4 Best Sights in Belem, The Amazon

It's hard to miss this opulent Roman-style basilica—not only does it stand out visually, but there's an enormous samauma tree (kapok variety) filled with screeching white-winged parakeets in the plaza out front. The basilica was built in 1908 as an addition to a 1774 chapel, on the site where a caboclo (rural, riverside dweller) named Placido is said to have seen a vision of the Virgin in the early 1700s. The basilica's ornate interior is constructed entirely of European marble and contains elaborate mosaics, detailed stained-glass windows, and intricate bronze doors.

At the end of the 18th century, sugar baron Domingos da Costa Barcelar built the neoclassical House of Eleven Windows as his private mansion. Today Barcelar's mansion is a gallery for contemporary arts, including photography and visiting expositions. The view from the balcony is impressive. Take a walk through the courtyard and imagine scenes of the past. This is where the aristocracy took tea and watched over the docks as slaves unloaded ships from Europe and filled them with sugar and rum.

City beautification efforts to increase tourism and encourage environmental conservation led to the creation of the Mangrove of the Egrets, a verdant park that lines the Rio Guamá. It's a great place for a short stroll. There is an aviary, a lookout tower with a view of Belém, a navigation museum, a boardwalk leading to a lookout over the Rio Guamá, a live butterfly museum, ponds with aquatic plants, food vendors, a gift shop, and an excellent restaurant. Entrance to the park is free, although each attraction costs R$3.

Its name literally meaning "see the weight" (a throwback to the time when the Portuguese weighed everything entering or leaving the region), this market is a hypnotic confusion of colors and voices. Vendors hawk tropical fruits, regional wares, and an assortment of tourist kitsch. Most interesting are the mandingueiras, women who claim they can solve any problem with "miracle" jungle roots and charms for the body and soul. They sell jars filled with animal eyes, tails, and even heads, as well as herbs, each with its own legendary power. The sex organs of the pink river dolphin are a supposedly unrivaled cure for romantic problems. In the fish market you get an up-close look at pirarucu, the Amazon's most colorful fish and the world's second-largest freshwater species. Look for bizarre armored catfish species, such as the tamuatá and the huge piraiba. Across the street is a small arched entrance to the municipal meat market. Duck in and glance at the French-style pink-and-green-painted ironwork, imported from Britain. Be sure to visit Ver-o-Peso before noon, when most vendors leave. It opens around 6 am. Leave your jewelry at home and beware of pickpockets.