Casa do Rio Vermelho, State of Bahia, Brazil

5Nelson C 5:00 PM Mar 8, 2015

Jorge Amado revisited with emotion.
Have ever read Jorge Amado? If you have this tour of the house where he lived with wife Zelia Gattai, also a writer, will bring you back to his world and friend. Right when you come in a plate with drawing by his friend Picasso. If you come you'll visit several other Amado's friends through paintings, videos, sculptures, books, photos and artworks. This is a museum embracing other museums, worth a whole morning Enjoy it!

4Daniel-SSA 5:00 PM Jul 4, 2016

Worth the detour in Rio Vermelho
I've heard about this location since my childhood, when both Jorge and Zélia were alive, and it was a living institution in town, but never actually knew where it was. It is in Rio Vermelho, but in a quiet, sleepy, unsuspected part of the bohemian neighborhood, not far from the bars and hotels (1.4km away from Ibis and Mercure Rio Vermelho, for example, but there's a steep uphill walk on the last 300m) When Zélia passed away it was a matter of time and political will until it became a proper memorial, like other major artist houses around Latin America, specially Frida and Diego's houses in Mexico City and Pablo Neruda's houses in Santiago, Valparaiso and Isla Negra. Unlike those other two examples, it is less stuffed, more organized, but not enough to cross the line between former house and museum. Not overcrowed like Neruda's houses, visitor's flow is more simliar to Frida and Diego's in Mexico City, so it doesn't spoil the place. Jorge and Zelia's house, like Calasans Neto and Auta Rosa's in Itapuã, that is not open to public visitation, is full of history and you can almost feel the creativity flowing, the good times they and their intelectual and artist friends had there. Jorge is the most translated writer from Bahia and, after Paulo Coelho, probably the most known brazilian writer around the world. He was a flawless storyteller, and Zélia was also an accomplished writer on her own right. A communist congressman that defended religious freedom in the late 1940's, known as the "atheist who had seen miracles", Jorge Amado was a fierce supporter of Candomblé, an african descent religion professed by many in Salvador, when it was still officialy prosecuted by the Police His novels usually portraited the poor, the marginalized, the working class, but not in a boring "socialist realism" way. In fact, some of his best comic works are top-class magic realism stories no worse than those from Nobel laurates Angel Asturias, Garcia Marquez and Vargas Llosa, that made Latin American literature from the 20th century famous worldwide. Regardind the house itself, many information signs are in english and portuguese, but, as some people already mentioned, the informative videos lack portuguese subtitles, so foreign visitors might miss important parts of the expo. I wouldn't go as far as saying that an english guided tour is necessary, but surely english subtitles in the videos are, and not hard to do after all. Tiny and good gift shop, but the cafe at the porch could have some tables, besides the benches on the other side. Overall it is a wonderfull experience, still off the beaten path, but perhaps not for long. Enjoy it crowdless while you can, but come here anyway even if it's crowded. It's worth it.