Gaucho capital of Brazil — German wine towns, Guaíba sunsets, and xis gaúcho street food
Porto Alegre is the capital of Rio Grande do Sul — Brazil's southernmost state, where European immigration (German, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian) created a culture as different from Rio as São Paulo is from Manaus. The city is built on hilly bluffs above the Guaíba Lake/River and has one of Brazil's highest standards of living, the country's most European city aesthetic, and a proud gaucho (cowboy) heritage: churrasco (barbecue), chimarrão (mate tea), and the xis gaúcho (a legendary toasted sandwich of ludicrous proportions) are the local staples. The Bento Gonçalves wine valley (90km away) pro…
Porto Alegre was founded as a Portuguese military outpost in 1772 to counter Spanish expansion from the Río de la Plata — the settlement of 'Porto dos Casais' received Azorean Portuguese settlers in 1752 as colonists. German immigration beginning in 1824 (the first large-scale non-Iberian immigration to Brazil) and Italian immigration from the 1870s created the southern Brazilian mestizo culture. The city was the birthplace of Getúlio Vargas, who ruled Brazil as president/dictator for 18 years between 1930 and 1954 and was the most influential Brazilian political figure of the 20th century. T…