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Campinas means "grass fields" in Portuguese and refers to its characteristic landscape, which originally comprised large stretches of dense subtropical forests (mato grosso or "thick woods" in Portuguese), mainly along the many rivers, interspersed with gently rolling hills covered by low-lying vegetation.
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History
The city was founded on July 14, 1774, by Barreto Leme, initially as a simple outpost on the way to [wiki=c249a545f156d7612d3f22566ed65b2a]Minas Gerais[/wiki] and [wiki=739afcf50a2b6fa6d0ff8105eaf9d6d7]Goiás[/wiki] serving the "Bandeirantes" who were in search of precious minerals and Indian slaves. In the first half of the 19th century, Campinas became a growing population center, with many coffee, cotton and sugarcane farms. The construction of a railway linking the city to [wiki=ea76c0ae9dd817eb448fd1b3db6253bb]São Paulo[/wiki] and [wiki=f3e3016c9f958241aff430cf4941fae3]Santos[/wiki]' seaport, in 1867, was very important for its growth. In the second half of the 19th century, with the abolition of slavery, farming and industrialization attracted many foreign immigrants to replace the lost manpower, mainly from Italy.
Coffee became an important export and the city became wealthy. In consequence, a large service sector was established to serve the growing population, and in the first decades of the 20th century, Campinas could already boast of an opera house, theaters, banks, movie theaters, radio stations, a philharmonic orchestra, two newspapers, a good public education system, hospitals, and the most important Brazilian research center in agricultural sciences. Finally, the construction of the first Brazilian highway in 1938, between Campinas and São Paulo, the Anhanguera Highway, was a turning point in the integration of Campinas into the rest of the state.
Campinas was the birthplace of opera composer Carlos Gomes (1836-1896) and of the President of the Republic Campos Salles (1841-1913), both of whom have small museums here in their honor today.
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By car
From [wiki=ea76c0ae9dd817eb448fd1b3db6253bb]São Paulo[/wiki], via the SP-330 Anhangüera or SP-348 Bandeirantes highways.
* From [wiki=a2824685337b489ae9edccf72313f6fc]Vale do Paraíba[/wiki], via SP-65,Dom Pedro I highway.
* From the Macro region of Mogi-guaçu, via SP-340, Adhemar de Barros Highway.
* From South (Valinhos and Vinhedo), via SP-91 (Campinas - Valinhos)
* From the Macro region of Sorocaba, via SP-75, Santos Dumont Highway)
* From the Monte-mor, via SP-101 (Campinas - Monte-mor)
* From Valinhos, via SP-83, Anel Viário Magalhães Teixeira
* From Indaiatuba, via SP-73, Lix da Cunha Highway (access for the Royal Palm Plaza)
* From Morungaba, via SP-81, Estrada das Cabras
* From Vinhedo, via SP-324, Miguel Melhado Campos Highway
* From Paulínia/Arthur Nogueira, via SP-332, General Milton Tavares de Souza Highway
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By bus
Terminal Multimodal Ramos de Azevedo, [http://www.emdec.com.br/]. Bus tickets can even be reserved and purchased by Internet for the main bus companies. You would need to check on the bus station which company serves to a certain destination in particular.
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By train
Actually it is not possible to arrive in Campinas via steam locomotive. There are a touristic line that works on weekends. The "Maria Fumaça" [url=http://www.mariafumacacampinas.com.br/]]starts 25km away in the city of [[Jaguariúna[/url]] and arrives in Campinas at Anhumas Station, in the neighborhood of Fazenda Anhumas.
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Campinas is well served by urban bus services [http://www.emdec.com.br]. Although it is not easy to find where are the bus stops and which bus to catch, people on the street will be glad to help if they can understand you. There are several main bus terminals, where you can transfer from one line into another. Some urban buses even go to neighbor cities as Jaguariúna and Paulínia.
If driving a car, be aware that some avenues have been converted to one-way streets to form a ring around downtown. Sometimes it can be tricky to find your way back and be careful not to get into the wrong way on one of those avenues.
After 22:00 until 06:00, some traffic lights are turned off and just blink yellow. Don't be scared, this is not effect of a Martian invasion. For safety reasons, you are not supposed to be stopped at red lights late at night.
Be aware, however, that during normal hours red lights and speed are enforced by cameras everywhere in the city, so stick to the speed limits and don't cross red lights.
