Florianópolis

Florianópolis (also known as Floripa) is the capital city of Santa Catarina State in southern Brazil. It is composed of one main island, the Island of Santa Catarina, one continental part and the surrounding small isles. It has a population of 406,564 (2006/IBGE). Its metropolitan area has a population of over 821,423 inhabitants.

It is surrounded by smaller islands with forts, which protected ships in the 17th century. Most of the population lives on the island's northern half. The southern half is more isolated and less developed. Although originally settled by the Portuguese (from the Archipelago of Azores), the city has a strong German and Italian influence, like the rest of the state. Florianópolis is a popular destination for South American tourists, because of its location and white sand beaches. Florianópolis is served by Hercílio Luz International Airport for both domestic and international flights.

1 Districts
2 Universities
3 Beaches
4 Sports
- 4.1 Soccer
- 4.2 Tennis
5 Gallery
6 External links

[edit] Districts

There are 12 districts in Florianopólis:

Barra da Lagoa
Cachoeira do Bom Jesus
Campeche
Canasvieiras
Ingleses do Rio Vermelho
Lagoa da Conceição

Pântano do Sul
Ratones
Ribeirão da Ilha
Santo Antônio de Lisboa
São João do Rio Vermelho
Centro

[edit] Universities

Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), the only federal university in the state of Santa Catarina. Its website is (www.ufsc.br[1]) (In Portuguese)

Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (UDESC), the State University of Santa Catarina. Its website is (www.udesc.br[2]) (In Portuguese)

[edit] Beaches

Sand dunes at the Joaquina beach

There are about 42 well known beaches on Santa Catarina island, but more than 100 in all. The most well-known beaches, from North to South, are:

Jurerê - Very developed and organized; it has many large houses in private condominiums.
Brava - A quite small beach with wild waves (Brava means angry in Portuguese), surrounded by buildings. Very popular specially in the summer among surfers and young people.
Cachoeira do Bom Jesus
Canasvieiras - Popular among Argentinians and Uruguayans in the high season.
Ingleses - A family beach named after the survivors of an English shipwreck who formed a colony there, nowadays a thriving resort town.
Santinho - Has a well-known resort and 5,000 year old stoneworks can be observed at the rocky headland at the North end of the beach, where stoneage tribes sharpened arrowheads and other tools.
Moçambique - Part of the Rio Vermelho forestry reserve, popular with surfers, shelves steeply at high tide, there's a campsite within the reserve. It is the lengthiest beach in the city with more than 12km (about 8 miles) of sand.
Mole - Known for its soft, ankle-deep sand ("mole", ['mɔli], means soft in Portuguese), this is where the local crowd come to be seen. Lots of surfers, bars, coconut stalls and places to hire beach equipment. Separated from Lagoa da Conceição by a narrow isthmus of cliffs. During Carnival, the left side is famous for hosting a gay bar and gay tourists.
Joaquina - Famous as a location for one of the twelve *ASP World Tour tournaments and also for its sand dunes where sandboarding is practised.
Armação - Armação means trap and this is where Azorean whalers would begin driving South Atlantic Right whales towards the next, dead-end beach for slaughter. Nowadays it is a picturesque fishing village.
Matadeiro - A natural bay, one beach South of Armação, the name means "the killing place" and this is where Atlantic Right whales were beached and slaughtered - there are many whalebones still around today. The beach can only be reached by foot.

[edit] Sports

[edit] Soccer

There are two professional football (soccer) teams in the city. Both of them have 13 Santa Catarina State Championship titles, which is a state record. The derby between them is known as "O Clássico da Capital" ("The Capital's Classic").

Avaí FC - blue and white. It is also known as O Leão da Ilha ("The Lion of the Island"). Its stadium is the Aderbal Ramos da Silva, popularly known as Ressacada, located in the Carianos neighborhood, in the south part of the island. Avaí is currently playing the Brazilian national second division.

Figueirense FC - black and white. Its nickname is Figueira ("Figtree") and it is also known as O Furacão do Estreito ("The Estreito's Hurricane"). Its stadium is the Orlando Scarpelli, located in the Estreito neighborhood, in the continental part of the city. Figueirense is currently playing the Brazilian first division.

[edit] Tennis

Florianópolis is the hometown of tennis star Gustavo Kuerten.

[edit] Gallery

Lagoa da Conceição	Metropolitan Cathedral of Florianópolis	Lagoa da Conceição	Sight of Lagoa da Conceição from Ratones area
Aerial view of the Lagoa da Conceição bridge	Satellite photo of Lagoa da Conceição, with captions	Barra da Lagoa	Hercilio Luz bridge, 1935
Aerial view of Hercilio Luz bridge, 2001	Hercilio Luz bridge	Wooden dugouts on the Lagoa da Conceição	The historic market
Panoramic view of the Lagoa da Conceição	Looking north on the Lagoa da Conceição	Looking south on the Lagoa da Conceição