The city's shape decides where the sun goes. Barra, at the tip of the peninsula, faces west across the mouth of the bay, so the sun sets over the water there at about 17:16 in late June and 17:59 in late December. The Farol da Barra stands on the point inside the Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra, now the Museu Náutico da Bahia, which sells same-day tickets until 17:00 and lets visitors in until 17:30. The rocks and the square outside the fort are public, and that is where most sunset sessions happen.
Further along the Atlantic shore, about 17 km from the Pelourinho in a straight line, the Lagoa do Abaeté lies among white dunes inside the Área de Proteção Ambiental Lagoas e Dunas do Abaeté, a state protected area of about 1,800 hectares whose council is convened by the Instituto do Meio Ambiente e Recursos Hídricos (INEMA). The beaches between the two, Porto da Barra and Rio Vermelho among them, are public under Lei nº 7.661/1988.
Clients here are couples on a city break, families on holiday, and the visitors who come for Carnaval, when the Prefeitura runs three parade circuits across the city: Dodô along the seafront from the Farol da Barra to Ondina, Osmar from Campo Grande to the Praça Castro Alves, and the short Batatinha through the Pelourinho. In Carnaval week the city reorganises itself around those routes, and every session is planned around them.