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Excellent place for exercising, it is a favourite local spot for running, walking or ridding a bike. It is a very popular place among families and well recommended for kids. The park boasts a large population of ducks and a few capybaras. The only downside are the large numbers of feral cats, many of which are kept alive by the efforts of volunteers who come and feed them. It contains a number of attractions:
:* This lake is also known as Lagoa Isaura Teles Alves de Lima. On weekends and holidays it is possible to rent swan-shaped paddle boats and cruise around the lake.
:* The park has 3 kilometers of track that carry four historic trams that served the city from 1912 to 1968.
:* This 2700-seat conch-shaped amphitheater is a replica of the one in [wiki=d97e023dce2bb237a0d44f46d8ee9438]New York City[/wiki]'s Lincoln Park. It has recently (2013) been renovated and painted. Check the performance schedules posted at the main gates of the park.
:* Look for the pyramid-shaped building
* This nice wooded park is a nice spot for birdspotting, a relaxed stroll, or a quiet read. It also contains the coffee museum:
:* Here one can learn about the history of the city and São Paulo State, the products that were cultivated and how they impact the state's (and nation's) economy and politics, and especially about the people who made it possible: slaves, immigrants and their descendants.
* This 247-acre park used to be part of an old coffee farm called "Mato Dentro". Landscaped by the renowned Brazilian landscape designer Burle Marx, it has the "Casa Grande" (Big House) museum, housed in what used the be the farm owners residence. You can see the disparities of the lifestyle of the farm owners and workers, as well as the local environment and ecology. You can also walk one of the many trails or take advantage of the sporting facilities, such as courts, fields and playgrounds. On Sundays there is an organic agriculture fair as well.
* This park holds a small but "sad" zoo, a Natural History Museum, small aquarium, and a preserved ranch house. Admission to the park is free, and there is a joint R$2,00 fee to visit the Natural History Museum and aquarium. There are small rodents called agouti that live freely in the park, as well as a few sloths, so keep your eyes trained to the canopy! Thoough the zoo may make you feel a little bad for the animals, the park itself is gorgeous, with wide tree-lined paths, hundreds of benches, and lots of places to picnic.
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* Largo do Pará - Square located downtown, is a nice sightseeing.
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* Ponte Preta's Stadium. If you go, wear black and white to not draw the wrong kind of attention!
* Guarani's stadium. The team's colors are green and white, though at the moment, they will take any fans they can get so don't worry about wearing the wrong color!
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* Inaugurated in 1883, after more than 70 years of construction. It is best to go here during the day, as the area gets a little dodgy after dusk.
* A 27-meter castle-style water tower with an observation deck on top which provides fine views of much of the city. Only saturday and sunday 15-21 h.
* A nice sightseeing from outside but no visits allowed inside. It is possible to enter the nearby military area by car or can be a pleasant walking, where some tanks are exposed at the side of the road.
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* State University of Campinas is one of the best Universities in Brazil. The campus is big and has lots of activities. Worth visiting is the IMECC building. Nearby are some restaurants and bars.
* Private university which has a beautiful campus, one of the best universities in the state. Journalism course is specially its high standard.
* It is a very famous Amusement park. Check also Wet 'n' Wild water park that is just at side. There is a hotel and a small mall over the road on the same complex.
* Located in Joaquim Egídio, near Campinas is a sky observatory open to visitors some days a week for lectures and stars observations.
*
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Driving the road connecting Sousas and Joaquim Edigio is another must do in Campinas. An optional drive to the Morro das Cabras where the Observatory is located is also recommended, but since the road up the to top is unpaved and you might not want to put your car in harsh conditions, it is an optional. Anyway, just following the paved road you can have amazing views, sights of old farm houses, and a feeling of how Campinas used to look. The area is full of activities: fishing, mountain biking, cycling, hiking trails are some options. If you feel tired of so much activity, you can sit, rest, eat and drink at one of the many restaurants in the region, some of them among the best of the city and attracting crowds from the State capital, Sao Paulo. You can also visit the old farms, the churches and the local stores. Or just sit in a bench in one of the squares and watch the time passing slowly. This tour can be as nostalgic or agitated as you wish.
* Carlos Enrique conducts ornithological tours in Campinas or in and around Sao Paulo State.
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Nice place to find exotic food and to feel the charm that Campinas had in its past. It is downtown close to two main bus stations, which takes some of this beauty away but makes the local easily accessible. It is a great spot for people watching.
* The streets downtown are lined with shops and are perhaps the most convenient and best place to start your shopping.
