São Paulo street elected one of the coolest in the world

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to Time Out magazine, São Paulo’s downtown unites diverse foreign cultures, arts and international cuisine.

Every year, Time Out magazine searches the world’s most interesting destinations, either to live or travel. Gastronomy, cultural tours, and the community are some of the attractions that increase the score of these places.

The largest city in Latin America, São Paulo, could not be left out of the list, and has a street ranked 7th among the “30 coolest streets in the world.”

The highlight was Três Rios street, located in the Bom Retiro neighborhood, downtown São Paulo. In this historic district, the street is close to Pinacoteca, one of the most important museums in Brazil, surrounded by the Jardim da Luz Park. In the arts area, another nearby highlight was Casa do Povo, and the zine fair and local independent events.

Time Out also highlights the many immigrants who moved to Brazil over the centuries, from Italy, Korea, Greece, Bolivia, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere, “leaving their mark on what is now one of the most exciting gastronomic landscapes in the city. Among the restaurants in the neighborhood are the Greek Acropolis, founded in 1959, and the Korean Hwang Para Gil.

Korean gastronomy was also emphasized with the Bellapan bakery with its iced coffees, “in addition to excellent Brazilian and Korean sweets and cakes.”

However, the first placed city is on the other side of the globe, in Australia. Melbourne’s Smith Street was a stronghold of street gangs in the 1800s, and today it concentrates everything from noisy pubs to refined wine bars, vinyl record stores, and Vietnamese bakeries.

“At night, Collingwood’s pubs, gay bars and live music venues are a magnet for Melburnians who like to dance until dawn,” said the magazine.

Over 27,000 city residents voted on their favorite streets, and magazine editors and experts evaluated the candidates’ scores.

“All of these streets have great stories to tell. They are microcosms of everything we love about cities – destination-worthy restaurants, vibrant local culture, lots of history – and in a year when dreams of travel were shattered and we had to stay closer to home, they helped us feel like we were part of something bigger, too.”

Source: Exame