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Published: November 5th 2012
Ouro Preto
Igreja de Sao Francisco de AssisToday we are on the move again and getting the 9.30am bus back to Brasilia as the next bus is at 4.00pm and it makes our 7.15pm connection to Ouro Preto too tight. So after breakfast we started our journey with a confusing conversation with the woman running the hotel when we tried to check out, thankfully some other tourists stepped in who could speak English and translated. We had our credit card in our hand and wanted to pay, would have thought in any language that would have translated but not with this woman. Walked to the bus terminal and got the tickets, lucky we got the earlier bus as it was running late and if the afternoon one did this there was a chance we would miss our connection. Once back in Brasilia we had a 6.5 hour wait so I got to finish another book and Scott was pulling out his hair because we have not been able to get any more books in English. Resorted to junk food for dinner at the terminal before getting on the bus at 7.00pm which for once was less than half full so we ended
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One of the many church towers up having plenty of room. We both got a little bit of sleep but only a bit and this bus did not have too many stops so all round it was pretty good.
Day 382 Saturday 27th October Arrived about 8.00am in the morning and looked at the hills that the town of Ouro Preto (meaning black gold) sits on and decided to get a taxi to our Pousada (hotel) which we were glad we did as it was not where we thought it was. Although the staff could not speak English they were lovely and showed us where we could put our bags till the room would be ready about 12 noon. So it was off for a long walk to see the town at this time of the morning it was great with no tourist crowds and quiet. At 10.00am we stopped for breakfast at Chocolates Ouro Preto Café where we got a Moccha Cappuccino and a sandwich. We chose here because it was the only place open and it ended up being a good choice. The town is quaint with cobble streets, colonial buildings and 23 churches to explore thanks again to gold,
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Overview of the town some of the mines are actually in the city limits, which is strange. About 11.00am we headed back to our hotel hoping the room would be ready and to our relief we got a big smile and shown to our latest shoebox. The room is so small you have to step outside to change your mind. This town is very busy on weekends as it is so close to Rio and we booked late so beggars can’t be choosers.
We got sorted and put a big bag of laundry in, which the hotel did in-house as if they used the normal laundry we would not get it back to Monday afternoon. The people here are lovely unlike the last place where they just shook their heads when we asked about laundry. We rested for a couple of hours before hitting the cobble stones again trying not to twist an ankle on the slippery and uneven stones. We soon discovered the other problem with the town is that the food prices at all the restaurants are over the top plus they hit you with a 10% surcharge and an entertainment cover charge if there is live music. Stopped at a
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Colourful water taxis local bar for a cheap drink but the food did not look good and the other cheap place across the road was packed with people spilling out the door. We finally picked an Italian restaurant which seemed reasonable and the food was tasty with fresh herbs a first for South America but just as we finished a musician (I use the term loosely) started and by the time we got the bill we had heard one song and you guessed it the entertainment charge was included, we pointed to it and said “NO” and the waiter immediately took it off. We do not mind paying if we got the music the whole time we were there and it is pleasant but one song! Had a nice stroll down the hill to the hotel and an early night to catch up on some sleep.
Day 383 Sunday 28th October At breakfast this morning the owner was sitting at the large table and turned to us and said we could move to a better room and he was sorry we got the small room but he was fully booked out last night. He showed us a bigger room
Ouro Preto
Church next to our hotel with a view over the hills and some of the churches, of course the churches are everywhere you look in town. After switching to the new room we headed out to visit some of these churches and the first on our list to see was Igreja da Sao Francisco de Assis. The façade is the work of Antônio Francisco Lisboa whose nickname was Aleijadinho meaning the “Little Cripple” shortly after creating this church he got a disease possibly leprosy or syphilis and created further masterpieces with his chisel and hammer tied to his fingerless hands. This church is different from other churches we have seen with the interior walls and ceiling consisting of wooden planks forming panels that contain paintings by Manuel da Costa Ataide. Unfortunately we could not take any photos inside so you will only see the exterior of this interesting church.
