Baucau

Baucau is the second city of Timor-Leste and splits into two halves, an old Portuguese town of arcaded pink and ochre buildings on a limestone terrace and a newer settlement below it. The colonial market hall, an arcaded building of the nineteen thirties, is the most photographed structure outside Dili. A spring-fed swimming pool sits in the middle of the old town and runs cold all year. Below the terrace the road drops to Osolata beach, a long stretch of white sand with reef at both ends. The drive from Dili takes three hours on the best road in the country.