São Paulo – The weather is pleasant. The landscapes have lots of green and many mountains. And in the streets, what you almost always see is fair-skinned, blonde-haired people. It is the state of Santa Catarina, but not the Santa Catarina known throughout Brazil, that of Florianópolis and its beaches. It is the North of Santa Catarina, a region whose cities bear almost unknown names like Araquari, Itaiópolis, Massaranduba and Schroeder, a region that was colonized by Europeans and which, despite the somewhat timid ways of its people, loves to throw a party.
The North of Santa Catarina is a region peopled by Germans, Poles, Italians, Russians and even Ukrainians, and it is also the land of the bash. And it is through that feature that this area of the state is trying to promote itself and attract tourists. An initiative aiming to boost tourism, named Instância de Governança Regional (Instance of Regional Governance), which in the North of Santa Catarina comprise the public and private sectors of 20 municipalities, christened the route Caminho dos Príncipes (Route of the Princes), reminiscent of colonization and its local heritage.
The colonization is celebrated with Oberlandfesta, a German party in the municipality of Rio Negrinho, with the Polish Party, in the same municipality, the Schützenfest, a shooting festival originally from the German culture, in Jaraguá do Sul. And the list continues, not necessarily paying tribute to the origins, such as Festa do Boi e do Frango Ralado (Bull and Grated Chicken Festival), in Itaiópolis, and Festa das Flores (Flower Festival) and Festival de Dança (Dance Festival), in Joinville. But is partying all there is to Joinville? No, local tourism involves a lot more, in the style of its municipality.
Joinville is one of the major cities in the region and because it has 510,000 citizens, it combines urban and rural attractions. The city promotes the annual Joinville Dance Festival, the largest in Latin America, featuring 6,000 dancers. Because the city also houses over 130 orchid enthusiassts, it also hosts the Flower Festival, which receives flower exhibitors from more than ten countries.
However, Joinville also offers rural tourism, watching farmers milking cows, collect honey and tend to organic chickens. In Joinville you can take a boat ride, on the Babitonga Bay, at the Palmital river mouth, or even visit the Bolshoi Theatre School, an arm of the Russian dance school, the world’s most famous.
São Francisco do Sul is another city in the region, the third oldest in Brazil, founded in 1504, according to the president of the Instance of Governance of the North of Santa Catarina, Augusto Kolling. Permeated by mountains and the sea and founded by a Frenchman, it became a stopping point for cruise ships, and thus brought in 60,000 new tourists. The local cuisine is famous, with its fish and seafood dishes, and the buildings classified as heritage sites – of which there are over 400 – are among the main attractions.
The North of Santa Catarina also comprises Jaraguá do Sul, of Italian, German and Hungarian colonization, which has ready routes for visits to family facilities belonging to each of these ethnicities, myriad museums, as well as industries open to visitation, such as Sol Paragliders. Jaraguá hosts the shooting festival, Schützenfest, where shooting associations compete against each other and visitors may engage in sport shooting, and the Femusc, a classical music festival that includes concerts in closed venues and open spaces such as squares, schools and hospitals.
There is also Rio Negrinho, a city with 44,000 inhabitants sought by many tourists because of the intense cold, which may reach minus four degrees Celsius in the winter. Rio Negrinho offers a train ride down the mountain range for tourists, then a typical Polish lunch, and then back to the city. The city also hosts Natal Encantado (Enchanted Christmas), from November to January, with PET bottle decoration all over the city. This year, one million bottles will be used.
Caminhos dos Príncipes (Routes of the Princes) also comprises the municipalities of Araquari, Balneário Barra do Sul, Barra Velha, Campo Alegre, Corupá, Garuva, Guaramirim, Itapoá, Itaiópolis, Mafra, Massaranduba, Monte Castelo, Papanduva, São Bento do Sul, São João do Itaperiú and Schroeder. The route is one of the attractions at the 6th Tourism Salon, due from July 13th to 17th at the Anhembi Park, in São Paulo.
Contact
Instance of Regional Governance of the North of Santa Catarina
Telephone: (+55 47) 9901-2249
Site: www.instanciadegovernanca.com.br
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
