After a few wonderful days in Rio de Janeiro, we flew to the largest city in the Amazonas state of Brazil – Manaus. It is so interesting to find such a busy and vibrant city in the middle of the Amazon! Originally we did not have a lot of time in this very interesting city, as our tour used Manaus only as a transit point for getting to the jungle lodge in the Amazon and before we got on the boat trip to Santarem. However, our boat was late for five hours when we were departing from Manaus, and then we had free time to walk around the city! That was one of the few moments I was cheering for schedules to be delayed!

Manaus used to be a very wealthy city because of the rubber boom. Now it is a busy city with lots of traffic, vibrant markets, and streets full of people. Although Manaus may no longer be an attractive city, there are still good examples of beautiful architecture left from the era. The showpiece of the city is the opulent opera house - Teatro Amazonas. The architecture of the Opera House is elegant, and the interior rivals other European and Latin American opera houses. I was very happy to take a tour and see this fine piece of architecture! The beautiful and colourful buildings surrounding the opera house as well as the vibrant markets are other highlights of this interesting city.