Brasilia in 3 days

Palácio da Alvorada (the "Palace of the Dawn" — the official residence of the President of Brazil, the most elegant building in the entire Brazilian Modernist tradition): the most technically remarkable element: the 28 inverted V-shaped white marble columns (the "colunas alvorada" — the Alvorada columns: the most immediately recognizable architectural element of the entire Niemeyer Brasília canon: the inverted V columns (the column is wider at the top than at the base — the reverse of the classical column which is narrower at the top) that appear to float above the reflecting pool surrounding the palace). The palace was the first completed building in the new capital (completed in 1958, two years before the official inauguration of Brasília on 21 April 1960 — the palace was used by President Kubitschek for his state visits to the new capital during the construction period): the reflecting pool (the most important landscape element of the Palácio da Alvorada: the long rectangular reflecting pool that mirrors the inverted V columns and the curved façade of the palace in the still water, creating the most perfect architectural reflection in any Brazilian building): the Chapel of Our Lady of Fatima (the "Igrejinha" — the small chapel in the grounds of the Palácio da Alvorada that served as the parish church of the early Brasília residents during the construction period: the most intimate Niemeyer building in Brasília).

Memorial JK (the Juscelino Kubitschek Memorial — the most important political memorial in Brazil): dedicated to President Juscelino Kubitschek (1902–1976), the president who built Brasília: his political promise ("avançar 50 anos em 5" — to advance 50 years in 5) was the most audacious political promise in Brazilian history: in exactly 4 years, 1 month and 15 days (from the groundbreaking in 1956 to the inauguration on 21 April 1960), the city of Brasília was built from the empty cerrado of the Goiás state — the most rapid construction of a national capital city in history: the Niemeyer-designed monument (the 28m abstract concrete monolith with the bronze statue of Kubitschek on top, pointing forward with his right arm extended toward the horizon — the gesture of the "50 years in 5" optimism: the most famous political sculpture in Brazil): the museum (the most important collection of JK memorabilia, documents and personal objects in Brazil: including the personal presidential car (the 1960 black Lincoln Continental limousine in which Kubitschek drove down the main axis of Brasília on the inauguration day) and the JK personal library and office): the most important fact: the mausoleum contains the body of Juscelino Kubitschek himself (the only case in Brazil of a former president's remains being kept in a public memorial in the capital city).

Lago Paranoa (Lake Paranoa — the artificial lake created in 1959 by the construction of the Paranoá Dam on the Paranoá River, 8km east of the Brasília city center): the most important element of the Lúcio Costa Plano Piloto urban design that was NOT part of the original urban plan (the lake was added to the Brasília project in 1957 when the environmental assessment revealed that the cerrado climate at the Brasília plateau altitude (1,172m) would be significantly drier and hotter than expected — the lake was added as a climate modifier (the lake surface moderates the dry cerrado heat of the Brasília summer) and as the most important water supply for the new capital): the lake (the 40 km² surface area, 38km perimeter, 12m maximum depth — the largest artificial lake in the Federal District): the most important leisure area in Brasília (the entire Brasília lakefront (the "Asa Sul" (South Wing) and "Asa Norte" (North Wing) waterfront) is devoted to the most important leisure and sports clubs, the restaurants and the public parks of the city): the Pier 21 (the most important waterfront complex in Brasília: the restaurants, the bars and the jetty for the Paranoa Lake boat tours).

Cerrado cuisine dinner (the most important regional cuisine of the Brazilian central plateau and the Federal District): the cerrado (the Brazilian savanna — the most biodiverse savanna in the world (the cerrado biome covers approximately 2 million km² of central Brazil and contains more plant and animal species than any other savanna on Earth)): the pequi (Caryocar brasiliense — the most important fruit of the cerrado: the yellow-orange fruit with the oily, intensely flavored flesh (the "caju do cerrado" — the cashew of the cerrado): the small yellow-orange drupe with the thick oily flesh surrounding the spiny stone (the most dangerous food pit in the world — the pequi stone is covered with hundreds of tiny spines that will embed in the tongue and gums if the flesh is bitten down to the stone: the correct technique is to suck the oily flesh off the stone without ever touching the stone with the teeth — the most important instruction the cerrado cook will give any non-Brazilian eating pequi for the first time)): the frango com pequi (the most traditional cerrado dish: the free-range chicken (the "frango caipira" — the farmyard chicken of the cerrado) cooked with the pequi fruit and the garlic and the fresh cilantro and the cachaza in the clay pot ("panela de barro") over the wood fire): the baru (Dipteryx alata — the most nutritious seed in the cerrado: the baru nut (the seed of the baru tree: also called the "Brazilian almond" because of its nutritional profile (the most complete amino acid profile of any edible seed in Brazil)): roasted and salted baru nuts are the most important cerrado snack.