*The art crafts fair now is officially called "Feira de Arte, Artesanato, Antiguidades, Esotéricos e Quitutes de Campinas" but with such a long name, all the locals still call it by its old and more charming name: Feira Hippie. The fair started in the 1970s and since then a lot has changed: its location, size, and products, and today actual hippie vendors are rare. This is a must-do in Campinas. It is possible to buy all kinds of arts and crafts: paintings, jewellery, clothes, house articles, shoes, bags, etc. The food section is an amazing trip through local and Brazilian cuisine: pasteis (fried dumplings), empanadas, and pies share space with regional food and as well as dishes brought by immigrants and fully adopted by the Brazilians, such as yakisoba and sushi.
*An old street shopping destination.
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Shopping malls
Like any decent-sized city in Brazil, there are a number of American-style shopping malls, typically including a food court, movie theater, and a variety of shops.
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* Few stores, focus on services, restaurant and cinema. The landscaping of this mall has plenty of vegetation, making it very pleasant.
* Lots of stores, also great restaurants and cinemas.
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* A very popular mall, not only for Campinas's citizens but for the whole region- tour buses arriving with visitors from neighboring cities is not uncommon. You can find pretty much anything you need in the almost 400 stores, but come prepared to walk. There are around 40 options of places to eat, 15 movie screens, bowling alley, gym and night clubs. If you are not inclined to crowds, try to avoid visiting it during weekends and holidays. Kids love this mall, where they can play in the themed resting places. The area where the mall was constructed was part of the Santa Genebra forest and some of the centenary trees that were cut down or found dead during construction were preserved through chemical processes and are now exhibited inside the mall. It is routine to see people taking pictures with the dead trees as background since the artist who worked on them really did an amazing job.
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While, like most of the state, Campinas has the fairly typical paulistano range of Italian, Japanese, Middle Eastern, and standard Brazilian food, it doesn't have anything much that might be called campineiro food. The two most notable things might be the local penchant for arugula salad (salada de rúcula) and the local lancherias' habit of serving their sandwiches cut into bite size pieces, dubbed the "angel-mouth cut" (corte boca-de-anjo). Among desserts, you should not miss the torta holandesa (Dutch pie) which, despite its name, was invented in Campinas.
* Specializing in Middle Eastern dishes, or the Brazilian equivalent thereof, with esfiha, couscous, baba ghanouj, tabouli, falafel, and other dishes.
* Restaurant that started in the nearby city of Itu, which is famous for the extra size of everything, the restaurant follows the pattern of the city where it was created. Be sure to ask for the "Parmegiana" the most famous dish in the house: deep fried breaded beef, taken to the oven covered with cheese and tomato sauce, served with rice and french fries.
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* Restaurant elected several times as "The Best of the City" for typical Brazilian food, and a visit there evokes the whole experience of countryside Brazil. The house speciality, as the name sugests, is feijão com tranqueira: bean soup cooked with bacon, sausages, sun dried meat and other delicious things. In their backyard, there is a mini-farm, and kids love to see the animals, walk around the lake and play on the playground.
* Varied menu with sandwiches, burgers, and light dishes as well as steaks and chicken dinners. They also have a selection of vegetarian options. Two locations in town.
:*
:*
* Middle Eastern food.
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* As the name might suggest, this churrascaria is the place for beef as well as many other kinds of meat, plus salads, pastas, and desserts.
* Steaks including file mignon and even Kobe beef, chicken and turkey dishes, pastas, seafood, and fish served Brazilian-style.
* Good pizza cooked in a big wooden oven.
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Place to hear good live music and drink good Brazilian beer (Bamberg and Colorado beers).
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* Corner bar and snack shop with a happy hour atmosphere. If you get hungry, try their celebrated bolinho de bacalhau.
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* The most famous beer in town, with three locations:
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* Boteco. Th-Su live music
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*Good breakfast included.
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*One of the cheapest hotel in Campinas. If you want to have a quiet place to stay this is the best place. It is simple but a decent place to stay.
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As in any other large city in the world, pay attention to your surroundings and don't act like a tourist. Campinas is relatively safe during the day time, but at night, take a taxi a cab or drive yourself. Downtown Cambuí is relatively safe at night, but, again, pay attention and use your head.
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[wiki=654a78f8e412074d08a5f3f2d24d31b4]Holambra[/wiki]
[wiki=60efded2e02d984012636a5fd00a1a79]pt:Campinas[/wiki]
[wiki=0b47ef9328192f5dffdd658ca2d9d342]wts:Category:Campinas[/wiki]
[[WikiPedia:Campinas]]
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