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Farol da Barra
Avenida Oceania | Barra, Salvador, State of Bahia, Brazil Phone: Not AvailableAbout
The lighthouse and fort are mostly worth a visit for the views over the Bay of All Saints. Erected in 1534, the Forte de Santo Antonio da Barra was the first and most important Portuguese fortress protecting Salvador. It thus had the honor of being taken by the invading Dutch in 1624, and retaken the following year by a combined Portuguese and Spanish fleet. You can wander the halls and admire the military architecture, but there's no signage on the history of the fort. The museum inside the lighthouse contains a small collection of maps and charts, navigational instruments, and a number of archaeological finds from wrecks that the lighthouse obviously didn't help. Signage here is in English and Portuguese.
