The drive to
OURO PRETO ,
100km southeast of Belo Horizonte,
begins unpromisingly with endless
industrial complexes and
favelas
spread over the hills, but in its
later stretches becomes spectacular,
winding around hill country 1000m
above sea level and passing several
valleys where patches of forest
survive: imagine the entire
landscape covered with it and you
have an idea of what greeted the
gold-seekers in the 1690s. On
arrival, the first thing that
strikes you is how small the town
is, considering that until 1897 it
was the capital of Minas - its
population is still only around
65,000. That said, you can see at a
glance why the capital had to be
shifted to Belo Horizonte: the steep
hills the town is built around,
straddling a network of creeks,
severely limit space for expansion.
Today, the hills and vertiginous
streets (some so steep they have
steps rather than pavements) are
vital ingredients in what is one of
the loveliest towns in Brazil, an
almost unspoilt eighteenth-century
jewel.
Avoid coming on Monday if you
want to see the sights, as all the
churches and most of the museums
close for the day. Also, buy your
onward ticket as soon as you arrive
as buses fill up quickly. Some
people complain about Ouro Preto
being touristy - and it is more
commercialized than any other cidade
histórica - but they miss the
point: it's precisely because there
really is something to savour here
that the visitors come. If you have
the time, aim to spend at least a
night or two in Ouro Preto so that
you can enjoy the city after all the
day-trippers have departed.
Ouro Preto has an extremely
popular street Carnaval that
attracts visitors from far afield:
be sure to reserve accommodation
long in advance. Likewise, at Easter
time, the town becomes the focus of
a spectacular series of plays and
processions lasting for about a
month before Easter Sunday, during
which the last days of the life of
Christ are played out in open-air
theatres throughout the town. The
tourist office can supply programmes
and dates or you can get information
from TURMINAS and BELOTUR in Belo
Horizonte.