Walked up the hill to the bus terminal to get tickets to Rio for tomorrow night and then walked passed Igreja de Sao Franisico de Paula basically in this town you are only a few minutes from a church and every direction you turn you can see one. Walking down the hill we visited Matriz
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Igreja de Sao Francisco de assis with markets in front NS do Pilar which is Brazil’s second most opulent church containing 434kg of gold and silver and it also has an interesting interior but no photos allowed. There is a small museum under the church showing some of the gold and silver wares. Then it was back up the hill initially through Horto dos Contas a nice park that winds up and we exited at Casa dos Contas the old treasury building and back on the road, as you can gather this town is very hilly and the cobblestones are very uneven making walking a little difficult. The last church was Matriz NS da Conceicao de Antonio Dias which was designed by Manuel Francisco Lisboa, Aleijadinho’s father. Here is where Aleijadinho is buried and it also has a museum with some of his work and other masters. If you are into churches and religious art then this is the town for you, I appreciate it but now have reached my limit. We had read that Mina do Chico-Rei a mine was near here so we walked a bit further and found the area which now seems to have a restaurant attached and decided narrow passageways are not for me. This
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Aleijadinho's carving on the facade of the Igreja de Sao Francisco de assis mine has an interesting history most of a tribe including the leader Galanga where captured in the Congo and brought here as slaves, the leader brought his freedom after about 5 years by smuggling gold out of the mine on his body and in his hair and then finally brought the freedom for his whole tribe. They brought this mine and built a church. Of course all this did not sit well with the Portuguese king who then prohibited slaves from purchasing their freedom.
After all these churches it was time for a cup of tea and cake back at our hotel which they put on every day at 5.00pm and later we went to Satellite a bar/restaurant off the main square, this place is very busy and serves cheap food though not the best as the lasagne is very salty.
Day 384 Monday 29th October We are moving on today so hung in the room till 11.30am then left our bags at the hotel to walk around as our bus is not till 9.00pm. This is a pretty little town so we wandered for a while then stopped at a café for a coffee
Ouro Preto
View from our hotel window and then onto Horto dos Contas, which is a beautiful park that follows a small creek that runs from the bus station at the top of the town right down into the valley. We have been in so many towns that have creeks and rivers running through them that have become nothing more than a rubbish tip and a sewer line so it was great to see a town that has embraced their water way and created a pristine completely rubbish free park. It was the perfect place to sit for a while and read. As we were sitting there one of the gardeners tried to tell us something which we interpreted as the middle gate which goes through the Casa dos Contas closes at 2.00pm but when we got there we realised it opens at 2.00pm no need to panic so it was back to our books. By 4.00pm when this gate closes the weather was changing and it was starting to sprinkle so back on the cobbles which were now very slippery and into Satellite to hang out till an early dinner. At 7.00pm we picked up our bags and got a taxi to the bus terminal and
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Horto dos Contos waited for our bus. The bus journey was a bit hairy as we wound down the hills to Rio at top speed weaving all over the place this did not help my motion sickness which I have not had for ages.
Day 385 Tuesday 30th October Arrived at Rio at 4.30am and saw there was a connecting bus to Paraty at 5.15am. We took off as fast as we could, running around till we found the ticket office and were soon on the next bus which is only a 4 hours trip. The bus ride to Paraty is along a picturesque coastal road that cuts through lush jungle. Passed through a few pretty towns but also a huge ship building yard and a nuclear power station…..sort of ruined some of the views. We hadn’t seen an ocean since the Pacific Ocean in Chile so it was great once again to see a great expanse of water. Must admit we were both feeling tried and were looking forward to getting to the hotel. By the end of the trip we were the only people on the bus and the driver did check we were going all the
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The Horto dos Contos park that runs through the center of the town way. The hotel is only a couple of block from the terminal so we lugged the bags only to discover the room was not available yet. It was only 9.30 and she told us that we couldn’t have the room till 2.00, but perhaps we might want to do a boat tour??? Tried to explain how tired we felt and that we hadn’t slept all night but we still couldn’t get the room till 2….at least we could drop our bags off.
