Sandbanks
By boat.
Itamaraca — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Itamaraca — CC BY-SA 4.0 · thld — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Rosanetur from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — CC BY 2.0 · thld — CC BY-SA 3.0 · samuel.pio — CC BY 3.0 · LucasOliverr — CC BY-SA 4.0
Itamaracá is a tropical island and municipality on the north coast of Pernambuco, in Greater Recife, separated from the mainland by the Santa Cruz Channel, which some scholars see as the origin of the name «Pernambuco» itself. Its Tupi name means «stone that makes a sound». It is one of the oldest sites of Portuguese presence in Brazil, with records of Portuguese navigators passing before 1500, and it thrived on the sugar economy, so that by 1630 its old village, Vila Velha, had more than a hundred buildings, a governor's house, council and jail. Today visitors come for its calm, coconut-lined beaches, boat trips to sandbanks that appear at low tide, the old Dutch Fort Orange and the old village of Vila Velha on a hill above the channel. A bridge links it to the mainland, making it an easy outing from Recife and Olinda.
By boat.
Dutch fort.
Historic village.
Itamaracá Island, north coast of Pernambuco state
By car over a bridge from the mainland north of Recife.