Florianopolis

I spent New Year's Eve in Florianopolis, which is a city in the south of Brazil. The city is really nice with a few streets only for pedestrians in the centre and the whole city feels very safe (compared to the rest of Brazil). The city is located on an island with two bridges connecting to the mainland. 

The bridge above is the old bridge, called Hercilio Luz, which is no longer in use. The city tries to restore it every now and then, but the cost is too high so it is never returned to use. The bridge to the left in the picture below is used instead for easy access to the mainland.

Since the city is located on an island it naturally has a lot of water around it. The pictures below are from Beira-mar in Floripa, as the city's name is commonly shortened to.

One of the parks contains an old fig tree, which is highlighted with nice lights in the evenings.

I spent New Years Eve in the hotel restaurant, which was located on the top floor. It was possible to see a big part of the city from up there.

There was plenty of delicious food during the whole night, and an open bar... 

I liked how they turned a melon into a fruit bowl.

It is very common to dress in white in Brazil during New Year's Eve. Some people dress up in fancy white clothes, whereas others wear simple white shorts and a t-shirt. It also seemed like it was very common that women dressed up, whereas men just came in whatever they were wearing, see the couple in the picture below.

No one buys fireworks to shoot off on New Year's Eve, but the city had organised a lot of fireworks to go off at midnight, which was really good.