Parati is another well-preserved colonial town and another World Heritage site. 
It´s a grid of flag-stoned streets with a small port and a set of old churches.
Some of the roads closest to the port flood at high tide, as a planned cleaning system (not that the Brazilians are anything but fastidious with their cleaning; I´ve never seen such a litter-free environment, and the carnival-flecked streets are miraculously clean by the next morning).
The town is busy and inevitably touristy. It´s stuffed full of restaurants and boutiques and hordes of rich Brazilians from Rio and Sao Paulo. 
Also, quite a few foreigners; we saw very few in the North.
The town faces another bay of beaches and islands so much of the attraction here is to book a boat trip during the day and party at night.
Far more than Olinda, a lot of money has gone into restoring into pristine condition the two-storey whitewashed buildings, painting the woodwork primary colours and filling the interiors with antiques and paitings. So it feels much less edgy and real than Olinda but is still incredibly picturesque.
There´s an active festival throughout the year including a cachaca (sugar cane spirit) festival and a literary festival. We keep seeing photos of Salman Rushdie on restaurant walls; presumably here for the latter rather than the booze.