OURO PRETO - BRAZIL

Despite experiencing only 4 days in the state of Minas Geiras, I would say that of all the places I visited in Brazil, this was the most interesting. The highlight was undoubtedly a day spent wandering up and down the hilly, cobblestoned streets of Ouro Preto although my visits to Belo Horizonte, Sao Joao del Rei and Tiradentes were also very enjoyable.

Following a great return visit to Curitiba I took an overnight bus to Belo Horizonte and despite feeling a little worse for wear upon arriving, I spent a number of hours just wandering around the city and enjoyed in particular, viewing the multitude of churches in the city. Unfortunately my limited time there prevented me from making it to one of the vantage points in the hills just outside the city, but from the views I was treated to on my bus ride to Ouro Preto, I would imagine that there would be many great photos to be taken from such a location.

Ouro Preto was by probably the most picturesque town I have visited in the whole of South America, just pipping out places like Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Bariloche (Argentina). Established during the gold-rush era in Brazil, the city still plays an important role in the Brazillian mining industry and steady flow of gold and precious gemstones through the city maintain its strong colonial character. Ouro Preto was for me very similar in its appearance to Cuzco in Peru (in that all the houses were of the same style with their distinct terracotta rooves). However, the rolling hills, blanketing fog and plethora of colonial style buildings and churches gave it more character and charm. Despite feeling pretty crook, I did not find it difficult to wander about the city for the best part of a day, investigating small side streets and visiting pretty much all of the citys 17 or so churches. Not particularly well designed for driving, the irregularly cobblestoned streets merely added to the character of the whole place.

Both Sao Joao del Rei and Tiradentes were slightly less appealing than Ouro Preto, but both maintained a similar colonial style and collectively provided a sufficient number of interesting sites to keep me occupied for another day. Probably the highlight from these 2 towns was the Baroque style church in Tiradentes, which was covered pretty much from the entrance to the alter in equisite gold leafing.

So, whilst quite short in terms of the description provided, in my opinion this blog entry contains some of the best photos from my trip and as such I have endevoured to include as many as possible to give a good feel for just how picturesque the cities are. Anyone visiting Brazil should make a point of travelling to some of these places because I would think it difficult for one to be dissapointed.

Photo 1: One of the many cathedrals in Belo Horizonte.
Photos 2-17: Photos of the buildings, churches, streets and surrounding hills in Ouro Preto.
Photos 18-20: Shots from Tiradentes.
Photo 21: The slightly more modernized city of Sao Joao del Rei.