Maringá is a city in northern Paraná state, located in southern Brazil. Northern Paraná wasn’t extensively settled until the 1st half of the 20th century and Maringá was incorporated only in 1947. The city has about 300000 inhabitants. I was there in January and took lots of photos. I will make other threads for cities and places I visited in Paraná: Londrina, Curitiba, Iguaçú, and the Litoral Paranaense
A map of the location from the net:
A map of the city:
Let’s start with the Catedral Metropolitana (shaped, I was told, to resemble the Sputnik spaceship
)
The inside:
Walking up, inside the cone we find some bare and unfinished interiors:
Imprints of shoes on the ground:
But the view from the top is magnificent !
Looking south away from downtown:
Looking at the two large city parks that are to the east and west of the cathedral:
Looking to the eastern end of downtown, where the bulk of the retail is located:
The road leading to the Stadium:
The western end of downtown, with Maringá’s tallest building on the left:
Looking towards the terminal for city-buses and the suburbs:
City hall:
Zooming on the sprawl:
Let’s get out, I don’t remember to whom this statue is dedicated, I think it’s the Virgin Mary but there was more of a story behind it:
Virtually all of Maringá’s streets are lined with trees, this is how the city was planned. Here are some examples:
On another planning note, Maringá’s traffic lights are rather interesting: the red light starts with a red ball on top which then drops down every so many seconds. When it hits the bottom it changes to green, which changes the light to a green ball on top which goes down and so the cycle continues:
A street-performer during a red-light:
Avenida Brasil is the main shopping avenue for Maringá, despite that it looks rather unremarkable:
Maringá has two malls: Aspen Park and Avenida Center.
Aspen Park:
And just in case you haven’t had enough of the cathedral :
Avenida Center:
Now to the high-rises with some shots from the street. Something that surprised me was that most high-rises were exclusively for residential use. I could hardly find any tall buildings that were for office use.
Maringá’s tallest:
Others miscellaneous:
Under construction:
Now to low-rise architecture:
Old and modern coexisting in Maringá:
Maringá’s railroad line that eventually goes underneath the city, I was surprised that the intersection is not operated automatically:
Skyline view from CESUMAR (Centro Universitário de Maringá):
Looking towards the countryside:
The campus of CESUMAR:
The Parque Ingá: is one of the two large parks in the city and just like the city, it is named after Maria Ingá, an immigrant from the northeast of Brazil featured in a song (I don’t think she ever existed). Hence the city’s nickname: Cidade Cancão.
The park has quite a few animals as well:
These mini-monkeys can be found everywhere in the park:
Telephone booth outside the park:
Sidewalks:
I am not sure if it’s the case everywhere in Brazil, but the pavement of the sidewalks in Maringá is handled by the owner of the property abutting the sidewalk, hence it changes in patterns, materials, and quality every few meters/yards:
Maringá also has a requirement for property owners to plant trees on the sidewalk, here is a small one:
This requirement, however, leads to problems when the tree grows and becomes too big and cracks the sidewalks:
I was also told that there is a new requirement for ecological sidewalk which will enhance natural water drainage through the soil:
A vast expanse of undeveloped land in a relatively central are of town sits idle by the citybus terminal. Are there any plans to develop it ?? :dunno:
The Terminal Rodoviario - where intercity-buses arrive and depart: Brazil doesn’t have much of a passenger railroad network but many bus companies link cities for those who don’t drive. The terminals in Maringá and Londrina are modern and clean:
Now to the residential neighborhoods:
Raised trashcans in a residential neighborhood, I guess they don’t require lots of bending for those depositing or picking up the trash and keep the trash away from animals (unless those can crawl up the pole or are birds):
Most single family houses are built close to the street:
But occasionally there are a few which have huge setbacks: apparently some people first build the building in the back as a house, and then build the main building towards the street. Once that is accomplished they move into the main building and use the other building for storage, for guests etc.:
Living in a cage :runaway:
Living fenced-in:
Gated communities all located on the same hill south of downtown echoing European flair
This how the first buildings in Maringá looked like: now there are only a few left, and they are often in disrepair. Hopefully they will preserve them, since they are a part of Paraná’s heritage:
Jogger’s highway next to Maringá’s other park, complete with median ! I couldn’t find a single person walking the wrong way, maybe you get fined if you do
Political advertisement: Maringá has a sizable Japanese community which influences local politics.
I had to post this: Pizza with peanut and caramel !! There was also chocolate Pizza on the menu ! :uh:
Traveling outside of town one finds himself amongst lush soybean fields:
Skyline view from the distance:
Northern Paraná’s hilly countryside:
The city is arriving here too:
Last views with a beautiful sky:
I hope you enjoyed :cheers:
