AT A GLANCE

Why go?

The Church of Our Lady of Light (Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Luz) is the small white parish church that sits at the heart of Morro de São Paulo, the car-free island village off Bahia's coast. For most travelers it is the very first thing they notice after climbing the cobbled lane up from the boat terminal: a plain colonial façade standing above a lively square, the island's patron saint's name over its door, and a two-hundred-year building story tucked inside its walls.↗↗

There is no ticket booth, no rope line and no grand cathedral drama here. The draw is exactly the opposite—a working, penny-by-penny restored village church whose original floor is paved with the tombstones of old islanders, whose altars are carved cedar, and whose front staircase doubles as the village's favorite place to sit, catch your breath and watch the whole of Praça Aureliano Lima drift by.↗↗↗