Belém is a city on the banks of the Amazon estuary, in the northern part of Brazil. The name Belém is the Portuguese for "Bethlehem". It is the capital of the state of Pará and is the entrance gate to the Amazon and also one of Brazil's busiest ports. It lies about 60 miles upriver from the Atlantic Ocean.
The river is the Pará, part of the greater Amazon River system, separated from the larger part of the Amazon delta by Ilha de Marajó (Marajo Island).
Founded in 1616, Belém was the first European colony on the Amazon but did not become part of the Brazilian nation until 1775. Its metropolitan area has approximately 2.09 million inhabitants. It is also known as Metropolis of the Brazilian Amazon region or Cidade das Mangueiras (city of mango trees) due to the number of those trees found in the city. The newer part of the city has modern buildings and skyscrapers.
The colonial portion retains the charm of tree-filled Squares, churches and traditional blue tiles.
Belém is served by the Val de Cães International Airport (BEL) that connects the city to the rest of the country and other cities in South America.
Brazilians often refer to the city as Belém do Pará ("Belém of Pará") rather than just Belém so as to differentiate it from the biblical Bethlehem in the West Bank (Palestinian territories).
The City is home to the Federal University of Pará. It also has a rich history and architecture from colonial times. Recently it witnessed a skyscraper boom, something we have witnessed in many other parts of Brazil.
Maria didn't sleep well last night due to nausea caused, she thinks, by the lobster she had for dinner.
I slept very well and was up and about in time for a lovely sunrise. It was without doubt going to be a hot one today!
Soon we could make out the land on one side of the river. We were in fact not quite in the Amazon Delta itself, we were in the Amazon River's network of estuaries on the Para River. We wouldn't actually be in the Amazon proper until tomorrow.
The river was quite busy with little fishing boats and a few larger freighters were scattered around the waterway and all were at anchor. This was a busy waterway.
I have no idea what the local fish would be here on this inland waterway some 60 miles from the Atlantic.
We dropped anchor off Icoaracy Village at about 9.15.
Due to the amount of silt in the water it was coloured a murky shade of unpleasant brown. This colouring we will experience on the Amazon for the next week or so except where we pass 'the meeting of the rivers'.
In the distance, across the murky waters, we had our first view of the sky scrappers of Belem.
Brazilian cities were now of course becoming quite famous for their high rise buildings.
Instead of taking the smaller Prinsendam tenders, we were using local colourful commercial river ferries to take passengers from our anchorage to the local quay about 5 minutes away.
These were large 200 seater vessels nicely painted in vivid bright colours. It would be fun using this local transport to take us back and forth from the ship.
Maria took the opportunity to have her picture taken with two of the Prinsendam sailors who normally skipper our ship's tenders and were here on the ferries to ensure all went well for the Prinsendam passengers. In fact they would have handled the ferry better than the actual boat's skipper who had troubles pulling away from the Prinsendam once the boat was loaded up with passengers.
The small port we were landed at was a busy place with lots of small boats trans-porting people and produce up and down the river. It was a hive of activity made more so with the sudden arrival of 700 people from the Prinsendam.
Awaiting us at this small but very busy village, and opposite the little fruit market shown in the photo, was our shuttle bus that would take us into Belem.
It was a considerable journey of over 15 miles and with the road works we encountered took us well over an hour to reach our destination outside the Hilton Hotel.
Of course the ride allowed us to see a good bit of the urban area surrounding this major city.
Both Gary and Gerry were on board the ferry when we boarded so we joined up with them for the day's exploits. Gerry as always had done her research from the Frommers guide book.
Once off the bus we headed down to the waterfront where the enormous Mercado Ver o Peso (“verify the weight market”) sprawls across several city blocks. 
This is a centre of local life and commerce and is always busy. All kinds of exotic items are displayed there.
We took in the sights and the smells and were pleased to be under cover away from the heat of the sun.
Gerry had in mind that we take up a suggestion from her guide book and seek out a restaurant that was supposed to specialise in local Brazilian dishes and was very popular with the locals. She wasn't quite sure where it was but kept asking the locals to point us in the right direction.
Well we walked, and walked, and walked with the hot midday sun beating down on us. On route we passed the smelly old city port now just used by a few fishing boats.
Then it was on passed the strikingly well preserved Cathedral that was also seen on our restaurant seeking travels.
Eventually we did manage to find the address, despite being sent the wrong way by at least one local, and entered.
What was before us was an empty premises other that tables and chairs and discarded beer bottles scattered randomly everywhere. It looked like they had had a major fight there and had forgot to clean it up afterwards.
We were so hot and bothered that we decided to just stay long enough to have a cold beer and then exit the place.
On our earlier travels we had passed through the 'Estacao das Docas Complex', a restoration project that covers an area of old warehouses. These now house coffee bars, restaurants, stores and an auditorium. We decided to go back here and have some lunch.
Maria and I made the mistake of going for the plentiful buffet display while Gary and Gerry ordered some fish starters and then duck dressed up in a funny kind of local vegetable with a kick.
It was a mild narcotic substance that numbed the mouth!! It was legal I assume? They tell me that they didn't eat it, just the fish and duck were consumed they pointedly told us!!
Our meal was really horrible and only slightly redeemed, for me anyway, by some wonderful deserts I consumed from the pudding buffet table.
We taxied back to the Hilton to try and catch the expected penulti-mately shuttle bus back to the ferry. However the bus schedule was up the creek and we waited until nearly 4.00 o'clock for it to arrive.
We did enjoy the sight of the 'fruit man' pushing his wears through the street. One of the local tour guides bought some fresh guava from him and kindly offered me one which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Weary and hot and bothered I slept for the hour plus journey back to base. 
It was a welcome sight to see our home from home, the ms Prinsendam anchored not far from where we picked up the ferry.
The first thing we noticed was how lovely and cool our cabin had become with the fan we had ordered that morning from Lydia on at full blast.
The second thing Maria noticed was that our plant now had four flowers open.
After a quick shower and change of clothes it was up to the Lido for ice cold fruit juice drinks and ice cream. This must have been a record day for the ship's ice cream man as everyone seemed to be eating it this evening.
Because we were quite tired, and in my case not too hungry, we decided to again miss dinner in the main dining room and head for the Lido instead.
Tonight would be an early one for us both. Nothing was planned for tomorrow, thankfully, as it was a day of scenic cruising of the Amazon.
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