A Cariocan Sunday Stroll (Sept ´11)

Every Sunday in Rio the roads beside the city beaches are closed to vehicles, which prompts the Cariocas to get into their lycra and burn some calories. Every possible attachment of wheels to
skates, boots and boards can be seen.

Ipanema is the busiest beach road on a Sunday, but Parque do Flamengo is more spacious and the perfect place to start learning to ride a bike ...

... or to try out a skateboard.

The road wides through Parque do Flamengo which has many interesting tropical trees. These provide welcome shade and great climbing frames.

The Sunday Cariocan theme continues with a homemade moqueca (Brazilian style fish and prawns cooked in coco milk and palm oil).

Happy days
B & R xx

Ouro Preto (August '11)

Founded at the end of the 17th century, Ouro Preto (Black Gold) was the focal point of the gold rush during Brazil's golden age under Portuguese rule. The outstanding Baroque architecture convinced UNESCO to designate it a World Heritage Site and we were keen to visit while we were in Minas Gerias.

Ouro Preto is built on a series of hills, linked by steep curving streets, making exploring on foot hard work...

...but worth the effort, because around each corner you find pretty little squares and fantastic Baroque churches.

Igreja de São Francisco de Assis, shown below, is one of Latin America's most important Rococo buildings. The church combines the finest work of Aleijadinho and Mestre Athayde, two of Brazil's greatest artists.

Another hill, and another famous church, this time Matriz de Nossa Senhora do Pilar.
Interesting fact about this church... nearly half a ton each of gold and silver was used to gild the inside of this church, and you really can tell. The inside of these churches are quite incredible, and are a vivid illustration of the wealth of the Ouro Preto mines in their time.

This tremendous wealth from gold mining in the 18th century created a city in which philosophy and art flourished. In 1789, Ouro Preto became the birthplace of the Inconfidência Mineira, a failed attempt to gain independence from Portugal. The leading figure, Tiradentes, was hanged as a threat to any future revolutionaries. In later days he became a national hero of course, and now every town in Brazil has a street or town square named after him...

The mining success also lead to the creation of the Escola de Minas in 1876. It is a leading Brazilian university of geology, where many of Rob's Brazilian colleagues studied. However they were not so keen on letting Jasmine & Rory in to play with the rocks...

After a coffee break there was more exploring to be done to reveal further beautiful views of the town...

As the sun began to dip behind the mountains we climbed out of the town to soak up the views...

The path down led back to our dinner...

After climbing many hills, a carb-loading meal and local beer was the perfect end to te day...

B & R
xx

Tiradentes, Minas Gerais (August '11)

Our first venture out of Rio de Janeiro state was to head North to the fabled gold towns of Minas Gerais. Minas Gerais is dotted with pretty colonial towns, set in a stunning landscape of rugged hills, which felt very different from the lush rainforests we were used to...

The charming Poussada we were staying in was built using reclaimed timber from the gold mines, and set in a pretty courtyard style garden, a perfect place to relax after the five hour drive....

We were keen to explore the varied landscapes by the 19th century steam train, 'Smoking Mary', which runs on one of the first rail-lines in Brazil, from Tiradentes to São João del Rei. Unfortunately it was not running on Rob's birthday so we reverted to plan B and tackled some of the many walking trails instead.

The journey up the hill was undertaken reluctantly by some, but the view from the top was worth the effort...

After a climb in more than 35 degrees heat we found a delightful way to cool down, in a natural stream with the locals...

Back at the poussada it was definately time for a cuppa...

The small town of Tiradentes is best explored by foot. Its many old, steep, cobbledy streets wind between quaint mult-coloured portugese cottages, colonial buildings and Baroque churches.

When we say explore on foot, that also applies to someone with four feet...



 After finding the 18th century fountain our mission was to trace the aqueduct back through the forest to its source in a spring in São José hill...

We never found the spring, but we discovered many wonderful places in Tiradentes...

Bhavna & Rob xxxx