The sunset
Either from ponte metalica, praia iracema, or the beach by the fish market, mucuripe.
Praça do Ferreira
Is the main city square, with stores, restaurants, a movie theater and plenty of benches.
Praça José de Alencar
Has plenty of greenery and is the place to catch the city's best street performers.
Theatro José de Alencar
(http://theatrojosedealenc...) on the south side of the above square. the architectural landmark of the city, finished in 1912, has performances almost every evening. visits every hour on the hour, except noon. r$ 4, 30 minutes.
Dragão do Mar
The Dragão do Mar (http://www.dragaodomar.org.br/) culture center, opened in 1999, has an art museum, a library, a cinema and surrounding nightlife.
Parque Ecologico do Cocó
The city's largest green area, near the iguatemi-mall. no lawns, but a nice walk in the woods.
Museu do Ceará
Rua sao paulo 51, one block north of pr. do ferreira, centre. in a late 19th-century seat of state government. explains the history of the state of cearã¡ and its capital. free entry.
Museu do Automóvel
Some 60 cars on display, mostly of US make, ranging from 1917 to 1995!. Notably two funeral cars from the 30's.
Estoril
This mansion, built in 1925 as Vila Morena, and later used as a casino, a restaurantwhen its current name was applied and a rather political bar, is of peculiar architecture. It was virtually rebuilt in the 90's, and is undergoing another refurbishment to be used for public cultural arrangements.
Mercado dos Pinhões
This former meat market was imported piece by piece from Europe and set up in 1897. Refurbished and now used as a handicrafts fair.
Museu de Arte e Cultura Popular
Rua senador pompeu 350, centre. located in an old prison, now the centro de turismo, along with a handicraft market and a tourist information. displays many fine examples of folk art as well as boats and other cultural relics.
History Train
(http://www.bnb.gov.br/con...) and step-by-step history (http://www.bnb.gov.br/con...) are two free tours offered on alternating saturdays in the city centre. show up at banco do nordeste, rua floriano peixoto 941, at 1:15 pm. both last about 3 hours. basic portuguese is a must.
Quite an effort has been put into restoring colonial architecture over the last years. Still there is no area that is completely "clean", but the stretch from the beachfront of Praia de Iracema, via Dragão do Mar and to Praça do Ferreira is steadily improving and worth a walk.
Cathedral
City centre. the closer you get, the worse it looks, with a parking lot and all. but it still has nice mosaics. french architect george mounier allegedly was inspired by the cologne cathedral. note the 40 year span between the initial works and the inaugural mass, above the main entrance.
Mini Siará
More cute than really interesting, this tiny museum has about 25 scale models of Fortaleza's colonial buildings, and also a couple of scale landscapes.