For the 61st time, welcome to the Photo of the Month. That’s it, today this column completes 5 years of life.

To celebrate the milestone, I chose the city of Curitiba as one of the subjects, as it’s my hometown. The full post’s theme is a travel with my in-laws to Curitiba, Morretes, Ilha do Mel, and Caiobá.

Yes, these are my vacation’s photos. Here is the disclaimer for those of you who came solely after artistic shoots.

The post itself has two parts:

  • Locations: the places we’ve been through as we traveled
  • Themes: things such as flora and food were grouped in themes

Caverna do Diabo

The Caverna do Diabo (Devil’s Cave) is a geological formation that is located halfway between Valinhos and Curitiba. It is part of the Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira (Touristic State Park from Alto Ribeira), better known for its acronym PETAR.

The various stalactites and stalagmites are incredible.

Curitiba

Curitiba, my home town, is very beautiful for who likes a more urban tourism, focused in parks and museums.

Jardim Botânico

Starting with the Jardim Botânico (Botanical Garden), a mandatory stop for any tourist in the capital.

Rose Petenucci

This is the sweet store where my mother works. Around the time of the travel, the store was entirely focused on the Halloween theme.

Ópera de Arame

We went to the Ópera de Arame (Wire Opera House) to briefly visit and have a breakfast in the local bar, with a pleasant deck by the lake.

Parque Tanguá

Another famous landmark due to the water mirror, steeple, fountains, and waterfall.

Unilivre

The Universidade Livre do Meio Ambiente (Free University of the Environment) is a bit of a hidden place. It has a beautiful wooden building and it’s common to see pre-wedding photo shootings in its dependencies.

Bosque do Papa

A Polish bosk, named Bosque do Papa (Pope’s Bosk) after Pope John Paul II visited the city. It is a small yet charming place right beside the Oscar Niemeyer Museum.

This pope’s statue is creepy!

Largo da Ordem

Historic center full of old buildings, food and cultural places. The photo itself has the statue of the Cavalo Babão (Drooling Horse) and some pine trees of the Araucaria genre against the sunlight.

Mercado Municipal

In the Mercado Municipal de Curitiba (Curitiba’s Producers Market) there are various food stalls with in bulk sales, beverages, foreign food, and cheese, among others.

Museu do Olho

The Museu Oscar Niemeyer (Oscar Niemeyer Museum), commonly known as Museu do Olho (Eye’s Museum), is one of those landmarks that are famous for the building. Inside it, there are many exhibitions that change over time.

Estação Tubo

There must be a photo of a tube bus station in this post, where the city buses stop.

Comendador Araújo Region

This is one of the regions that tie downtown to the Batel borough, famous for the old days pageantry.

Universidade Federal do Paraná

The rectory building of the Universidade Federal do Paraná (Federal University of Paraná) has a front with beautiful big columns.

Paço da Liberdade

The Paço da Liberdade (Freedom Court) is another historical building with a nice face located in downtown. It was built to host the city hall and today is owned by the Social Service of Commerce.

Rua XV de Novembro and Boca Maldita

The boardwalk of Rua XV (Street XV) is a downtown’s classic. It hosts a region called Boca Maldita (Damned Mouth), that was the stage for various political debates in the old days.

Morretes

Morretes is a small village located near the cost. Famous weekend destination, it is also the final stop of the scenic train ride that connects it to Curitiba.

In it, there are many old buildings and restaurants serving the famous local dish named Barreado (a sort of cattle meat stew that is cooked overnight and then shredded), served with bananas and wheat flour as sidings.

Ilha do Mel

Ilha do Mel (Honey Island) is very close to the continent. Several cargo ships pass by very close to the island, as it’s close to the Paranaguá port. The photos are from the region of Encantadas, one of the two island’s settlements and the one we checked-in into.

Caiobá

In Caiobá beach, located in the town of Matinhos, there are few records. I didn’t take good photos there due to the bad weather.

Front Doors

In this section, I put several photos in frontispieces, more specifically in their front doors.

Flora

Here we have some photos taken on Ilha do Mel and Jardim Botânico. The first are random elements of scenery and after it there are exclusively flowers.

Gastronomy

And to wrap up, a touch of gastronomy from a couple moments of the travel.

Time flies and here we are in our first post of the next 5 years. I am happy to persevere on this interesting hobby and to have you all close by. Until the next photographic adventure!