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First impressions of Belo Horizonte were very good. The bus trip from Brasília to Brazil’s third largest city was another efficient journey, arriving in Belo Horizonte in the early hours. The hostel I had booked online was in one of the nicer areas south of the city centre. The person who runs it was incredibly friendly, letting me in at a very early hour and then giving me lots of advice on what to see in the city. All in Portuguese, and I understood everything he said, albeit I needed him to repeat the odd sentence. But I’m definitely more comfortable with the language now, even if half of the words I say are Spanish and not Portuguese. The important thing is that I can normally convey a message and understand the person I’m speaking to. The first thing I did after arriving at the hostel was to go to the supermarket for food, forgetting that it was 30 minutes before the kick-off for the Brazil-Portugal match; consequently Carrefour was busier than Tesco on Christmas Eve. Absolute chaos. But then of course, as soon as the match started, the city was like a ghost town.
I wasn’t expecting that much
from BH, as it was more of a convenient stop over between Brasília and the historic colonial cities that are situated close to Belo Horizonte. But the city itself was surprisingly very nice. It is located roughly halfway between Brasília (in the central highlands) and Rio de Janeiro on the south coast, and was built towards the end of the 19th century to become the capital of Minas Gerais state. Minas Gerais is home to rich mineral deposits (hence the name, which translates as General Mines), and this money allowed Belo Horizonte to develop into rather a beautiful city. In my eyes, BH is much nicer than Brasília; both are planned cities, but BH manages to combine the modern feeling that Brasilia has with a friendly, character-filled city centre. It mixes traditional architecture and Niemeyer-styled modern architecture very well.
The main focal point in the centre is the Municipal Park, which with its artificial lakes and two thousand species of trees, is based on a Parisian Park. The main square in the city, the Praça da Liberdade, was also partly Parisian-styled, with the State Government Palace built in a traditional French style adorning one side of the Square and
former ministry buildings which are now museums, lining another. Opposite these is the Niemeyer Building (a modern building), so definitely a blend of styles.
One of the best aspects of BH is the mountainous Serra do Curral hills which lie just to the south of the city. Right on the edge of the city, high up in the hills is the Praça do Papa (Square of the Pope), named in honour of Pope John Paul’s visit in 1980. And the views over the city from here, as well as from another nearby viewpoint, leave no doubt in the mind as to why the city is called Belo Horizonte (Beautiful Horizon in English). Walking up from the city, I climbed a hill called Peanut Street, and at the top there were a couple of cars without their engines on, free wheeling down the hill. I later read in the tourist brochure that superstition has it that on this street, cars roll uphill, and not downhill. Though clearly didn’t work for the 2 drivers that I saw. Close by is the magnificent Mangabeiras Park, which was really tranquil and relaxing, with plenty of animals on the wooded trails to be seen
too (coatis and a large, pheasant-like bird). The houses in this neighbourhood (also called Mangabeiras) were all very beautiful and all with lovely city views - definitely one of the best parts of the city to live.
On the advice of the friendly hostel owner (Berthold), on my second day in BH I left the city for the cultural complex called Intohim, which I hadn’t previously heard about. In short, it’s a botanic garden crossed with a modern art museum. The setting, with beautiful gardens and lakes filled with water fowl was rather impressive. There were several galleries dotted around the park, some of which were interesting, and some of which were definitely not. I think my favourite exhibit was a small warehouse containing 40 or so speakers in a circle, all playing together a complex 16th century choral hymn, but with each speaker representing an individual choir member to give the effect of a real choir. Not sure if that counts as “art” but it was interesting in any case. Another interesting exhibit centred on a jack that that was pushing 2 beams into the wall of the gallery. To see the exhibit, every visitor has to pass
through a turnstile which makes the jack expand fractionally each time, so eventually, when they have been enough visitors, the exhibit will make the walls of the gallery collapse.
Every Sunday Belo Horizonte holds the largest open air fair in Latin America - 3000 market stalls line the main thoroughfair. It was absolutely jammed, as you might expect. Luckily the stalls are organised into different sections, making it easy to find what you’re looking for (not much in my case). This was the Sunday of the England-Germany match, so after the market and the match, there wasn’t much of the day left. Berthold recommended a museum that had just opened - the Museum of Minerals and Metals, which had some hi-tech games and gadgets, such as a machine that analyses the quantity of different metals in your body (I apparently have 1.4kg in total). My last day in BH was the following Monday, but on Monday all attractions tend to be shut in Brazil (even the parks), so it’s more difficult to find things to do. Instead of heading to a lake surrounded by some more Niemeyer-designed buildings (none of which would be open), I once again took Berthold’s
advice and headed out of the city to a nearby historic town called Sabará. One of the oldest settlements in the area, it has preserved its traditional Portuguese colonial architecture (basically whitewashed buildings with blue window frames and doors) and its highly ornate churches (all shut). Very picturesque, with the tranquillity only broken by the occasional air horn as Brazilian fans geared up for their next World Cup match.
So after Belo Horizonte, my next stops are the historic mining cities of Minas Gerais, starting with Ouro Preto and Mariana.
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