Day 17
Fortaleza; Brazil
The first rays of the rising sun peeking through the curtains woke me up early this morning. When I opened my eyes I noticed that it’s already light outside and the sun was in full glory. I immediately panicked that I may have overslept. We had to be ready for the excursion at 7:45am. I quickly checked the time on my iWatch and was shocked it was only 5::30am. Such a wonderful feeling. I always loved the long summer days when I lived in Europe. In Poland in the summer times the sun rises around 4am. My favorite time of the year.
Today we had the Fortaleza City Tour excursion. We got really nice coach buses that picked us up at the terminal. We went to see the St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura, the Iracema Statue, President Castelo Branco Mausoleum, then we went to the Central Market to shop for traditional handicrafts and souvenirs.
We drove along the famous beaches. The Fish Market looked amazing. Fortaleza is renowned for its fresh-from-the-ocean seafood. Unfortunately we didn’t stop at the beach. We saw some magnificent beaches and coastal scenery while touring the city and driving from and back to the port.
The city it self was very quiet today. Most places were closed because of the holiday. We weren’t able to tour the Cathedral inside, all the museums were closed as well. The walls around the city are covered with ugly grafitti. Many places were rough and unkept.
After the tour we stayed on the ship for the rest of the day, because we docked at the cargo port area were walking is not allowed on the pier so we would have to take the Taxi or Uber, to tour on our own. Since we only had 3 hours left to departure, that didn’t make much sense. There wasn't anything to do besides going to the beach, so I decided to go to the gym instead for a little.
After dinner we went to see a performance by Brazilian artist Camila Andrade.
She's fabulous. Loved her voice and repertoire.
Tomorrow at sea day. 
