There are six 17th century churches of equisite artistic merit - some in use, some in disrepair, all priceless making the entire town justifiable an UNESCO World heritage site.
Ouro Preto is beautifully set into the Minas Gerais hillside.
We plan to spend at least two days in OP. This was the modest view from our Pousada:Chico Rei.
One thing.... get used to the hills, which will teach you what your backside if for!
And the cobblestoned streets and flagstoned sidewalks, and the motorcycles which mean you have to watch yourself, every step of the way
We arrive while the town is in preparation for a national holiday: Tiradentes Day - literally ´pulling teeth´in honor of a dentist leader. Below you can see them erecting scaffolding for the occasion.
There are the touristic shops but I saw this in a local hardware store: a very compact upright woodstove - a very brazilian idea. Apparently it used to get as low as zero degrees C in July, due to theh 1100 meter altitude but naturally things have warmed up, it never seems to go below 5 degrees C now, so that is an effect of anthropomorphically induced climate change.
If you have an interest in terracotta roofing, here is a classic version of the construction methodology, the tiles are secured with cement.
Here we see the supporting structure beneath
Tomorrow we head over to Mariana, about 14 km away to explore an old gold mine
Hope you like the blog from day two in Brazil.
ReplyDeletePeter and Cheryl