Paraty’s old town centre is colonial with you guessed it cobblestones but this town sits near the water and is flat. The town was a busy port city during the gold era but eventually Rio took over as the main port ending its glory. Tourism is now the new gold and most of the old buildings in the historic centre are restaurants, hotels or souvenir shops. Unfortunately for us nothing really opens in town till around 11 so we wandered around till we walked back to the bus terminal where we could get a coffee and breakfast. Somehow we managed to drag our dazed bodies around town till 1.30 when we headed back to the hotel and
Ouro Preto
Shelley out snapping church photos was allowed to have our room.
Slept for a few hours before getting up to look for a feed. Paraty sits on the Costa Verde coast of Brazil close to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo and is a beautiful stretch of coastline and is sort of the playground for the rich and famous of Brazil. Because of all of this it is very expensive, and hard to do anything on a budget. The restaurants and bars in the historic centre are very pricey and so we found a place outside on the main drag which was not only cheap but tasty.
Day 386 Wednesday 31st October We had a great nights sleep and felt much better to walk the town and see the sights than we did yesterday. The town is really pretty colonial town and has the added bonus of being on the water and at high tide, under the water. We walked around for a while before heading up to have a look at the nearby fort, Forte Defensor Perpetuo. This town was one of the principle ports in the area from which gold was taken back to Portugal and as a
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Museo da Inconfidencia on the main plaza result was a magnet for pirates. To protect the town a fort was built to defend it, and having seen lots of forts around the world we expected that this fort would be huge….wrong, I think a pirates parrot could take on this one. Really wasn’t much to see but the views were lovely.
On the walk back to town we stopped at a bar that was on a beach for a beer to cool down after our long hot stroll. For dinner we went something completely different and stopped at a Lebanese restaurant where we got a reasonable interpretation of Middle Eastern Food. On the way home we stopped at a bar that was nothing more than a hole in the wall from which a guy sold Caprihinas. Only stayed for the one as they were fairly potent before wandering home.
Day 387 Thursday 1st November Today we booked a cruise for 30 Reals ($15) each through the hotel, so after breakfast we hoped into our swimmers and prepared for a day of relaxation. Yesterday had been stinking hot and sunny but today we had an overcast sky and a slight drizzle…damn. It was
Ouro Preto
The Museo de Inconfidencia at night a 15 minute walk from our hotel down to the town wharf and when we got there we had to find our boat the “Rei Cyrano”. We soon found this tiny dilapidated boat that was little more than a brightly coloured ancient small trawler, and you guessed it, it was called “Rei Cyrano”. We both swore at being conned into going on such a crappy old tub when a guy on an adjoining boat sang out to us and pointed up the wharf to where our proper “Rei Cyrano” was berthed. Our boat today was a lovely mock sailing boat owned and run by a lovely family who made sure everyone on board was happy.
We departed at 10 and spent the next 5 hours cruising around the islands and bays of the area, stopping several times for swimming. The water was a lot warmer than we expected so it was easy to dive in but unfortunately the air outside the water was cold so once wet we froze. The islands around Paraty are dotted with lots of homes owned by the rich and famous and to our surprise most are fairly modest. It is a really beautiful corner
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Typical street view of the world and can understand why everyone raves about the place.
When we returned to the port at 3 we discovered the streets of the historic centre under water. Apparently every month on a full moon, the high tide inundates the streets, but thankfully not the footpaths. Unfortunately not every where has footpaths so we had to get our feet wet in spots crossing the streets. Not sure if the flooded streets are the result of poor town planning, the town sinking or sea levels rising but either way it must be hell for all the shop owners. On the way back to our hotel we stopped off for a beer at a bar outside the historic centre, which was more like a small convenience store, where you could pull up a table and chair and a have a drink. We had a drink here before and it has a nice local vibe and is a good spot on the main street to people watch.
For dinner we once again thought we might splurge on a seafood restaurant in the historic centre but ended up back outside at a more local place. Most of the restaurants have
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Old Colonial buildings and churches every where long lists of ways to have your fish but none actually tell you what type of fish and the prices are way beyond our stretched budget. Shelley did end up getting a great seafood feed though for a third of the price at a restaurant in the new town. Paraty has been expensive but worth it and tomorrow we head onto another unplanned stop at Ilha Grande.
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