . Rio do Sul is an industrial city in a former residential area of the Xokleng .
The southern highlands
The cold and snow attract many Brazilians to this region, especially in winter, which is otherwise determined by agriculture and forestry.
Lages is the center of the highlands with industry and tourism on the estates.
São Joaquim and the national park of the same name attract many tourists in search of snow. The well-known place is also significant as an apple-growing area.
Bom Jardim da Serra is a pleasant place on the edge of the Serra do Rio do Rastro .
The 1828 m high Morro da Igreja near Urubici is known as the coldest place in Brazil. In the Serra do Corvo Branco and elsewhere, the landscape is spectacular with high waterfalls, steep slopes and deep gorges.
The midwest
The hilly region with only small rural towns was populated by Italians, Germans, Austrians and Japanese. Besides agriculture there is only metal industry.
In Curitibanos is more than half of all garlic grown in Brazil. Fraiburgo is known as the “ apple capital ” of the country. Videira is a wine town . Caçador with a beautiful old train station was a scene of the Guerra dos Contestados .
Campos Novos is one of the older towns in Santa Catarina, settled in the middle of the 19th century by Portuguese-born Brazilians and Spaniards, founded as a town in 1881. Like many other places in the region, Joaçaba began to exploit wood and maté ; meanwhile it is the most important city in the middle west with metal industry and university. The street carnival is significant. The spa town of Piratuba is known for its thermal springs.
Treze Tílias (Dreizehnlinden) was founded in 1933 by Austrian immigrants. The economic power of the place is still based on agriculture and animal husbandry, especially milk production. The art of wood carving was also continued by the immigrants.
The West
In the west of Santa Catarina, maize is grown, as well as poultry and pig breeding and the associated industry, especially in Concórdia . Xanxerê is a place of Indian origin, until about 1800 the area of Kaingang was settled, then came Portuguese, Syrians, Lebanese and others, Chapecó was founded as a resting place for cattle traders and is now the capital of the west, an agro-industrial trading center with waterfalls and caves in the Surroundings. It wasn't until 1940 that São Miguel do Oeste's first house was built in an area where the pines of the araucarias were collected. Today S. Miguel is a medium-sized agricultural town with slaughterhouses and dairy and a stopover point for Argentines on the way to the coast.