Belém, Brazil: Markets, ATMs, and a County Fair at Sea

January 12

Arrival and Our First Tender Port

We arrived at the Belém anchorage a little before 8:00 a.m., but the morning got off to a slow start. The ship had requested three shore-side tenders, yet only one arrived on time. To keep things moving, the Captain made the call to lower two of Volendam’s own tenders and begin shuttling guests ashore.

Note: You will need a Brazil E-Visa to visit Brazil if you are a US citizen.   It’s still a little tricky to get the visa, but check out my How to Get a Brazil Visa GUIDE HERE for tips and tricks to make it easier.

This was our first tender port of the voyage. If you’re unfamiliar with priority tendering, Holland America provides several notices explaining the process, which are worth reviewing before your first tender day. Here is the note explaining how priority tendering will work for 4- and 5-star mariners.

The ship anchors about two miles upriver from Icoaraci, the district where tenders arrive. While Icoaraci has a population of roughly 165,000, it’s much smaller than Belém itself, which has more than two million people in the greater metro area. This was my second visit to Belém, the first having been in 2020.

Since we didn’t have anything time-sensitive planned, we waited for open tendering, announced around 10:45 a.m. We left our room around 11 am, queued shortly after, boarded the next shore-side tender at 11:15, and finally departed the ship at 11:25. A 20-minute ride later, we arrived at the pier around 11:45.

Getting Ashore: Pier to City

This visit brought us to a different pier than in 2020, leading to a new—though fairly small—cruise terminal with a handful of shops and seating for perhaps 100 people.

Inside the Cruise Terminal

Holland America offered a shuttle bus to Estação das Docas, or “The Docks,” near the main market, Mercado Ver-o-Peso, about 12 miles away, running every 30 minutes with an estimated travel time of 45 minutes. Rather than wait, we opted for an Uber. One arrived within minutes, took about 38 minutes, and cost roughly US$9.

As we approached The Docks, we spotted the familiar blue Holland America shuttle banner at the stop. We already knew this was the general area for the ship’s shuttle, but seeing the banner was reassuring, so we knew the exact location if we wanted to take the shuttle back to the tender landing.

A quick note for future visitors: many museums and tourist attractions in Belém are closed on Mondays, so if your visit falls on a Monday, double-check that anything on your must-see list will be open. The street running along the Mercado Ver-o-Peso and The Docks was closed and turned into a pedestrian mall.

Mercado Ver-o-Peso: Organized Chaos

We spent about an hour wandering through Mercado Ver-o-Peso, one of Brazil’s liveliest open-air markets. The energy here is constant—vendors calling out prices, music playing, and shoppers threading through narrow aisles packed with produce, fish, spices, and souvenirs.

At Ver-o-Peso, even advertising becomes a performance. A roaming market announcer pedals through the crowd with a bicycle-mounted sound system, calling out prices and promotions for nearby vendors. Dressed in the red and white of Pará’s state flag, he’s part salesman, part showman—and part of the constant soundtrack that gives the market its unmistakable character.

Mercado Ver-o-Peso

One of Many Small Restaurants i

T Shirts for sale

Pots and Pans for sale in the Market

A mobile hawker and advertiser of various market shops

ATM Misadventures and a Lesson Learned

From the market, we headed to a nearby bank in search of an ATM. Unfortunately, the machines inside were not public ATMs but banking terminals intended for account holders. One promptly swallowed my card and held onto it for about 15 minutes until a bank employee intervened and rebooted the machine to release it.

Lesson learned:  make absolutely sure the machine you’re using is an actual ATM.

We were then directed to a proper ATM in The Docks, where we successfully withdrew about US$100 in local currency.

As we walked from the Bank to The Docks, we passed the Igreja de Nossa Senhora das Mercês, one of Belém’s oldest churches. Dating back to the 17th century, the church is open to visitors, though parts of the exterior are wrapped in scaffolding. Its bell tower rises above traffic, tangled wires, and everyday street life, a reminder that in Belém, history isn’t set apart or polished for display—it remains woven directly into the city’s daily rhythm.

Igreja de Nossa Senhora das Mercês

Estação das Docas – The Docks

Just beyond Mercado Ver-o-Peso, the old port warehouses lining the waterfront have been restored and repurposed into restaurants, shops, and public spaces and is referred to as “The Docks”. Once used for cargo moving along the Amazon, these steel-and-brick buildings now offer a more polished counterpoint to the raw energy of the market.

We spent the next 90 minutes exploring The Docks – browsing shops, picking up a few T-shirts and souvenirs, and stopping for a bite to eat before heading back toward the shuttle. The restaurant Soprano caught our eye, and we stopped there for a late lunch. Service was slow, and the food was just OK. I would pick a different spot next time.

Unlike many tourist-heavy ports, very little English is spoken here, so be prepared to rely on Google Translate and brush up on some Portuguese before venturing ashore.

Back on Board: A County Fair at Sea

That evening, the Grand Fair took over the Lido Pool area from 8:30 to 10:00 p.m., transforming the deck into something resembling a floating county fair. Carnival-style games filled the space—corn hole, ring toss, putt-putt, ladder ball, rubber ducky draw, tin can alley, spin-to-win, and more.

As you play, you earn raffle tickets; better results earn more tickets. At 9:15 p.m., the tickets are drawn for prizes ranging from logo merchandise to specialty dining.

Evening Entertainment: Paul Adams

We left the fair a little before 9:00 p.m. to catch Paul Adams’ second show on the World Stage. British comedian Adams delivered an energetic set packed with playful storytelling and sharp observational humor, ranging from Paris mishaps and late-night dance floors to nightclub bouncers demanding ties and communicating with French strangers through napkin drawings.

This is an interactive map.  Click on the markers for more information.