Paqueta Island

Paqueta is a small island in the upper bay, about a kilometre and a half long, and private cars have been banned on it for decades - transport is bicycle, electric cart or horse-drawn charrete, and everything else is walked. It was a fashionable retreat in the imperial period and the fabric is nineteenth-century: low houses, a few churches, the Solar del Rei, and enormous old trees including the Baobab known as the Maternity Tree. Beaches ring the island but the bay water is polluted and swimming is not advised. The interest is the pace and the crossing - the ferry from Praca XV runs the length of Guanabara Bay past the bridge and the shipyards, which is a view of Rio most visitors never get.

History

Until the end of the 15th century the Tamoio used Paquetá for hunting and living, and the Frenchman André Thevet recorded it in December 1555, with Henri II recognising it as a French discovery in 1556; with Governador Island it was a centre of French resistance to the Portuguese, the Tamoio siding with the French and the Temiminó under Arariboia with the Portuguese. After the Portuguese drove out the French, the island was split into two grants, Campo to Inácio de Bulhões and Ponte to Fernão Valdez, a division still alive in its festivals, football and Carnival, and it then supplied vegetables, fruit, stone and timber to Rio (Wikipedia, Paquetá Island).

The main sights

• No private cars - bicycles, carts and walking only.
• A nineteenth-century retreat - low houses and churches from the imperial era.
• The bay crossing - seventy minutes past the bridge and the shipyards.
• Very old trees - including the baobab the island is known for.

When to go

April to October. A day, on an early ferry.

What to expect

Guanabara Bay is polluted and the beaches are not for swimming. The island is run down in parts. Ferries are infrequent and the last return is early - missing it is a real problem. Horse carts are a welfare concern for some visitors.

Nearby

Praca XV in central Rio is the departure point; Niteroi is across the bay.

Key facts