Museu Nacional de Brasília (the National Museum of Brazil — designed by Oscar Niemeyer, inaugurated 2006): the most futuristic-looking building in all of Brasília (and arguably in any capital city in the world): the white concrete dome (the "cogumelo" (mushroom) — the flat-topped circular dome 60m in diameter and 10m tall, elevated above the reflecting pool on a single central concrete post: the structure appears to hover above the water like a flying saucer (the most space-age building in the Niemeyer Brasília canon): the permanent collection (the most important collection of modern and contemporary Brazilian art in the Federal District: the paintings, sculptures and installations by the most important Brazilian artists of the 20th and 21st centuries including Candido Portinari (the most important Brazilian painter of the 20th century: the murals in the Library of Congress in Washington DC (1941) made Portinari the most internationally recognized Brazilian artist before Oscar Niemeyer), Lygia Clark (the most important Brazilian Constructivist artist: the "Neoconcrete" movement that she co-founded with Hélio Oiticica in 1959 is the most important artistic movement in Brazilian art history), and Hélio Oiticica (the most important Brazilian artist of the second half of the 20th century — the "Parangolé" (the wearable art capes) and the "Tropicália" installation (the most important work in Brazilian contemporary art)).

Santuário Dom Bosco (the most beautiful sacred interior in Brasília — and one of the most beautiful church interiors in the world): designed in 1963 by Carlos Alberto Naves, a disciple of Oscar Niemeyer: the structure (the 80 parabolic reinforced concrete columns arranged in a rectangle, supporting the roof of the church above the nave): the 7,400 panes of blue Murano glass (the most extraordinary interior feature of any church in Brazil — and arguably in the world: the 7,400 individual panes of blue Venetian glass (the Murano glass — the glass made on the island of Murano in the Venetian lagoon, the most important glassmaking tradition in the world since the 10th century) fill the spaces between the 80 concrete columns: the result is that the entire interior of the Santuário Dom Bosco is flooded with the most extraordinary blue light (at noon on a sunny day, the interior is the most perfect deep sapphire blue of any built space on Earth — not a hint of any other color, only the most perfect and most overwhelming blue imaginable): the John Bosco prophecy (the most important origin myth of Brasília: in January 1883, the Italian priest Giovanni Bosco (São João Bosco — the founder of the Salesian order, canonized in 1934) had a vision in which he saw a great civilization arising between the 15th and 20th parallels south of the Equator in South America (the exact latitude of Brasília) — the vision was cited by President Kubitschek in 1957 as the divine prophecy of the construction of the new Brazilian capital).

Parque Nacional de Brasília (the "Água Mineral" — the National Park of Brasília: the 42,000-hectare nature reserve of the cerrado biome within the Federal District — the most important protected area within the boundaries of any national capital city in the world (42,000 hectares (420 km²) within the city limits of Brasília: the largest nature reserve within any national capital in the world)): the natural swimming pools (the "piscinas naturais" — the most popular tourist attraction in the park: the spring-fed pools in the Ribeirão do Torto stream (the clear, cool (22°C year-round) spring water from the cerrado aquifer): the most popular outdoor recreation destination for the Brasília residents (the pools are the most used natural recreation area in the Federal District): entry restricted to 500 visitors per day (the most strictly controlled visitor limit in any Brazilian national park): the cerrado wildlife (the most important wildlife of the Brazilian central plateau: the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla — the most distinctive mammal of the cerrado: the 40kg anteater with the 60cm tubular snout and the 60cm tongue, capable of consuming 35,000 termites and ants per day: the most important termite-controller in the cerrado ecosystem), the giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus — the largest armadillo in the world (up to 60kg): the most threatened large mammal of the cerrado), and the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus — the most striking carnivore of the cerrado: the long-legged "fox on stilts" with the distinctive red coat and the black "mane"): the giant otter, the giant anteater, the giant armadillo and the maned wolf are the "big four" of the cerrado — the most important megafauna of the Brazilian central plateau).

Farewell Brasília churrascaria dinner: the Brazilian steakhouse (the "espeto corrido" — the revolving skewer service where the "passadores" (the gauchos with the skewers) circulate continuously through the restaurant offering the most important cuts): the picanha (the "top sirloin cap" — the most important Brazilian beef cut: the triangular muscle from the rump of the cattle with the 1–2cm fat cap intact: the most prized beef cut in all of Brazil (the picanha is the single most consumed beef cut in Brazil: every churrascaria in the country (from the most modest to the most luxurious) offers the picanha as its most important cut)): the fraldinha (the flank steak — the most tender and most flavorful cut after the picanha in the Brazilian steakhouse tradition: the long muscle from the lower belly of the cattle with the distinctive grain (the most important cut to rest properly before slicing against the grain for maximum tenderness)): the linguiça (the Brazilian pork sausage — the most important non-beef item on the Brazilian churrasco: the spiced, smoked pork sausage seasoned with the garlic, the paprika and the pepper (the most intensely flavored item in the espeto corrido)): the Caipirinha (the national cocktail of Brazil: the cachaça (the Brazilian sugar cane spirit — the most important distilled spirit in South America: the most consumed distilled spirit in Brazil (22 times more consumed than the second-most popular spirit in Brazil)) + the fresh lime (muddled with the sugar in the base of the glass) + the sugar + the ice: the most important cocktail in all of Latin America).